Murex at ASIFMATech and Ops Week

Murex at ASIFMA Tech and Ops Week
BLOGS
Have Agile Work Practices Become More Important for Banks During the COVID-19 Pandemic?
This blog post from AFME and Murex explores what Agile work practices are, why banks have adopted
them and what opportunities they present in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read MoreWhy the time is right to embrace Agile
Now with the requirement for companies to accelerate digital transformation and update legacy softwarein response to a very wide and sudden global crisis such as Covid-19, thinking in a more agile way is now
more important than ever.
Read More

WHITE PAPERS
Reaping the Benefits of Agility in Capital Markets
How can an Agile approach help firms compete in capital markets? In this white paper we explore thebenefits of adopting this approach, take a look at a recent implementation project using the DevOps
methodology, and discuss Murex’s own internal Agile transformation.
Read More

BROCHURES
Murex Cloud Solutions
Murex cloud and SaaS solutions combine the full power of a leading technology platform with theexpertise and infrastructure to manage it. Tailored to your specific needs, it allows you to focus on yourcore business, take advantage of the latest innovations and be prepared for the future capital markets.
Read MoreBLOG

Have Agile Work Practices Become
More Important for Banks During the
COVID-19 Pandemic?
by Emmanuel Le Marois, AFME associate director, technology and operations, andArnaud De Chavagnac, head of cloud, technology and services marketing at Murex

Introduction
The COVID-19 pandemic has clearly demonstrated the importance of technology for maintaining productivity andcollaboration across a remote workforce (e.g., video conferencing use, cloud-based tools). However, new ways ofworking, such as Agile work practices, have also played an important role during this period. As first identified in a2020 report we developed with Murex, the collaborative nature of Agile work practices has been embraced by remoteteams, helping to maintain connectivity for delivering IT projects and business as usual activities.
Due to benefits Agile work practices provide, and an increasing focus from regulators on the importance of technology
to support recovery efforts related to the pandemic, we expect the adoption of Agile work practices to increase inimportance.
To be successful, organizations must now identify the benefits and lessons learned from adopting Agile work
practices during the last 12 months, especially as they look at day-to-day solutions for more permanent hybrid
working arrangements or innovative ways to deliver large-scale transformation. Agile work practices should be seen
as another important tool, providing the workforce with necessary skills, connectivity and control over their time toremain productive and engaged.

What are Agile work practices, why have banks adopted them and what opportunities do theypresent now?
Agile work practices set out an alternative way to deliver IT projects, moving away from a traditional “waterfall
approach” (a linear process of design, test, build activities), toward quicker, iterative, development cycles (known as“sprints”). This meant IT projects could be broken into smaller parts, allowing for feedback and changes to be mademore quickly, in turn increasing the quality of the end result.
The original Agile concept for IT projects has since been adopted by organisations, such as banks, and subsequently
adapted to a wider range of change and business-as-usual activities known as “Agile work practices”. Adopting Agile
work practices has helped banks achieve a range of benefits, such as delivering incremental updates to businessapplications more quickly or more dynamic allocation of resources based on changing operational needs. For example,
some banks have used Agile work practices for client-onboarding to incorporate new features and requirements for
KYC processes more quickly (this use has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic due to the changes needed toonboard clients digitally).
The importance of new ways of working such as Agile work practices was recently acknowledged by the European
Commission in their 2020 Digital Finance Strategy for Europe. The strategy emphasised that the adoption of newtechnologies in financial services such as cloud, DLT and AI increasingly require an Agile approach because theirdevelopment is by nature more open and collaborative (e.g., new technology adoption, such as AI, is increasingly
encompassing a wider range of internal staff roles, and third parties, to develop and implement).
Our 2020 report with Murex on Agile work practices, developed as the COVID-19 pandemic began to unfold,highlighted that the disruption faced by banks required them to be increasingly flexible to change (e.g., quickly
deploying new remote working tools across the workforce) and able to quantify and mitigate any impacts on
productivity.

BLOG

Have Agile Work Practices Become More Important for Banks During the COVID-19 Pandemic?

The value of Agile work practices in navigating ongoing disruption and uncertainty
Six months since the publication of our 2020 report with Murex, we have again engaged senior members of AFME’s
Technology and Operations Committee to assess how the adoption of Agile work practices has been helpful toovercome ongoing challenges in the current operating environment. Our members observed that Agile work practices
have had a positive impact on banks’ day-to day and ability to cope with the disruption, and are likely to increase inimportance throughout 2021.
Instead of being dedicated to delivering specific projects, Agile work practices are now being incorporated into the
day-to-day running of teams. Pre-pandemic, teams would usually organize weekly meetings to discuss individualand common priorities or increase team-building. It is not uncommon today for teams to have daily Agile “standups.” These short, time-boxed status checks offer benefits to dispersed teams, as they can synchronize work moreregularly, allow priorities to be reassessed, and connect staff to increase team-building.
Agile tools such as “virtual white-boarding,” “user stories” or “customer journeys” have also been used to maintainstaff productivity and engagement, by shifting the focus of work toward the main key stakeholders of a project(e.g., looking at delivery from the perspective of a future user or client). This has been effective to make work moremeaningful in a period of significant uncertainty.
Agile work practices also provided banks with greater flexibility and control over resource allocation by implementing
tools that measure productivity. For example, common Agile tools such as ‘burndown charts,” “velocity charts,”“escaped defects,” and “cycles times” have provided dispersed teams with reporting tools used to measure progress
more accurately.
This was an advantage during the COVID-19 pandemic for banks with mature Agile teams—they were more prepared
to provide insights on productivity gains or losses and ultimately had greater flexibility, control and transparency overresource allocation. Banks with mature Agile work practices were able to quickly shift resource allocation, on a crossborder basis, to address short term priorities while maintaining focus on strategic multiyear programs, such as the
London Inter-Bank Offered Rate (LIBOR) transition or the Fundamental Review of the Trading Book (FRTB).
Agile work practices have also played an important role in attracting talent and enabling continuous workforce
upskilling. For example, Agile work practices have enabled increased staff development by driving cross-functional
teams (e.g., combining the skills and knowledge of multiple roles into a single team). This has resulted in a positive
impact on company culture by breaking silos and increasing collaboration during a time where face-to-face interaction
has dramatically reduced.

What does this mean for Agile work practices in 2021 and beyond?
Agile work practices are now increasingly being incorporated into the culture and day-to-day of teams. Adopting new
ways of working, such as Agile, will therefore continue to be an important area of focus for banks.
We believe the adoption of new ways of working, such as Agile work practices, will become increasingly important for
all financial market participants, including regulators, as we continue into 2021 and beyond. Their adoption at scale
will in turn act as a catalyst for the EU’s Digital Finance Strategy and its ambition to increase collaboration and newtechnology adoption within financial services.
It is now crucial that Agile work practices, benefits and lessons learned are identified, as banks look toward morepermanent hybrid working arrangements and innovative ways to deliver large-scale transformation. Agile work
practices should be seen as another important tool to drive efficiency and productivity, providing staff with necessary
skills, connectivity and control over their time.
For more on AFME initiatives, see:
• AFME Report: Adopting Agile Work Practices at Scale in European Capital Markets• AFME Webinar conference panel: Adopting Agile Work Practices at Scale within European Wholesale Markets• AFME White Paper: The Adoption of Public Cloud Computing in Capital Markets

BLOG

Why the time is right to embrace Agile
A perspective from Arnaud de Chavagnac - Head of cloud, technology
and services marketing at Murex

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit nearly two months ago now, we like the rest of the world were thrust into remote
working and a scenario of unknowns and wait and sees. We reacted quickly, adapted and put measures in place toensure business continuity for our staff, our clients and our partners. For our 1000-person strong customer division,
who are responsible for leading major IT implementation projects, and for servicing our 50,000 daily users in 60
markets, there was almost no change in our working practices. Thanks to the deep relationships with our clients, we
continue to deliver projects remotely and provide the same if not better quality and attention.
Much of this smooth transition happened because we have long championed the Agility and DevOps approach toclient transformation and implementation projects and, we ourselves have experienced our own internal digital andagile transformation over the past years. Adopting Agile and DevOps approaches and the cloud has given us theopportunity to create greater flexibility within our own IT infrastructure, the MX.3 platform and in our overall ability torespond quickly to the unexpected.
Now with the requirement for companies to accelerate digital transformation and update legacy software in response
to a very wide and sudden global crisis such as Covid-19, thinking in a more agile way is now more important thanever.

Firstly, what do we mean by Agile and DevOps?
Agility offers a flexible and adaptable path to change, enabling organizations to respond more quickly to disruptions,
whether they be external or internal drivers. Cross-functional teams focus on outcomes, not tasks, and commit tooutcomes that deliver value.
DevOps is a natural extension of Agile development methods, and it aligns Development and IT Operations activities,
embracing the entire Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), from design, through the development process, andinto the implementation phase.
The benefits of the Agile methodology include:
Improving quality: Testing happens earlier in the chain which enables this approach to deliver better quality, as issues
are identified and corrected earlier. This helps provide more frequent, incremental delivery to the client making testing
efforts smoother.
Reduced cost and improved efficiency: Earlier and more frequent testing also means less time and money spent onvalidation. This makes it possible to be more responsive to changing requirements even at the latter stages.
Greater collaboration: The process of software development is more fluid, encourages end-to-end ownership and iscollaborative as opposed to being focused on individuals delivering tasks. Among other things, DevOps relies on thecontinuous collaboration enabled by the shared code repository access by all parties involved in the SDLC. In current
times, with all teams working in different locations, it is critical to have the tools and best practices in place, to keep
everyone up to date on the progress of the project. Collaboration, teamwork and open communication is key to keep
projects on track.

BLOG

Why the time is right to embrace Agile

Enhancing predictability: With an Agile implementation, there are fewer surprises later in the project. For example,
typically issues are uncovered at the user acceptance and validation stages, which is an ineffective use of timeand resources. The Continuous Testing aspect of DevOps results in earlier feedback and opportunities to resolve
complexities sooner rather than later in a much more cost-effective way.
Enabling flexibility: In DevOps, testing does not happen at the end of the project cycle, it happens throughout. The
automated testing done early in the process with DevOps enables projects to cope with last minute changes without
jeopardizing the go live. The automation of the testing provides speed and high confidence in the results. This allows
for greater flexibility and the ability to respond to critical business evolutions and circumstances, such as the current
pandemic.
In the current context, our customers have even higher expectations on the time to market, so we simply cannot
afford to have additional testing and project delays. Our scaled agile methodology means we can consider change tobe “Business as usual”.

Is DevOps right for your organization?
If your organization has already successfully adopted some elements of Agile working, it is more likely that you areready to reap the benefits of working in partnership with a shared DevOps methodology. Once these elements areembedded and working well for you, the business will be in a far greater position to move to full DevOps. Financial
institutions that have a well-established change management team with the right people, structure, and culture, mayalso be ready to begin the journey to DevOps.
DevOps offers great potential as an approach for more flexible and effective software development and clientdelivery. It provides a scalable foundation for the capital markets and banks to respond to future scenarios, accelerate
time to market and drive the business forward even in these uncertain times.
The demand for innovation will only increase, the world will only become more digital, remote working will continue,
and there will be a long-lasting legacy from this period. The shifts and changes in mindsets that are developing during
this pandemic will be the catalyst for transformation and will require organizations to adapt an agile approach.

For more information on adapting an agile approach or methodology, contact us here.

Reaping the Benefits ofAgility in Capital Markets
White PaperMurex Reaping the Benefits of Agility in Capital Markets

Reaping the Benefits of Agility
in Capital Markets
The pressure to deliver transformative technologies and gain competitive edgein the capital markets sector is relentless. The need to control costs and risks,
provide better service, and maintain regulatory compliance is critical. Disruptive
technologies and increasing competition mean that financial institutions must
be more flexible in their response to changing client and regulatory demands.
Capital markets participants face the challenge of upgrading their technology
as existing infrastructure struggles to keep up.

We have found that, with a
DevOps approach, validation
timescales can be cut in
half when compared to
traditional methods.
Hassan Kamal
Head of Software Engineering
Department, Murex

In this paper, we share experiences from our work applying Agility and
DevOps to client implementation projects, as well as our own internal Agiletransformation. It explores how our industry can benefit from the latest
development approaches while addressing some of the technology challenges
specific to capital markets.

Why embrace Agility?
Agility offers a flexible and adaptable path to change, enabling organizations
to respond more quickly as business requirements evolve. It is characterizedby autonomous, cross-functional teams that commit to outcomes that deliver
value, not to ticking off completed tasks. While this approach can sometimes
take a little longer in the initial stages, there are fewer surprises and delays later,
meaning overall project timescales are reduced.
DevOps is a natural extension of increasingly widespread Agile development
methods. DevOps aligns Development and IT Operations activities. It
embraces the entire software creation lifecycle, from design, through thedevelopment process, and into the implementation phase. This is madepossible by Continuous Testing and Continuous Delivery, which automate
the testing and delivery elements within DevOps. This approach enables
incremental ongoing development and is more responsive to evolving
requirements than the Waterfall approach (see figure 1, page 3).
Benefits of the Agile methodology include:
Improving quality: Testing happens earlier in the chain which enables thisapproach to deliver better quality, as issues are identified and corrected earlier.
This helps provide more frequent, incremental delivery to the client making
testing efforts smoother, while avoiding a tunnel effect.

01Murex Reaping the Benefits of Agility in Capital Markets

Earlier and more frequent testing also means less time and money spent
on validation. This makes it possible to be more responsive to changing
requirements even at the latter stages of validation. The process of softwaredevelopment is more fluid, encourages end-to-end ownership and iscollaborative as opposed to being focused on individuals delivering tasks.
Enhancing predictability: Previously, issues were uncovered at the user
acceptance and validation stages, which was far too late. With an Agile
implementation, there are fewer surprises later in the project. The Continuous
Testing aspect of DevOps results in earlier feedback and therefore
opportunities to resolve complexities.
Enabling flexibility: In the past, testing happened toward the end of the
project cycle. Consequently, any late change in the design of the target solution
requested by the client could result in months of additional testing and project
delays. The automated testing done early in the process with DevOps enables
projects to cope with last minute changes without jeopardizing the go-live.

Glossary
Agile: Agile practices started as asoftware development philosophy and inrecent years have evolved to become abroader project management approach.
Agile software development describes
an approach whereby requirements
are developed collaboratively by crossfunctional teams. It is characterized
by adaptive delivery and continuous
improvement, focusing on being able
to adapt to change even when thedevelopment is underway.
Agile Release Trains: Teams using the
Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) areorganized into a virtual program structure
called the “Agile Release Train” (ART), or
simply “train”. Each train is a long-lived,
self-organizing group of Agile teams(typically 5 to 12 teams), along withother stakeholders, that plan, commit,
execute, inspect, and adapt together. The
train program structure aligns teams to acommon mission, provides architecturaland user experience guidance, facilitates
flow, and provides continuous objective
evidence of progress.
Scrum: Scrum is an Agile development
at team level, often used to manage
complex software and productdevelopment. It uses iterative and02

incremental practices, where the product isbuilt in small but valuable pieces and refinedconstantly over a sequence of iterations,allowing the smooth management ofchanging requirements.
DevOps: is a combination of practices,
tools and cultural approach, aligning
Development and IT Operations. The
approach enables an organization to deliver
reliable and secure software products alongwith their evolutions more quickly thanusing traditional software development andinfrastructure management processes.
Continuous Delivery: New code is merged
into the build every day/week with theobjective of having software ready to bereleased into production at any time.
The concept of Continuous Delivery
encompasses:• Continuous Testing: As developers
write the code, they create the meansof testing it, and test the code inparallel with development activity.
• Continuous Integration: Traditionallydevelopers write a branch of code,
ensure the branch is tested and errors
are fixed, then merge the individual

branch into the shared mainline codefrequently. With Continuous Integration
there is no delay integrating the branch.
This allows for continuous quality
control and faster deployment.
CT / CI principles apply equally to bothlayers that are delivered to a client
during a project implementation; thesoftware development layer and theclient configuration layer.
SAFe: Scaled Agile Framework is acollection of Agile best practices for
executing agility at scale. SAFe synchronizesalignment, collaboration, and delivery forlarge numbers of Agile teams. Scalable andconfigurable, SAFe allows each organization
to adapt it to its own business needs. It
supports smaller-scale solutions employing
50–125 practitioners, as well as complex
systems that require thousands of people.
Like standard Agile practices, e.g. Scrum,
SAFe also prescribes its own ceremonies.
The most interesting ceremonies are the“big-room” planning events, where allmembers of the Agile Release Train cometogether to collaborate and plan for the
next increment of working product.

Murex Reaping the Benefits of Agility in Capital Markets

Figure 1: From Waterfall to Agile

Waterfall

Discovery

DesignDevelop

Test

DeployAgile

DeployDeploy

Test

Test

Test

Discovery

Discovery

DesignDiscovery

DesignDeployDevelop

Develop

DesignDiscovery

Develop

DesignTest

Develop

DeployThe challenges facing capital markets players
Improving your ability to quickly add new business and technology features
is critical in capital markets. CIOs working with legacy IT face a real challenge
introducing additional functionality for trading, post-trade operations and risk
management. This is due to highly complex and specific requirements, demanding
deep customization and sophisticated testing at the implementation stage.
In the context of the capital markets the sheer complexity of the content adds
a unique set of challenges. Financial institutions operate within a highly
regulated ecosystem, where information is constantly changing and evolving.
The emergence of new regulations creates dependencies between front, risk
and back office. Software development cannot be managed in a silo. In thedelivery of client projects we see the emergence of large-scale programs that
require business process reviews and the rationalization of disparate data.
Organizations must deliver IT projects against this backdrop. A firm’s
IT infrastructure is often a complex landscape with a high degree ofinterdependencies between different existing systems. Commonly, there are
multiple parties working across parallel streams to deliver a solution, includinginternal IT resources, the software provider and system integrators.
Despite the trend toward standardization, the capital markets sector demands
a higher degree of customization than other industries. Customization
requirements may come from various sources, including regional or local
practices, existing infrastructure as well as organization or business needs.

03Murex Reaping the Benefits of Agility in Capital Markets

Compared to consumer software development firms, such as Google or
Amazon, where a standarized product is used off-the-shelf by all clients,
the capital markets industry brings unique challenges for a vendor like Murex,
which is often required to create specific configurations for individual clients.

DevOps and capital markets
Many capital market participants have adopted the Agile approach, whichstarted life in software development and consumer technology companies.
It spread to project management as projects became more complex and the
traditional, top-down Waterfall approach was no longer delivering therequired levels of quality, visibility and predictability.
Some banks are adopting Agile and DevOps approaches to create greater
flexibility and increase their ability to respond quickly to change. DevOps
introduces the benefits of Agile throughout the entire lifecycle of softwaredevelopment and implementation.
Quality, predictability and flexibility improvements offered by a DevOps
approach are especially important in a sophisticated and competitive capital
markets context, where project implementations require a high degreeof customization. The DevOps approach makes it easier to check if thedevelopment is diverging from client needs. It enables much tighter control
over software development timescales that, in turn, makes it easier to predictthe delivery date with certainty. Banks can then be more confident that they
can meet the requirements of regulators in time. CIOs and Heads of IT will
have more certainty around when solutions will be delivered and what they
are able to promise to management.
The DevOps approach embeds quality through Continuous Development
and Testing that calls for a frequent review of requirements and outcomes
across all parties. This continuous adaptation ensures quality even for thesmallest of changes.
In addition, it allows you to scale up quickly to meet new needs. By accelerating
testing and implementation, and focusing on using tools at every stage of the
project, it allows for more consistent, effective development across teams.
In the past, it might have taken four separate projects, each with significant
operational costs and risks, to scale a solution to match new needs.
Configuration management alone may have represented a significant cost,
added to which is the expense of moving configuration from one environment
to another. Now, with Continuous Integration, you can merge multiple lines ofcode into the target environment more efficiently and with better quality.
Testing that used to be manual and time-consuming is now automated. What
used to take place at the end of a development or project cycle, now happens
earlier in the process resulting in an overall higher level of quality.

04

The most notabledifference at Murex isa change in the way weplan and execute solution
development. We do notcommit to tasks - wecommit to outcomes, andwe let the teams decide
how best to get there.
Wissam Ghamroun
Head of EMEA Customer
Delivery Services, Murex

Murex Reaping the Benefits of Agility in Capital Markets

Murex’s first-hand experience
At Murex, we are on our own journey to DevOps.
Murex is in a unique position. As a software developer, we have our own
software factory teams creating and improving our product’s code for several
hundred clients globally. In addition, Murex is a partner to our clients and works
in unison with them to deliver large-scale implementation projects. This provides
us with a full view of the entire delivery chain, from software creation throughto client go-live. We consider the full cycle, from build to delivery, as one single
problem that we approach holistically.
Murex software factory — Agile transformation
For several years, Murex has adopted Agility internally for the development of
the MX.3 capital markets platform. As software developers, this represented acomplete transformation of the way we work. We introduced Agility in a coreteam of engineers and are now extending it to our entire software factory of
more than 1,000 people. This represents a huge change in executing the fulldevelopment cycle.
While an Agile approach can be applied to small teams, in order to achieve anenterprise-level transformation we adopted the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe).
This helped us reach our scalability, predictability and adaptability objectives.
SAFe is a source of best practice in terms of aligning a large number of people
with the same level of mission awareness and motivation about a project. It alsoenables individuals and teams to be autonomous in how they deliver the project.
The SAFe approach has also helped us adopt best practice engineering
standards around test-driven development, behavior-driven development andContinuous Integration. There have been many lessons learned along the way,
and we continue to develop our practice to reap the benefits of extending theAgile approach through client implementation projects.
Piloting DevOps for client implementation projects
In 2017 we launched a pilot project with one of our largest FX clients and applieda DevOps approach to the project implementation. Phase 1 of the project was
launched utilizing Continuous Testing, Integration and Delivery methodology.
The pilot project saw both design and build activity across three key
test areas: configuration of the platform; verification of the inbound andoutbound data protocols; and the non-functional tests which include
performance, latency, throughput, stability, resilience, as well as functionalcorrectness under load testing.

05

Murex Reaping the Benefits of Agility in Capital Markets

This has been achieved largely thanks to having the correct tooling in place,and the ability to manage configuration as code. DevOps implementation
projects apply the same principles to build and test the configuration layer aswithin the software development factory. We have developed some of the tools
required for Continuous Testing in-house, whilst leveraging industry standard
tools such as GIT and Jenkins (for versioning of configuration items to help
with automation of merge and testing) wherever feasible. We develop thetools in-house that are closely related to our specific platform content and are
currently regrouping usage of all these tools within a common user interface.
These tools create a chain between development, testing and deployment that isshared with the client, the system integrator for the project and Murex. They canalso be used for Waterfall or more traditional implementation methodologies.
Now that we have the tools in place to Continuously Test, Integrate and Deploy
new code, the client can see the new code incrementally and provide feedback
as it is tested, as opposed to waiting weeks between client delivery drops. The
pilot project ‘go-live’ is scheduled for late 2017, and we aim to launch anotherround of pilot projects next year.

A culture of change management
These new approaches align the activities of development and operational staff,
removing traditional top-down command and control management hierarchies.
This may be different from software development and project delivery practices
currently in place.
A change in mindset is required from the project management team. For
example, a stream lead who was focused on design and build is now required
to write and automate testing while merging code into the master repository.
This demands new skills as new roles are created (e.g. scrum master) and new
governance practices are established (e.g. SAFe ceremonies) in order to provide
the same information across all levels of the organization, and help promoteautonomy to deliver projects.
When applying DevOps to a client implementation project, there is also a large
amount of trust required between software house and client. An Agile approachmeans the end result is agreed without predefining all the tasks and steps
required to get there. Clients also need to accept some changes in the way theywork with their software vendors and system integrators. They will need todesign and provide acceptance testing criteria much earlier in the project cycles,
and be prepared to respond quickly and test more frequently than in the past.

06

DevOps presents a
big change; it asks
programmers to become
testers, and many of themwill need to gain new skills.
Hassan Kamal
Head of Software Engineering
Department, Murex

Murex Reaping the Benefits of Agility in Capital Markets

Could you benefit from DevOps?
These methodologies are starting to become the new norm within softwaredevelopment but haven’t yet spread widely to client delivery projects forcapital markets.
DevOps offers benefits to capital markets participants, ranging from the ability
to improve and update your software more quickly and responsively, through togreater control over the costs and risks associated with software development.
Financial institutions can also benefit from adopting individual elements of
DevOps, such as Continuous Testing and Continuous Integration, which deliver
better quality software with more predictable timeframes.

Some managers will fear
the loss of control and mayneed support with making
this transition – in trusting
the team to collaborate,
be creative, and deliver an
outcome without a detailed
task plan in place.
Wissam Ghamroun
Head of EMEA Customer
Delivery Services, Murex

Not every firm is ready for a full DevOps approach. As with any change
management project, the initial cost of working during the transition is higher,
and could result in a higher than expected spend in the first 12 months, withsavings coming in subsequent years. In addition, stakeholders may need somepersuasion that this new approach is more efficient, because compared toWaterfall the initial phase of a project is more time consuming. This time is,however, more than gained back during the user acceptance stage of a project.
If your organization has already successfully adopted some elements of Agile
working, it is more likely that you are ready to reap the benefits of working
in partnership with a shared DevOps methodology. Once these elements
are embedded and working well for you, the business will be in a muchbetter position to move to full DevOps. Banks that have not yet adopted
Agile principles, but that have a well-established change management teamwith the right people, structure, and culture, may also be ready to begin thejourney to DevOps.
DevOps offers great potential as an approach for more flexible and effective
software development and client delivery. It provides a scalable foundation forbanks to respond to changes, accelerate time to market and drive the businessforward. When software development and deployment become a single cyclewith consistent principles and engineering standards, the result is an adaptable
solution that is capable of meeting current and future needs.

07Murex Cloud Solutions
From IaaS to SaaS

Murex Cloud Solutions From IaaS to SaaS

Discover MX.3
One platform, multiple solutions.
FIXED INCOMEOPERATING MODELSECURITIES FINANCE

TRADINGREFERENCE DATAINTEREST RATEDERIVATIVESMARKET DATATREASURYRISK

CREDIT DERIVATIVESANALYTICS MODELSEQUITY DERIVATIVESTRADESREPOSITORYINVESTMENTMANAGEMENTCOLLATERALFX DERIVATIVESCONNECTIVITYCALCULATION SERVICESFXOPERATIONSFINANCECOMMODITIESMONEY MARKETSON-PREMISE

CLOUD

SAAS

01

Murex Cloud Solutions From IaaS to SaaS

The full power of
MX.3 on the cloud
Whether you want to run MX.3 infrastructure
on AWS or Azure, or prefer a fully-managed
private SaaS approach for all Murex businesssolutions, Murex cloud and SaaS solutions
are tailored to meet your needs. Combining
the full power of a leading capital markets
platform with the expertise and infrastructure
to manage it, our buy- and sell-side clients
have more time to focus on their core business,enjoy continuous platform innovation and thefreedom to enhance their IT infrastructure inan agile and cost-effective way.
IaaS benefits with AWS or Azure
Focus on your businessOutsource non-core activities to cloud and Murex platform specialists
to focus on core business priorities and increase the agility of your IT
system.
Provisioning revolution
Access unlimited storage and compute capacity, and apply any necessary
infrastructure changes simply and quickly.
Optimize TCO
With a flexible pay-as-you-go model, infrastructure costs are based on
actual rather than peak usage and all cloud items consumed are closely
monitored, giving you greater visibility.
Cloud-certified for the latest innovations
MX.3 is certified with Azure and AWS and we continuously identify, test
and optimize cloud features that can be applied to MX.3, making sure
our customers can keep pace with the latest cloud innovations.

02Murex Cloud Solutions From IaaS to SaaS

Murex Cloud and SaaS solutions
Infrastructure
as a Service by

IT asset
services

Software asa Service byInfrastructure management (compute,storage, security, hosting, network)
Managed database

Client* or
AWS RDS Oracle

Production hosting
Disaster recovery hosting
Test and development environments hosting
Murex operating environment management(RDBMS, OS patch, java, middleware)Run
services

Production environment health checks,
monitoring and capacity provision
On-demand penetration tests
Grid computing management

Client*Interfaces management
Application management, batch processes
scheduling, BAU management, EOD
management
Business and after-hours support

Changeservices

Test and development additional
environments spin-up
MX.3 customizations and extensions

Client*MX.3 configuration management
MX.3 upgrades*The client is responsible for the technical and functional administration, management and evolution of their MX.3 application.
Support from Murex or System Integrators is available if assistance is required.
03

Murex Cloud Solutions From IaaS to SaaS

The full power of MX.3 on the cloud (continued)

Additional benefits with
Murex SaaS
Accelerate market compliance
Get immediate access to leading capital markets,business and IT best practices and expertise.
Boost innovation
Get a head start with fast, unlimited infrastructure
provisioning and technical platform components for theagility to adapt quickly to future market changes and toensure strategic readiness.
Keep full control of your business content
Instead of traditional SaaS models that offer limited
functional scope and no flexibility, you have a dedicatedsingle-tenant SaaS, using your own configurations anddata privacy, with the ability to evolve on-demand.
Trusted application management
Murex teams stand out for their expertise, capacity
to support any complex instrument and advanced IT
setups, such as grid computing, as well as experience insupporting demanding production instances.
SecureMaximize resilience with regional disaster recovery
sites and safeguard security at all levels with options toencrypt data at rest and in transit.

04Murex Cloud Solutions From IaaS to SaaS

Murex's cloud vision
The first milestone on the Murex cloud journey was reached in October 2017, following the certificationof MX.3 on both Azure and AWS IaaS, paying special attention to security, stability, performance and user
experience across all functional modules.
Certifying a Database as a Service (DBaaS) offer is a step towards providing our clients with additional PaaS
options. PaaS complements IaaS with managed services that are key for the Murex application. Databaseand middleware managed services are typical PaaS offerings that can be outsourced to focus on high value
activities and differentiators.
Murex is investing in cloud to provide a market-leading user experience to financial institutions and to help
clients better control TCO. For example, we are selectively moving computationally-intensive workloads
onto the cloud, such as certain risk, trading and processing activities. Newly developed business andregulation solutions designed by Murex are cloud-native, naturally benefitting from the elasticity and easeof use provided by IaaS and PaaS.

Our cloud journey

Lift & ShiftCloud ready

Lift & Reshape
Cloud optimized

Lift & Refactor
Cloud native

1

2

3

05

Murex Cloud Solutions From IaaS to SaaS

Murex cloud
deployment options:public or hybrid
Take advantage of the latest innovation,quickly access unlimited compute capacity andbe ready for the future capital markets witha flexible range of Murex cloud deployment
options.
Production
Murex helps determine the sizing requirements for your cloudinfrastructure for production and can also make security
recommendations. In production, cloud provides you with increased
agility, with the ability to adapt production infrastructure to changing
business demands.

Disaster Recovery
By leveraging cloud to replicate the production installation, you will
avoid unnecessary investment in infrastructure, while also reducing thecosts and complexity associated with managing and maintaining disasterrecovery infrastructure.

Grid computing

Increase theagility of yourIT with cloudWith the option of deploying Murex grid technology or third-party
solutions, such as DataSynapse or IBM Symphony, on the cloud, you canbenefit from elastic compute to augment grid infrastructure on-demandwith CPUs/GPUs. Reduce costs and increase capacity for dynamic
compute intensive, stateless workloads.

Development and test
Use Murex tools and cloud infrastructure templates to copy MX.3
environments on the cloud and enable the rapid provisioning ofdevelopment and test environments, reducing deployment time andmanagement cost.

06

Murex Cloud Solutions From IaaS to SaaS

What is the most significant benefit coming from the cloudin your organization?

23%

26%

36%

Time to market

TCO reduction

Pay as you go model

Which applications are you using the cloud for?
Disaster recovery
Regulatory calculations
Stress testing
Pricing calculations
Risk management
R&D / Innovation
05%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

Results coming from a private poll during the cloud webinar organized by Murex on September 20th 2018.
Several selections were possible when answering each question.

07

Murex Cloud Solutions From IaaS to SaaS

Murex SaaS services for applicationand infrastructure management
With years of project and support expertise, Murex provides
comprehensive SaaS services, bringing leading security and availability
to the management of your application and infrastructure.
Infrastructure hosting
Fully hosting IT infrastructure on the cloud simplifies
systems management and gives you better control
over growth and cost. Murex takes care of the entire
provisioning and administration of hosting, servers,
storage and networking.

Cloud and SaaS canhelp to reduce time
to market

Deployment and monitoring
Murex is responsible for initial set-up and proactive
monitoring. We also take care of the entire licensing,installation and administration of the virtualization,
operating system, RDBMS and middleware layers,
along with the MX.3 instances. The technical layers,
MX.3 and End of Day (EOD) are monitored tomaximize availability.

Application management
and support
Murex SaaS experts are in direct contact with yourinternal team to deliver a high-quality experience toMX.3 end users. Housekeeping tasks include MX.3
daily back-up, external vaulting and purges. Murex
SaaS covers all functional and technical questions
related to your usage of MX.3.

Ecosystem management
Interfaces to and from external systems are jointly
managed by Murex SaaS experts and your in-houseteams so that your business can enjoy smoothconnectivity to market, static and trade data, as wellas custom interfaces.

08

Production management
Leverage Murex tools and experience to manage
your production and safeguard the stability of yourinstallations, without the cost of maintaining a
dedicated internal production team oftechnical experts.

Disaster recovery management
Murex SaaS includes disaster recovery sitewhere production data is replicated. The site isgeographically seperated from the primary data
center. In the unlikely event that the SaaS service
production facilities at the primary data center
are rendered unavailable, the required hardware,
software, and internet connectivity can be accessedin the secondary site. Annual disaster recovery plan
tests are also conducted as part of the SaaS offering.

Murex Cloud Solutions From IaaS to SaaS

Development and test
environment management
Replicate and spin-up new MX.3 environments
on-demand for development and test purposes,
including user acceptance testing (UAT). Without
the need to worry about hosting, hardware, OS,
RDBMS and other underlying components, accessand run your MX.3 project environments.  

Grid computing

After hours support
Murex experts are on-hand to support yoursystem 24/7. Their technical knowledge andexperience in MX.3 operations is unparalleled in
the market.

Additional penetration test
Murex SaaS security experts are available toorganize a campaign to re-assess the security ofyour data if required.

Murex SaaS gives you the power of highperforming Murex analytics on grid and theexperts to manage advanced features. It means
you don't need in-house grid specialists oradvanced knowledge of CPU/GPU cores.

09

Murex Cloud Solutions From IaaS to SaaSHow can I transform andevolve on the cloud?
Whether you are still exploring what cloudapproach best fits your business needs, or are
ready to move your IT system to the cloud,Murex has experts on-hand to advise you andshare lessons learned during past projects. Ourservices ensure you have support at every stepof your transformation journey.
Cloud readinessWith cloud vendors injecting innovation into the market at a rapid pace,part of Murex’s cloud strategy includes the identification and testing of
the best emerging cloud technologies for MX.3. Murex selects relevant
cloud features that add value to our solutions, allowing clients to bypass
time-consuming research, selection and testing stages and adopt
certified deployment options quickly.
Murex collaborates with cloud vendors to deliver best practices for
deployment and has established quick and reliable communication
channels with these partners for leading client support.

Cloud migration services
Our cloud migration service helps clients to move their infrastructure
to the cloud smoothly and quickly. It covers both initial explorationand migration. Moreover, to assist customers on their cloud journey,certain Murex system integration partners have large cloud teams thatthey combine with their Murex practices to offer the unique skills andexperiences required to run an efficient cloud project for a missioncritical system, such as MX.3.

10

Murex Cloud Solutions From IaaS to SaaS

Exploration
During this exploration phase, Murex analyzes thecustomer’s cloud strategy. At this point, potential
cloud vendors are identified and IT security
constraints assessed.  An audit of current hardware
is conducted, cloud requirements defined, and bestpractices shared. Proof of concepts are carriedout for the deployment of a development instanceof MX.3 in the cloud. Scoping is conducted forthe migration of development and test instances,production, grid and disaster recovery.  
“Lift & shift” to a certified cloud platform
During the move of MX.3 installations to the cloud,Murex can review the integration changes andprovide support when you are performing test andvalidation cycles. We also shares best practices
for monitoring procedures and for the production
support process in the cloud.

SaaS additional services
Implementation services
Our MXpress agile methodology and content canbe leveraged when implementing Murex SaaS,
providing you with best practices to optimize
infrastructure set-up. The SaaS project team includes
both functional and technical consultants, as well as
support experts that take care of production after
go live.
Evolution services
As the capital markets change, so must your IT
system. Murex’s SaaS team is the primary contact forevolution discussions and is responsible for applying
and running requested production changes. For
the implementation of regulatory requirements, ourglobal delivery services team is available to provide
additional assistance during functional configurationand technical tuning. Combining DevOps with
controlled and flexible infrastructure, Murex SaaS
facilitates the injection of innovation into your IT at afaster pace and further strengthens collaboration andintegration in the cloud framework.

With SaaS, there
is no "one size fitsall", you need
the best fit foryour business.
Testing services
Leverage MXtest, the standalone test automation
tool for the MX.3 platform covering test design,
scripting, execution, reporting and evolution. Fully
integrated in the SaaS framework, this tool allows for
close collaboration between Murex and our clients,
increasing the quality of software delivery.
Upgrade services
New versions of MX.3 can be adopted efficiently
and rapidly with Murex SaaS. Our upgrade service
includes comprehensive non-regression testing,configuration change management, as well as theexecution of the upgrade procedure. It can be
combined with Murex testing services to further
optimize time to market.

11For more information visit murex.com
or email info@murex.com
murex.com

EMEA
Paris + 33 1 44 05 32 00
Beirut + 961 1 356 000

murex

Americas
New York + 1 212 381 4300

@murex_group

info@murex

Asia PacificSingapore + 65 6216 02 88

MUREX, Murex logos and product names are trademarks of Murex S.A.S. and Murex S.A.S. reserves all intellectual
property rights with respect to the trademarks. All other trademarks are the trademarks of their respective owners.