Keep Your Financial Institutions Competitive With IT Services

IT services allow your financial organization to focus on what it does best.

Articles published April 20, 2021 by Sarah Verbeck

The way banks and other financial institutions conduct business has changed rapidly in recent years as advancements in technology continue to push more services online. Consumer banks have realized they need to become more efficient across branches to better serve customers. The same is true for wholesale banks, credit unions, brokerage firms, and insurance companies.

Rather than fighting technological change, the most successful financial institutions embrace it. And your organization doesn’t have to go about navigating change alone. Outsourcing specific IT services or turning to a managed IT services provider can supply a lot of relief in the long run. It is a strategic investment that allows your employees to better focus on daily business operations.

Minimized downtime, increased productivity, and better security and data protection are all major perks that benefit financial institutions after making investments in infrastructure and technology.

Cloud & Data Center Services Increase Efficiencies

Many financial institutions conduct business across multiple branches. This can lead to bandwidth issues and IT concerns between locations. Moving critical hardware, software, and applications to the cloud helps keep your branches and your employees connected to one another. That said, even a single property financial institution can benefit from moving their data to the cloud.

For instance, a bank with multiple branches can easily look up customer information and provide assistance no matter the location when accessing customer information on a cloud-based server. Meanwhile, this same type of setup allows an insurance broker to easily access data on the go.

SD-WAN takes cloud connectivity to an even higher level, allowing bank tellers, loan officers, financial analysts, and other critical employees to access their desktops and apps from anywhere. Financial institutions that invest in SD-WAN also tend to encounter fewer connectivity problems.

Learn more about how one bank with multiple branches moved to the cloud for extra stability and security and then further benefited from upgrading to SD-WAN in this case study.

Managed IT Services Help Boost Productivity

Instead of investing in IT services a la carte, you may want to consider hiring a managed IT services provider to handle the full range of infrastructure and technology services necessary to keep your financial institution running at its best. No matter the financial institution you work for or operate, it’s likely that you have very specific technical requirements. It’s helpful to look for a managed IT services provider with relevant experience in your industry for optimal results.

A managed IT services provider can use their experience to help assess your bandwidth needs and provide recommendations for security software and solutions to help keep your data safe. They will work to understand the ins and outs of your business and create efficiencies.

Uptime and system availability are two key indicators of success for financial institutions. A managed IT services provider will work with your organization to assess your infrastructure and determine what upgrades or additions will directly improve both of these influential metrics.

Find out how one Midwest financial institution benefited from managed IT services and increased its overall productivity by freeing up time to focus on core processes and customer service.

Security Solutions Keep Your Customers Safe

Network security is one of the most important investments a financial institution can make. Where you store your customer data matters and so do the measures you take to prevent cyberattacks.

One data breach can mean that your organization loses all of its credibility. Firewall security gives financial institutions the advantage in deflecting external attacks. However, there is not a one-size-fits-all security solution. That’s why it may be valuable to seek outside help.

Backup and disaster recovery are two other important pieces of the network security puzzle. These solutions fall under your wider business continuity plan to ensure that sensitive customer data is easily retrievable in the event of a disaster or any other unexpected occurrence.

Ultimately, the best security solution for financial institutions is a proactive one. A managed IT services provider can work with your organization to ensure your systems are compliant.

IT Services Give You a Competitive Edge

Banking and financial organizations depend on a reliable network to serve their customers and keep their information secure. An investment in managed IT services allows your business to fully focus on core processes and customer service, leaving IT infrastructure issues to the experts.

How secure is your financial institution’s data? Are there any areas where your organization could benefit from outsourced or managed IT services for efficiency or security?