Migrating to the cloud

Written by Rochelle Clay Senior Product Manager

Many financial institutions recognize the value of operating their lending IT systems in a cloud environment, rather than on-premise, but securing investment for transition projects remains a challenge.

Some common objections include the lack of funds for large-scale migration projects, and concerns about long timescales interfering with core business operations.

To address these challenges, Finastra has introduced LaserPro cloud, focusing on three key elements:

Demonstrating the advantages of cloud-based systems
Simplifying the transition process
Providing tips for a smooth migration.

Understanding the benefits of LaserPro cloud

LaserPro cloud offers several benefits, particularly compared to an on-premise installation:

Cost reduction: Lenders can achieve a 50% - 65% lower total cost of ownership by reducing up-front capital requirements, and decreasing deployment and maintenance budgets.
Risk mitigation: Finastra has partnered with Microsoft to run LaserPro cloud on Azure, ensuring a 99.99% availability rate, reducing downtime and improving customer service.
Security: As a web-based application, LaserPro cloud maintains secure data encryption protocols and supports the delivery of updates in the regulatory environment. It features Microsoft Entra ID with zero trust access and multifactor authentication. Finastra has also developed a due diligence package and Security Operations Center (SOC).
Productivity: Staff productivity can increase by as much as 15% - 20% as loan officers can log on from any secure location without switching between different on-premise systems.
Updates and back-ups: Updates to LaserPro cloud are scheduled every two weeks, running automatically outside of business hours to limit impact on users. Back-ups are also fully automated, and disaster recovery is managed across three different data centers, 300 miles apart on different power grids.
Functional parity: While Finastra has added functionality to LaserPro cloud, including a new AI assistant and geocoding, the usability and documentation of the new platform are equivalent to LaserPro on-premise. Lenders can manage the same services on LaserPro cloud, including consumer lending, credit lines, mortgages, and home equity lines of credit (HELOCs).

Building a roadmap for the future

Finastra has a comprehensive roadmap for LaserPro cloud that includes additional technical features and third-party integrations. Notable examples include flood checks, custom insurance, compliance reporting, small business data collection, and e-signing.

Finastra Conductor has been used effectively with LaserPro cloud to configure systems to suit each lender’s operating model. Future enhancements include uniform commercial code (UCC) integration and a new decision service, plus support for multiple main offices operating under one LaserPro license.

Using AI for customer and user support

LaserPro cloud features a new AI assistant built that supports customers (through a chatbot), and end-users seeking answers or support. Users can access LaserPro’s Knowledge Center database using the AI assistant without needing to switch between systems.

Handling migration to LaserPro cloud

Finastra has designed the migration process to be as friction-free as possible. Current on-premise users can use a specially-designed wizard for a click-through experience.

The migration timetable involves identifying pre-requisite functions, signing the contract, and completing the migration within 90 days.

Once the lender has received a registration email, the migration wizard guides users through the process, including deciding which transactions to transfer to the new system.

An estimated timeframe for the migration is provided to help plan the best time for the process to take place.

Following our tips for successful migrations

There is no fixed timescale for migration, which is dependent on how long an institution has been using the LaserPro platform and the number of interfaces to other systems.

The following tips can help smooth the process:

Clean up customer and transaction files to remove duplicate records
Take a back-up for the relevant time period to create a historical record
Activate a Microsoft Azure Active Directory (AAD) if not already in place, or upgrade your current account
Adopt supported browsers, namely Microsoft Edge or Chrome
Refresh your Finastra Total Lending registration
Follow the links in the sign-up process to safely and securely encrypt your data before moving it to the cloud.

Finastra has developed two Migration Assistant package options alongside a help library to support the migration process.