Wells Fargo taps Microsoft and Google for digital transformation drive

A woman looks at her phone with Wells Fargo sign in background
(Image credit: Wells Fargo)

Wells Fargo has partnered with Google Cloud and Microsoft as part of its new digital infrastructure strategy, combining a multi-cloud approach with third-party data centres.

Microsoft Azure will be the bank’s primary public cloud provider, with Google Cloud providing additional business-critical public cloud services, it announced yesterday.

Wells Fargo will use the Azure platform to create new services across all bank functions and provide a secure foundation for strategic business workloads, while platforms from Google Cloud will be used for complex artificial intelligence and data solutions, with the aim of creating more powerful user experiences for its clients.

The two cloud providers will also work together to use critical data and analytics services to accelerate Well Fargo’s digital transformation, including delivering improved employee collaboration.

“The Wells Fargo of tomorrow will be digital-first and offer easier-to-use products and services, and all of that starts with driving speed, scalability, and enhanced user experience through the next generation digital infrastructure strategy we’re announcing today,” said Saul Van Beurden, Wells Fargo’s head of Technology.

The bank will also transition to a set of third-party-owned data centres, although the company added that its longer-term goal is to rely predominantly on public cloud services. It said these facilities would complement the public cloud offerings of Microsoft and Google Cloud, “with both private cloud and traditional hosting services to create a secure, resilient, and flexible technology foundation for the company’s transformation”.

In June last year, Deutsche Bank signed a multi-year strategic partnership with Google Cloud to redefine the bank’s services. The agreement was set to accelerate the German bank’s cloud migration and transform its IT architecture, and Deutsche was also going to get direct access to data science, artificial intelligence, and machine learning services.

Zach Marzouk

Zach Marzouk is a former ITPro, CloudPro, and ChannelPro staff writer, covering topics like security, privacy, worker rights, and startups, primarily in the Asia Pacific and the US regions. Zach joined ITPro in 2017 where he was introduced to the world of B2B technology as a junior staff writer, before he returned to Argentina in 2018, working in communications and as a copywriter. In 2021, he made his way back to ITPro as a staff writer during the pandemic, before joining the world of freelance in 2022.