HSBC wins Infrastructure Technology - Banking at Hong Kong Business Technology Excellence Awards 2026

Zero Touch Automation reduced manual work, prevented certificate expiry, and accelerated infrastructure patching.

HSBC received an accolade in the Infrastructure Technology - Banking category at the Hong Kong Business Technology Excellence Awards 2026 for Zero Touch Automation, its in-house platform for SSL certificate renewals and infrastructure security patching.

The platform replaced manual and semi-automated work with centrally governed workflows that completed routine infrastructure activities without user intervention. The project addressed delays, inconsistent controls, duplicated tools, and service disruption risks linked to certificate expiry and patch deployment.

Before the platform’s introduction, certificate and patching tasks depended on coordination across multiple teams and systems. Zero Touch Automation consolidated these activities under policy-based controls and standardised execution across regions and technologies. For certificate management, it verified that renewed certificates were active in the relevant services rather than treating the renewal request alone as completion. It also supported earlier discovery of expiry risks and provided a central view of certificate lifecycle status.

The platform later expanded to auto-scheduled patching. This capability detected available patches, scheduled changes, and ran approved automation pipelines across onboarded servers. It shortened patching cycles, improved compliance, and reduced the time required for each deployment. The same operating model allowed technology teams to handle a higher volume of work without a corresponding increase in administrative headcount whilst maintaining common controls across on-premises and cloud environments.

Adoption across HSBC’s technology estate increased as more applications and infrastructure services joined the platform. Automated certificate renewals reduced incidents, including those caused by unattended expiry, whilst scheduled patching improved the frequency and consistency of security updates. The project also lowered operating costs by removing repetitive manual tasks and reducing the need for separate tools and processes. Its self-service engine supported requests across different technologies and markets.

Future development will extend Zero Touch Automation to additional technologies and shorter compliance cycles. Planned capabilities include broader automation for certificate and patch management, zero-impact change processes, self-healing services, and the use of artificial intelligence to support implementation. These additions will build on the existing platform model rather than introduce separate workflows for each infrastructure activity.

The Hong Kong Business Technology Excellence Awards is Hong Kong's most prestigious platform honouring groundbreaking achievements in technology. This esteemed awards programme recognises companies and organisations that are driving innovation, transforming industries, and setting new benchmarks for excellence in Hong Kong’s dynamic tech landscape.

The Hong Kong Business Technology Excellence Awards is presented by Hong Kong Business Magazine. To view the full list of winners, click here. If you want to join the 2027 awards programme and be acclaimed for your company's outstanding contributions in pursuit of technological innovation, please contact Julie Anne Nuñez-Difuntorum at +(65) 3158 1386 or [email protected].