DBS tasks Amazon Web Services with cloud training programme

This will enable its employees to rapidly innovate, build and deliver new products to customers. With millions of active customers worldwide, AWS was named a Leader in Gartner’s June 2017 Magic Quadrant for Infrastructure as a Service, Worldwide for the seventh consecutive year.

The collaboration reinforces DBS’ commitment to being at the forefront of banking, and is in alignment with the Singapore government’s Smart Nation Agenda. DBS, named the World’s Best Digital Bank at the Euromoney Awards for Excellence in 2016, announced in August that it would invest SGD 20 million over five years to transform employees into a digital workforce, enabling them to thrive in the digital economy and adapt to the future of work.

DBS has been an early adopter of cloud among financial services companies, and intends to move up to 50% of its compute workload to the cloud by 2018 to support its digital transformation strategy. In the new programme, AWS technical experts will work alongside DBS employees on selected technology innovation projects covering the areas of security, artificial intelligence and data analytics.

DBS employees can further enhance their technology skills through a wide variety of specialised and professional courses in the AWS technical learning curriculum. There will be Tech-Talks on the latest technology innovations, featuring AWS subject matter experts. The curriculum, with private classes customised for DBS, also features hands-on skills enablement workshops in AWS’ training labs. DBS will also work with AWS to continue its hiring focus through innovative hiring programmes to attract top IT talent.

“We are excited to add this first-of-its-kind capability enhancement programme to our current suite of learning initiatives available to our technology team,” said David Gledhill, DBS’ Chief Information Officer and Head of Technology and Operations. “We are creating a workforce with robust in-house technology capabilities and deep engineering skills to rapidly innovate, build, and deliver new products. This further drives the bank forward in our digital transformation journey and reinforces our position as a leader in digital banking.”

Lee Yan Hong, DBS’ Group Head of Human Resources, said, “We’re building the next generation of digital bankers to enable our digital transformation. An agile and innovative workforce will also make Singapore’s Smart Nation ambition a reality and strengthen Singapore’s talent pool.”

Nick Walton, Head of ASEAN, Amazon Web Services, said: “The financial service industry is rapidly evolving, and DBS is demonstrating again why they are a global award-winning bank by transforming their workforce for the digital age and equipping them with the latest knowledge on cloud technology. We are excited to support DBS in their digital transformation and to work with them to develop a talent pool that can further unlock the flexibility and power of cloud technology.”