77 Bank overhauls OA Clients with AMD for enhanced security

77 Bank Overhauls OA Clients with AMD for Enhanced Security

77 Bank has enhanced its zero trust security through an IT infrastructure that utilizes HP PCs equipped with AMD Ryzen™ PRO CPUs for its OA clients

Diverse ways of working, in particular the rapid spread of remote working following the COVID-19 pandemic, are driving changes and transformations in how companies implement their digital infrastructure. As it is becoming increasingly important to accommodate AI workloads and the diverse working styles of their employees, companies must continually strive to improve the performance and security of their business systems. 77 Bank was looking to overhaul its office automation (OA) clients in order to adapt to this new era. By using the AMD Ryzen™ PRO processors, they were able to resolve their performance issues while managing to develop their IT infrastructure and enhance security.

Hiroaki Soma, Chief Expert, Digital Development Section, 77 Bank, says: "We were looking to overhaul our entire OA system, from the servers in the data center to the PCs, printers, and tablets used by employees—what you would call our client infrastructure." The bank planned to overhaul approximately 3,000 OA client devices used at its headquarters, sales offices, and other locations.

While most of the bank's employees currently work on-site, the OA clients are used both within and outside of the bank, such as while on the go for business trips, or at home when working remotely. The bank anticipated that this would go on to expand into further varied use cases. Based on this , the Digital Development Section sought to resolve PC performance issues, establish IT infrastructure for digital transformation (DX), and enhance security.

Soma explains: "We have two types of PCs—thin clients and thick clients. There are also two form factors, one that is easily portable and one that can only be used in the office."

Enabling an upgrade to Windows 11

"Under our old system, we had been using the PCs for 10 years or more in some cases, so they were becoming increasingly outdated. It was time to update all of our devices to meet the operating system requirements for Windows 11," recalls Iwabuchi. 77 Bank needed not only significant device performance improvements, but also full compatibility with Windows 11 along with enhanced security. To achieve this, the bank deployed HP ZBook Firefly 14 mobile workstations equipped with AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 7640HS processors as their mobile device of choice.

Soma goes on to explain: "Our old system would frequently freeze up when dealing with large volumes of documents and large amounts of data, which hindered our business operations. Improving performance by overhauling our clients enabled us to overcome such issues. We are also planning to improve operational efficiency by introducing new thick clients to deliver better performance for heavy users at our headquarters. The AMD Ryzen processor devices enabled smooth migration to Windows 11. The Windows 11-compatible CPUs facilitated a simple, worry-free rollout."

Security was also an important factor, and 77 Bank needed client systems that could handle future Windows 11 security updates. Soma says: "Alongside overhauling our clients, we were looking at bringing in new security solutions such as EDR. In order to provide a more secure environment using the latest technologies, we have been working to implement data encryption using BitLocker, as well as enhance security by taking a zero trust approach utilizing CrowdStrike Falcon's Endpoint Detection and Response."

Enhancing security with AMD Ryzen PRO CPUs

Ever-evolving cyber threats require companies to implement quick and precise safety measures. Iwabuchi goes on to explain: "Looking ahead, we anticipate that, in addition to an increasing number of digital tools that utilize public clouds, we will see more and more different ways in which our employees work. Therefore, establishing IT infrastructure that can be used safely and securely both inside and outside the bank is essential, and we must accelerate our DX initiatives. AMD devices will play a pivotal role in these initiatives."

All of 77 Bank's OA clients are managed by servers located in the bank's data center. Soma says: "We monitor all our PCs and use dedicated IT asset management tools installed on them for the purpose of software version control and to ensure that OS updates are carried out properly. The new AMD devices have also brought about improvements in system maintenance operations, significantly reducing the number of PC breakdowns and malfunctions, leading to lower repair costs."

"The AMD devices are providing excellent stability, availability, and reliability," says Iwabuchi. "Looking to the future, we have very high hopes for these AMD devices. Since the rollout, many people have mentioned the improved processing speeds alleviating much stress for them. They also say that the longer battery life makes them easy to carry around for working on the go and when working remotely."

Soma says: "We have seen improvements in various areas, including our PC startup times being much quicker, with increased resolution and much sharper image reproduction. We use numerous ISV applications, and the AMD devices run them all without issue, so we believe we can cut down on the number of devices as they are versatile enough to run several applications on a single PC. I feel that this will be an important element in our DX initiatives."

AI-driven workloads and PC performance

77 Bank employees needed a variety of PC types, ranging from standard laptops for office use and mobile PCs for work on-the-go to high-performance PCs for heavy-duty processing. These were categorized into three main groups based on working style. For employees working outside of the office, such as PR representatives, the HP ZBook Firefly 14 mobile workstation equipped with a SIM card was introduced, whereas for employees working in the office, two types of HP ProBook laptops with different performance levels were rolled out. High-performance PCs were rolled out as thick clients for employees handling large volumes of data, such as those conducting data analysis at their headquarters.

AI-driven workloads are becoming increasingly important for 77 Bank. PCs with AMD processors are capable of delivering the performance required to run resource-intensive AI applications. "We, too, have started using AI technology. Leveraging AI has become a top priority in order to further improve productivity," says Iwabuchi. There are high hopes for AI being used across a wide range of fields, including general administrative tasks, customer service, and fraud detection. "For example, using AI to automatically evaluate loan applicants' credit information would allow us to streamline operations and reduce the time needed to review loans, thereby enabling us to notify customers of the outcome more quickly than before. AI can also pick up suspicious behavior and assist in fraud detection at a level imperceptible to humans."

AMD processors support 77 Bank in all areas of its IT strategy, DX, and business transformation. Soma explains: "Vision 2030 is our long-term plan looking ahead toward 2030, taking into account social issues such as population decline, declining birthrates, and an aging population. AMD provides a good balance between cost and performance, and provides the critical infrastructure needed for 77 Bank to achieve DX. I would strongly recommend that any business use AMD CPUs."