Sopra Steria partners with DataStax to deliver the next generation of financial services applications

Partnership will provide cutting-edge big data solutions across the retail banking, investment banking and trading sectors Sopra Steria, a European leader in digital transformation, has today announced a new partnership agreement with DataStax, the leading provider of database software for cloud applications. The partnership will help both companies meet the ongoing big data needs of financial services organisations across the retail banking, investment banking and trading sectors. While banks seek to use data throughout their technology operations more and more, issues of scale can affect service quality and the ability to run digital transformation initiatives. This partnership will provide the next generation of platforms that can scale-up and meet these challenges. Working with DataStax, Sopra Steria will provide solutions to some of the biggest challenges currently facing traditional banking institutions, including:

• Retail Banking and Multi-Channel Services – Banks will be able to obtain a greater breadth and scope of information on client activity previously unachievable from traditional fragmented banking technology - allowing them to respond and understand their clients’ complete banking experience more comprehensively.
• Investment Banking and Trading Systems – As banks have to comply with ever more stringent regulation on their trading activities, the availability of data on trading positions in real time is critical. Sopra Steria and DataStax can now develop platforms which capitalise on new approaches to managing data, in order to improve banks’ trading strategies.
• Financial Institutions – Trading and market tick data continues to grow, yet tracking all possible transactions over time can be a significant challenge. This partnership provides organisations with the ability to save and track information on trading activity across all potential trading locations and gather this data in real time for tracking and analysis.
• Regulatory Reporting – The increasing demands of regulation and compliance pose a significant challenge to the financial services industry. Sopra Steria and DataStax can develop systems which offer greater transparency, timeliness and more efficient automation of reporting.

Melba Foggo, Managing Director of Sopra Steria Financial Services, said: “Our new partnership with DataStax cements our commitment to innovation within financial services. Financial organisations need to rethink their technology infrastructure and put data at the centre of their operations to become fully digital. The capabilities we can now provide with DataStax will drive our clients to embrace digital transformation at scale. Our clients will benefit from our expertise in the use of “big data”, using DataStax to ingest, process and store vast quantities of information at speed which will deliver better decision making capabilities in real time.” Simon Webster, EMEA General Manager, DataStax said: “Data is critical within the banking sector, whether your organisation is involved in retail banking, investment banking or high frequency trading. Traditional approaches to storing data can no longer cope with the sheer volume of data created both by internal banking applications and external data sources such as market trading or stock exchanges. DataStax Enterprise provides a platform for banks and financial institutions to cope with this massive influx of data, putting it to better use within the organisation and providing better value for customers. DataStax is very pleased to be supporting Sopra Steria in delivering the next generation of cloud applications for banking services.”