Canadian digital payment company Interac is to use Microsoft Azure’s cloud capabilities to manage securely the continued growth of digital transactions.

As part of Canada’s payments ecosystem, Interac has seen a surge in demand and required a trusted, reliable and secure cloud platform to support innovation and product development. During the pandemic the company processed almost one billion e-transfer transactions sent since the beginning of April 2020.

“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 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. 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 aims to accelerate its transformation journey to include faster data-rich payments, increased scalability and resilience, improved security and fraud controls, better redundancy, and innovative services for business and individuals. Azure provides Interac with a hybrid model of public and on-premises private cloud that should enable the business to move faster and maintain its reliability levels.

“Digital payment innovation will play an integral role in Canada’s economic recovery and global competitiveness.” said Kevin Peesker, president of Microsoft in 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.”

Sweers added: “We are committed to maintaining and attracting top talent as we build the future of digital payments in Canada. Investing in leading edge technologies like Microsoft Azure is an important investment in our technology teams and their career growth.”

Interac provides payment and value exchange services. With nearly 300 financial institutions connected to its network, Canadians choose Interac products an average of 18 million times a day to pay and exchange money.