Financial services leaders are under pressure from every direction: aging core platforms, rising resilience expectations, tighter regulatory scrutiny, escalating engineering costs and a growing mandate to put AI to work safely. For banks, insurers and other regulated institutions, the challenge is not simply to move faster. It is to modernize in a way that improves control, traceability and operational confidence at every step.
Publicis Sapient helps financial institutions do exactly that with Google Cloud: modernizing legacy estates, building secure cloud foundations, activating data at scale and accelerating compliant AI adoption across the software development lifecycle and beyond. Our approach brings together strategy, product, engineering, data and AI expertise with Google Cloud technology to help organizations transform critical systems without losing sight of risk, governance or business value.
This is not modernization for modernization’s sake. It is a pragmatic path to better speed, resilience and developer productivity in highly regulated environments.
Modernize the legacy estate without increasing delivery risk
Many financial institutions are still running complex estates made up of legacy applications, fragmented infrastructure and hard-to-maintain codebases. These environments slow release cycles, increase operational risk and make it harder to respond to new market demands. They also create a major barrier to AI adoption, because teams cannot scale new capabilities on top of brittle foundations.
Publicis Sapient addresses this challenge through a combined application and infrastructure modernization approach on Google Cloud.
On the application side, we help transform legacy systems into scalable, cloud-native architectures. Using Sapient Slingshot, we can turn existing code into verified specifications and generate modern software with full traceability. That matters in financial services, where leaders need a clear line of sight from old systems to new implementations, and where documentation, auditability and testing discipline are not optional. By accelerating code transition, documentation and automated testing, teams can improve productivity while reducing the uncertainty that often accompanies large-scale rewrites.
On the infrastructure side, we help institutions build secure, resilient, future-ready cloud environments aligned to both business and IT objectives. Instead of treating infrastructure as a separate workstream, we treat it as a control plane for modernization: one that enables stronger reliability, more consistent operations and a better runway for data and AI initiatives.
Build the right foundation for regulated cloud transformation
In financial services, speed only matters if it comes with governance. That is why Publicis Sapient uses its Cloud Acceleration Platform to help institutions build cloud foundations quickly and safely on Google Cloud.
CAP provides a repeatable framework for cloud adoption with modular, scalable configurations, workload-specific landing zones and built-in security controls aligned to Google best practices. For regulated organizations, this helps create a foundation that supports migration, build and ongoing operations while maintaining governance, visibility and compliance support.
The result is a more structured way to move modernization programs forward. Rather than standing up each environment from scratch, teams can use repeatable patterns that simplify onboarding, improve consistency across platforms and reduce the burden on engineering teams. That makes it easier to modernize portfolios in phases, prioritize high-value workloads and create a stronger operational baseline for future AI use cases.
Turn enterprise data into an asset for performance and AI
Modernization in financial services is not complete without data transformation. Banks and insurers need real-time insight, stronger decision support and a data architecture capable of serving analytics, operations and AI responsibly.
Publicis Sapient helps institutions design scalable, cloud-native data and analytics solutions on Google Cloud that turn enterprise data into a strategic asset. We build for real-time insights, predictive analytics and business intelligence so leaders can improve decision-making, support innovation and create a more connected view across lines of business.
This matters for more than reporting. A modern data foundation helps institutions improve risk visibility, support operational resilience and create the context required for production-grade AI. It also helps reduce the friction caused by fragmented data estates, siloed tooling and inconsistent processes that often slow transformation in regulated environments.
Accelerate AI adoption with governance built in
Financial institutions are eager to use generative AI, but most cannot afford uncontrolled experimentation. They need AI that is enterprise-ready, traceable and aligned to their internal risk and compliance requirements.
Publicis Sapient helps clients move from AI ambition to governed execution on Google Cloud. Our generative AI approach is designed to accelerate innovation while meeting the standards expected in regulated industries. Through a dedicated Google Cloud business unit, a Google Center of Excellence and a large base of gen AI-enabled consultants, we help institutions plan, deploy and manage AI programs with the right balance of speed and control.
Our AI platforms strengthen that delivery model. Sapient Bodhi builds and runs enterprise-ready AI agents with the orchestration, context and governance required to scale across real business workflows. Sapient Slingshot accelerates modernization and software development with verified specifications and traceability. Together, they help institutions modernize legacy estates while creating the operating conditions for compliant AI adoption.
The proof point is already clear. Publicis Sapient and Google Cloud are working with a major bank to modernize infrastructure and enhance the software development lifecycle with generative AI, targeting up to 40% efficiency gains. Crucially, the work includes a comprehensive generative AI framework tailored specifically to the client’s risk and compliance requirements. That is the model financial services leaders need now: measurable productivity gains without compromising governance.
A phased roadmap for transformation in regulated environments
Large-scale transformation in financial services works best when it is phased, outcome-led and designed around control points.
- **Phase 1: Assess and prioritize.** We begin by identifying high-value modernization and AI opportunities across the estate, focusing on business-critical systems, developer bottlenecks, resilience gaps and compliance-sensitive workflows. This creates a practical roadmap tied to outcomes, not technology in isolation.
- **Phase 2: Establish cloud foundations.** Using CAP, we stand up secure landing zones, controls and architectural patterns that support regulated migration and modernization. This creates the governance backbone for broader transformation.
- **Phase 3: Modernize applications and infrastructure.** We modernize legacy systems in waves, using AI-assisted engineering to accelerate code transition, documentation, testing and migration while maintaining traceability and control.
- **Phase 4: Activate data and analytics.** We build the data foundation needed for real-time insight, predictive capability and better operational decision-making across the enterprise.
- **Phase 5: Scale compliant AI.** With the right foundations in place, institutions can introduce generative AI into software delivery, operations and business workflows through governed frameworks that reflect internal risk, security and compliance expectations.
- **Phase 6: Improve continuously.** Transformation does not stop at go-live. With ongoing optimization, institutions can increase developer productivity, strengthen resilience, reduce technical debt and expand AI adoption with confidence.
Why financial institutions choose Publicis Sapient with Google Cloud
Publicis Sapient combines deep financial services understanding with proven strengths in application modernization, infrastructure modernization, data analytics, cloud acceleration and enterprise AI. As a leading Google Cloud partner with recognized financial services competency, we help institutions modernize beyond lift-and-shift thinking and move toward a future-ready operating model.
For banks, insurers and other financial institutions, the opportunity is significant: faster delivery, more resilient platforms, better use of data and AI that can be adopted responsibly at scale. The path forward is not about choosing between innovation and control. With the right partner and the right foundation on Google Cloud, financial services organizations can achieve both.