Increased adoption of cloud computing helped IBM kick off the year with a strong quarter, the enterprise technology and software provider said in its first quarter earnings report released Monday.

IBM’s quarterly filings also revealed the company has taken on PNC Bank and Mexican banking and financial services firm Banorte, as clients for its hybrid cloud offering. Hybrid clouds use a combination of private and public cloud infrastructure to store data.

The reported uptick in IBM’s revenues comes after four consecutive quarters of decline. IBM got off the mat following a tough 2020 and has managed to grow through expanding its hybrid-cloud offerings and artificial intelligence (AI) offerings.

“We see the hybrid cloud opportunity at a trillion dollars, with less than 25% of workloads having moved to the cloud so far,” Arvind Krishna, chief executive at IBM, said on the earnings call. IBM’s cloud and data platforms reported growth of 13%, as the cloud and cognitive software segment brought in $5.3 billion in revenues, up 3.8% on a quarterly basis.

The firm also announced earlier in April that it is expanding offerings on its financial services cloud platform, including support for RedHat’s Open Shift, an open-source application container platform that helps businesses manage their workloads in a hybrid cloud set up.

Designed in collaboration with Bank of America, IBM’s dedicated financial cloud was built with a focus on security and compliance measures that occupy center-stage in the banking industry. The firm also collaborated with global financial institutions like BNP Paribas, Luminor Bank and MUFG to ensure compliance with data protection and encryption demands, allowing banks to be the sole owners of encryption keys and therefore have overall control over how their data is used.

BNP Paribas has already migrated over 40 line-of-business application onto the platform.

“We had traction in areas like financial services, where robust market volatility drove demand for increased capacity,” Jim Kavanaugh, IBM’s finance chief, said on the call. The firm has also focused on deleveraging its financial position, as reflected in its total debt, which climbed down to $56.4 billion as of March 2021, from $64.3 billion in March 2020.

“We are reshaping our future as a hybrid cloud platform and AI company,” said Krishna during the call. During the past year, businesses have made investments in their IT infrastructure, and are dealing with constraints such as compliance, data sovereignty and latency needs in their operations, he added.

As banks and financial institutions look to move their workflows into the cloud, consumption metrics are also playing an increased role. “Clients’ buying behaviors have been shifting toward more consumption-based models,” Kavanaugh said.

IBM expects growth in its revenues for all of 2021 and expects an adjusted free cash flow of $11 billion to $12 billion during the year, according to the quarterly filings.

Shares of IBM [NYSE: IBM] were trading up 3.82% to $138.21 at 1:40 p.m. The enterprise software and technology provider has a market capitalization of $123.02 billion.