Financial services CIOs supporting Salesforce.com’s UK data centre

CIOs from the financial sector and its regulator have shown their support for cloud software provider Salesforce.com’s UK data centre.

Initially announced in May 2013, Salesforce.com confirmed in March its Slough data centre will open in the summer, and last week at the Salesforce1 World Tour JLT Group CIO Ian Cohen and CIO of the Financial Conduct Authority, Gareth Lewis, expressed their support for the cloud software powerhouse.

Cohen said: “It shows great commitment to UK growth. Security is vitally important and this will enhance Salesforce’s reputation.

“It also shows commitment to Europe since global doesn’t mean having one data centre on the west coast of the US and one data centre on the east coast.”

Cohen was among the 14% of leaders in the CIO 100 naming Salesforce.com as a strategic supplier, and discussed how social tools and Salesforce Chatter had helped created a more collaborative culture at the insurer.

“Salesforce have been a great partner for us, and an obligation is also there for them to continue that; but congratulations to Salesforce for demonstrating great commitment to UK PLC and to Europe.”

Formed in April 2013 as an independent regulator to engender trust in financial services in the UK, Lewis said at the event that the FCA had been given a huge challenge by the government when the Office of Fair Trading was closed down and it had to take on the regulation of consumer credit firms in April this year.

Lewis said that it was able to build up this platform in six months to support consumer credit regulation after “betting the farm” on Salesforce.com.

At the event, the CRM SaaS provider also announced that the Heron Tower would be renamed Salesforce Tower London as part of the deal that saw the San Francisco-based company become the skyscraper’s largest tenant.

While some clients of the building have expressed their displeasure about the renaming, CIO recruiter Harvey Nash said it was “fairly relaxed about the change”, while Salesforce.com itself still lists its address as Heron Tower, 110 Bishopsgate on its own website.