ING DIRECT joins private cloud

The 12-month project, called Zero Touch, was a simplification of ING DIRECT’s production environment, providing new computing, network and storage infrastructure.

“We have completely re-platformed the bank, applying our 'Bank in a Box' innovation, which visualised our development and test environments to production,”

ING DIRECT's chief operating officer, Simon Andrews, said.

"We believe this project is unique, making us the only bank to have moved its entire systems to a cloud environment,” Mr Andrews said.

The bank expects the new technology will have an immediate impact on its operational capability, while customers are expected to benefit in the long term.

“For customers, this translates into improved service standards and an increased capacity for the bank to deliver product and service enhancements,” Mr Andrews said.

According to the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), ING DIRECT holds a loan book of $37.5 billion.

ING DIRECT provides retail banking services to 1.5 million Australians, covering payment account, superannuation, home loans and savings products.

“Our strategy is to be the primary bank for our customers, offering a broad range of products and services 24/7,” Mr Andrews said.

“We see cloud technology as a real enabler. Completing the project has opened up space for us to innovate and create rather than simply operate and maintain the supporting infrastructure,” he said.

“The significance of this project can be shown by the acceptance within the ING community as best practice and will likely be implemented in other ING businesses around the world.”