Azure will enable Interac to continue to shape the future of payments for Canadian consumers and businesses
Interac Selects Microsoft Azure. (Credit: efes from Pixabay.)
Interac Corp. announced an agreement with Microsoft to use Microsoft Azure’s cloud capabilities to securely manage the continued growth of digital transactions, enabling greater innovation and ultimately faster payments.
As a central leader in Canada’s payments ecosystem, Interac has seen a surge in demand for its solutions and requires a trusted, reliable and secure cloud platform to support ongoing innovation and product development. During the pandemic the company processed almost one billion Interac® e-Transfer transactions sent since the beginning of April 2020.1
“An important part of our digital transformation strategy is integrating a secure and compliant cloud platform that positions us for future growth and meets the demands of the quickly evolving digital payments landscape,” said Peter Sweers, Chief Technology & Operations Officer at Interac. “We chose Microsoft Azure for its increased scale, security and always-on resiliency.”
According to a report from Payments Canada, electronic payments accounted for approximately 79 per cent of overall Canadian payment transactions in 2020 alone.2 Now, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, even more Canadian consumers and businesses are opting for digital methods of payment instead of cash or cheques.
By using Microsoft’s cloud capabilities and security investments, Interac will further accelerate its transformation journey to include faster data-rich payments, increased scalability and resilience, improved security and fraud controls, better redundancy and new innovative services for business and individuals. Azure provides Interac with an innovative hybrid model of public and on-premises private cloud that will enable the business to move faster and maintain its high reliability levels.
“Digital payment innovation will play an integral role in Canada’s economic recovery and global competitiveness.” said Kevin Peesker, President, Microsoft Canada. “Across Canada, Microsoft Azure is empowering financial services institutions with its secure, compliant, and scalable platform. By selecting Azure as its strategic and primary cloud provider, Interac will fast-track their key business and technology transformation priorities.”
“We are committed to maintaining and attracting top talent as we build the future of digital payments in Canada,” added Sweers. “Investing in leading edge technologies like Microsoft Azure is an important investment in our technology teams and their career growth.”
Source: Company Press Release