Choice International moves to 100% Private Cloud

The financial services company has deployed a private cloud with zero downtime and 100 per cent virtualisation

AMIT JAOKAR

CHOICE INTERNATIONAL

We have already done 100 per cent server virtualisation and are now looking forward to 100 per cent desktop virtualisation. With this, we shall introduce BYOD & IAM. IT is evolving like anything and is complete digital transformation. With IoT, the world is going digital. As IT leaders, we are the luckiest to experience this evaluation process. We are going to get enhanced quality, seamless business continuity & immensely superior end customer experience by adopting latest technology and by using it in an innovative manner.

Established in 1993, Choice International Limited is a full-service financial firm, founded with a vision to set new benchmarks in the financial services industry. The Mumbai-based firm offers investment banking, stock trading, management consulting and e-commerce services to its clients. With offices at 80 locations in the country, Choice International is by no means a small company yet the agility with which it has been transforming its IT infrastructure is highly commendable.

The financial services firm is one of the earliest BFSI companies to have its own Private Cloud. The company has 100 per cent of its servers virtualised with zero downtime for all its servers. To top it all, Choice International EVP (IT), Amit Jaokar has deployed identity and access management on the Private Cloud to allow only legitimate traffic in.

On the server front, the company has deployed FlexPod, a combination of Cisco UCS as compute and NetApp SAN as storage. “It is a futuristic solution with tremendous scalability options. Entire OS and Data now resides on SAN and not a single hard disk is being used in blade server. All are flash drives,” explains Jaokar.

Talking about the benefits achieved from deployment, he says, “The deployments have significantly lowered the risk of security incidents: by formalising information and data access management and implementing access and identity governance.” Being in the BFSI sector where compliance has a major role, Choice International has been able to produce proof of compliance faster with the turnaround time reduced by 50 per cent. The process has reduced administrative costs by 20-25 per cent.

“We have increased adoption of automated account management process by 85 per cent and thereby, reduced helpdesk calls by more than 90 per cent. We have been able to reduce user on-boarding time to the tune of 75 per cent and ensure instant offboarding,” shares Jaokar.

Some of the other benefits include zero downtime for all mission critical and non-critical applications, optimum utilisation of resources, extended storage capacity, improved CPU utilisation, HOT ADD that upgrades RAMs / processors on the fly without downtime & Multi Factor Authentication (MFA).

Jaokar points out that the role of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) is one which has been a witness to constant changes over the years even as the rapid pace of digital revolution has presented business with new opportunities and challenges. “CIOs must look beyond 'business as usual' IT to work attitude with the CEO and CMO to enable end-to-end digital transformation. CIOs first need to help educate leaders about the threats and opportunities of going digital,” says Jaokar, adding CIOs can then start asking strategic questions about vision - before helping develop a digital business strategy with sub-strategies that account for diverse needs across the business.

“CIOs need to develop a core IT architecture that takes the demands of digitalisation into account. Simplifying legacy systems and using cloud environments can enhance capability. CIOs need to shift the emphasis of IT from building solutions to brokering them; an approach that reflects the increasing commoditisation of technology. CIOs must work with the CEO and the other directors to define a governance framework that manages and mitigates risk while encouraging innovation,” Jaokar ends.