Spanish bank BBVA (Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria) announced an agreement with Google to use Google's cloud services for its 110,000 employees in 26 countries. It is the biggest contract for sofware solutions provided purely via the Internet that has been signed by Google with one company. Media, e.g. BBC, talk about a major breakthrough in the corporate use of cloud services.
Greater expansion of cloud-computing in the banking industry with its demanding safety rules and strict regulations has not been expected so far. Carmen Herranz, Director of Innovation at BBVA, however, assured that all customer data and other core banking systems remain in internal data centers. Cloud solutions will be used solely for internal communication purposes and will include email, calendar, documents, chat, video conferencing and other tools for virtual collaboration. The project should be completed by the end of this year.
BBVA also states that the purpose of the project is not to save costs but to "promote innovation and decision-making and increase productivity." Increasing mobility of employees leading to increased use of smartphones, tablets and home computers played an important role in deciding for the project as well.
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