BST Awards 2018: Best Cloud Provider to the Buy Side—Eze Castle Integration

In the competitive world of cloud computing, to stay ahead of the curve requires a deep understanding of changing market dynamics. Eze Castle Integration (ECI), which wins this category in the BST Awards for the fourth consecutive year, clearly has what it takes to be a leader. “We have always had an eye on security and the regulatory requirements with our clients,” says Dean Hill, executive director at Eze Castle Integration. “We also have an eye on making sure that we are aware of emerging technologies and platforms.” 

One of ECI’s recent innovations is its Eze Hybrid Cloud, developed after Microsoft approached the firm at the end of 2016 with a request to work with it on becoming an accredited cloud solution partner. ECI went through a program with Microsoft on training accreditation, working on the back-end in terms of datacenters to become a Tier 1 Cloud Solution Provider (CSP). “We are a Microsoft cloud solution provider globally,” Hill explains. “This distinction gives us direct access to the Microsoft platform at [the] datacenter level. So we are physically and virtually peered with Microsoft within our datacenters. We are not just a re-seller, we are a true partner.” 

It was back in 2005 that ECI built and deployed its first cloud-hosted platform for a hedge fund. Back then, cloud technology was still in its infancy and many clients preferred having expensive hardware deployed and managed on their premises. Cloud technology has since evolved and matured, although Hill says concerns around data and cyber-security have increased. When it comes to security, ECI doesn’t solely rely on its own in-house expertise. “We are happy to say that we push out specialist security operation center-monitoring of our platform to a specialist third party.” Hill explains. 

ECI has over 600 clients worldwide. At present it is working on three or four different iterations of its platform, offering varying levels of security and functionality to address specific client needs. “The biggest risk often facing organizations is human error,” Hill continues. “One of the biggest loopholes for criminals is targeting an individual or a group and targeting the weakest link when it comes to IT security. A lot of the time that is the human element. To help clients mitigate this risk, we are continually sharing the knowledge, the training and the accreditations to help their employees [to] be risk aware.”