While technology and digitization have presented businesses with a range of opportunities, rapid change and the resulting transformation in consumer habits and desires have presented organizations with significant challenges. To meet the growing demand for agility, flexibility and stability at scale, companies are rethinking their business models as disconnected channels and services and legacy processes result in fragmented customer experiences.

Business IT (Information and Technology) is central to this. Traditional infrastructure approaches rely on complex integrations, making it difficult to change and adapt services. Therefore, having a solid and modern cloud-based infrastructure is essential to integrate solutions in a simplified way, adapt processes and keep teams focused on the search for innovation and excellence.

A recent study by the Boston Consulting Group predicted a 20% increase in the use of cloud services worldwide by 2025. In Latin America, this market is expected to grow at a rate of 30% each year.

A clear example of a sector undergoing this reinvention is the financial sector. The arrival of new market players, such as fintechs, has made clear the need for a thorough modernization of the entire system. According to an EY survey conducted in 14 countries, the top customer requests include so-called ‘super apps’ that combine multiple services (viewing and saving, investing and paying) in one place, increasing interaction and increasing the digital experience.

“To meet this demand, open source solutions are gaining prominence because they can support transformation by offering standardization for different environments and an increasing focus on cloud-native development and deployment, which is essential to support innovation,” explains German out. Soracco, VP of Sales and Head of Red Hat Cloud Business for Latin America.

accelerating innovation

Financial services must simplify the hybrid cloud experience to innovate, build and deliver cloud-native applications that reduce friction in delivering new products and better services to users. With a cloud-native approach, it is possible to deliver real-time, personalized omnichannel experiences to customers, and to create and leverage digital ecosystems and partnerships to deliver integrated services. This increases compliance and security, speeds up software development and reduces costs.

In a world where push notifications and real-time payments are becoming more common, adopting this approach helps institutions make their IT architectures more flexible, reliable and efficient. “An open source, hybrid cloud-based infrastructure enables financial organizations to operationalize the use of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML). Solutions like Red Hat OpenShift Data Science, available as a managed service from all major vendors, help companies launch intelligent applications faster and simplify AI/ML lifecycle integration and deployment,” said Gustavo Ramírez, sales manager Andes region at Red Hat.

Operations based on this structure are essential to extract value from one of today’s most important assets: data. Through data science solutions, organizations can use key information to identify improvements, make more strategic decisions, and innovate with customer focus, security, and reliability. “Automation complements the transformation cycle and can help institutions manage security and compliance more comprehensively and efficiently. In turn, it promotes the development and delivery of responsive digital products and services through new channels and integrated offerings,” said Thiago Araki, director of technology and GTM for Latin America at Red Hat.

constant evolution

Another sector that has rethought its business models and modernized its IT is telecommunications. With the expansion of 5G coverage and high consumer demand for fast, low latency and stable networks, service providers are finding alternatives to open source solutions to deliver quality services. “Consistency is key to solving industrial challenges; and it starts with an effective cloud strategy that enables workloads to be deployed across multiple infrastructures and organized based on performance, security, compliance and cost requirements,” said Alejandro Raffaele, director of TME (Telecommunications Media and Entertainment) for Latin America at RedHat.

According to the management, telecom providers use eight cloud platforms on average, which entails a high level of management complexity. Therefore, one of the biggest challenges in this market is finding a platform to control costs, improve resource utilization and enable a more flexible infrastructure. “With an open source strategy, telcos can execute a successful digital transformation while taking into account flexibility, adaptability, innovation, collaboration and security, accelerating business opportunities,” added Raffaele.

However, 97% of telecom service providers say open source is important to their organization. Open standards preserve the compatibility and portability of solutions, giving digital service providers the freedom, flexibility and flexibility to innovate. “Open source tools allow you to choose the cloud infrastructure that best suits each company’s workload and requirements, giving you an adaptable and innovation-friendly platform. For example, Red Hat OpenShift helps service providers take full advantage of the cloud economy by offering new, faster 5G services and refining the business model through streamlined workflows,” said Juan López, Senior Telco Strategic Manager at Red Hat. .

Open source has also been essential in supporting the growth of private 5G, a cellular network that is technically the same as a public 5G network but allows you to provide priority access or licenses for your wireless spectrum. This can be useful when deploying private wireless networks in facilities that require coverage, speed, and security capabilities beyond those offered by Wi-Fi and other networking technologies. 5G private networks also allow operators to partially or completely isolate end-user devices from public networks, reducing threats and limiting exposure to public interfaces when necessary, protecting personal data, intellectual property and other confidential activities.

continuous improvement

To deliver consistent autonomous operations that evolve with innovation, the telecommunications industry is also betting heavily on automation, which helps companies adapt and scale quickly, reliably and profitably.

According to a study by Forrester Consulting, service providers experience better system performance, greater consistency, better risk management, and faster innovation as a result of a strong automation strategy. Today, 72% of companies in the industry report that automation is one of their top initiatives.

“To meet new challenges and exceed customer expectations, telecom service providers must transform their end-to-end networks and operations. Open source allows traditional operators to reinvent themselves by adopting management approaches and IT architecture technologies and a more flexible culture,” said Juan López of Red Hat.