Weeks after announcing a comprehensive cloud computing deal with Amazon Web Services, Standard Bank said it has signed a strategic partnership with AWS rival Microsoft to help transform the bank’s technology estate and internal corporate functions.

The move will help Standard Bank accelerate its digital transformation journey and significantly improve employee experience, it said in a statement on Monday.

“The partnership will see Microsoft providing cloud services for the bank’s internal corporate functions such as treasury, finance, employee productivity and human resources. This forms part of Standard Bank’s multi-cloud approach and strengthens its long-term relationship with Microsoft,” it said.

The bank said late last month that it had selected AWS as its preferred cloud provider as its shifts various production workloads, including its customer-facing platforms, to the cloud. The banking group would also move “strategic core banking applications” to the cloud, it said at the time.

It would “leverage AWS services, including data analytics and machine learning, to automate financial operations and enhance customer-facing Web and mobile applications”.

‘Enriched interaction’

The deal with Microsoft expands the bank’s multi-cloud strategy. The software giant’s president for global sales, marketing and operations, Jean-Philippe Courtois, said the companies will work together to “bring innovation into every aspect of the bank’s IT systems, transform every employee experience and in turn enable enriched interactions with the bank’s customers”.

Microsoft already provides infrastructure, software, and platform services to the bank as well as cloud services across its productivity suite. These services continue to support Standard Bank’s expansion into Africa.