Cloud computing on records management in commercial banks: A case study of Stanbic Bank Uganda Limited

Abstract

The study sought to investigate the adoption of cloud computing services and its contribution to records management in commercial banks with a focus on Stanbic Bank Uganda Limited. The following objectives guided this study: to identify the cloud computing services used for records management in Stanbic Bank Uganda Limited; to identify the contribution of cloud computing services to records management in commercial banks of Uganda; to identify the gaps in the use of cloud computing services for records management in Stanbic Bank Uganda; to propose strategies for effective utilisation of cloud computing services for records management in commercial banks in Uganda. The researcher adopted an exploratory-qualitative research design using a qualitative research approach. The study adopted purposive and snowball sampling techniques to identify the respondents for the study. A total of 23 key informants participated in the study and these were derived from a target population of 32 respondents. The study established a range of cloud computing services like Salesforce service cloud, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 356 including Microsoft OneDrive, Microsoft SharePoint, and AWS cloud which are used by the bank employees while managing their records. The findings revealed that cloud computing services support records creation, storage, access and retrieval, retention, and preservation as the major activities in records management and enable user friendly access to records stored in cloud, smoother interaction and collaboration, faster decision making, cost savings, scalability of storage capacity, support business continuity and provide security measures to records. Aspects of governance, unstable network connectivity, vender-lock in, limited licence control for cloud services, perceived complexity, awareness and trainings, cloud service compatibility with the local systems and lack of a streamlined policy to govern electronic records are some of the gaps revealed by study findings. The study findings increment of bandwidth and focus on use of wireless connections may resolve the slow internet connectivity, conduction of periodical trainings for new systems in the bank to upskill the staff on how to use the systems effectively, implementing a multi-cloud solution among others proposed strategies to close the gaps in the cloud computing services. It was concluded that well as cloud computing services have a rich contribution to records management, underutilization of cloud computing services for records management in Stanbic Bank led to increased wastage of institutional effort and resources. Thus, this study calls for a comprehensive policy framework, coupled with heightened information dissemination, to harness the full potential of cloud computing services for record management within commercial banks.