HDFC Bank partners with Microsoft for digital transformation

Private sector lender HDFC Bank announced on January 3 that it is partnering with Microsoft in the next phase of its digital transformation journey to unlock business value by transforming the application portfolio, modernising the data landscape, and securing the enterprise with Microsoft Cloud.

The partnership will help HDFC Bank leverage the Microsoft Azure stack to consolidate and modernise its enterprise data landscape, enhance employee productivity and customer experience using Microsoft Power Platform, and embed Microsoft Security solutions to enable secure hybrid work for employees.

Explaining further, the bank said in a release that it “will leverage Microsoft Azure to consolidate and modernise its enterprise data landscape through a Federated Data Lake to scale its information management capabilities across enterprise reporting, and advanced analytics using artificial intelligence.”

“Built on Microsoft Azure stack, the solution will enable the bank to democratise and monetize its data landscape catering to several business units, spanning multiple systems, reports, and processes. The solution is powered by its unified architecture, collaborative engineering environment, industry-leading security, and ecosystem of AI/ML-based deep learning capabilities,” it added.

The Microsoft Power Platform’s low code, no code capabilities will help HDFC Bank set up an app innovation and automation factory. The app factory will help the lender to migrate, modernise and transform its application portfolio.

HDFC Bank will also leverage Microsoft 365, to adopt a “modern, integrated and secure digital workplace covering three critical areas of transformation – employee collaboration, app modernization and secure remote work”. The bank has embedded Microsoft Security solutions too to seamlessly enable secure hybrid work for its employees.

“Our partnership with Microsoft is a part of our technology transformation agenda by investing in running the bank as well as building the bank of the future. At the heart of this is the ability to offer a neo-banking experience to our customers that is second to none.  We are doing this by investing in proprietary IP as well through tie-ups like these,” said Ramesh Lakshminarayanan, Group Head – Information Technology and Chief Information Officer, HDFC Bank.

Sashi Sreedharan, Managing Director of Microsoft India said, “We are delighted to be part of HDFC Bank’s digital transformation journey and to partner with them to create best-in-class products and services. These products and services will adhere to strict security and compliance standards for customers by leveraging Microsoft Cloud Platform and technologies. The partnership will also advance the bank’s digital workplace transformation with Microsoft 365 and will significantly enhance customer and employee experience.”

Notably, HDFC Bank, as a part of its future-ready strategy, is developing in-house IPs as well as partnering with several companies, including fintechs, to co-create technology IPs.