If your community bank is thinking of rolling out an online loan application program, or any more complex product offering, you will likely have to make choices about a digital helper and how it interacts with customers. [Continue]
During the pandemic, we saw a surge in app-based services that offered grocery delivery, food and retail products delivery, and services such as dog walking and even child care. Now that the pandemic has mostly dissipated, we are seeing a return to pre-pandemic usage levels of rideshare services such as Uber and Lyft. [Continue]
Just 15 percent of community banks have already deployed chatbots with another 19 percent planning to invest and/or implement this year. The trend is obvious. The effectiveness, perhaps, is yet to be determined. We’ve all been on the receiving end of a useless chatbot, and, let’s face it, there are a lot of useless chatbots in the world. Don’t implement a chatbot simply because “everyone else is doing it.” Think about what you hope to accomplish and examine a chatbot’s features before making a decision. [Continue]
The cost of staying ahead of security challenges continues to rise for banks. Anand Naik, cofounder and CEO of cybersecurity tech firm Sequretek, shares his thoughts on the state of enterprise cybersecurity and how banks can best prepare for today’s threat environment. [Continue]
The use of APIs expanded in the 1990s as use of web applications and the internet increased. Today, they’re necessary in order to integrate data between platforms. With the movement of data — particularly the highly confidential, sensitive data that banks handle — privacy and security are of paramount importance. No bank wants to make the headlines due to exposed customer data. [Continue]
The secure file transfer experience for the customer has to be effortless; that’s a given. Security protocols should be paramount to any vendor that provides the transfer of sensitive documents, also a given. But beyond that, secure file transfer platforms can benefit a bank in other ways, by providing behind-the-scenes automation, document storage and more. [Continue]
It can’t be said often enough: Nearly every horror story about a bank or its customers being the victim of a cyber attack starts with a misstep by the victim. These can range from carelessness to being duped by very sophisticated criminals. The IT world has considered human error the greatest obstacle to cybersecurity for a very long time. Those faxes from the Nigerian prince promising to make you rich are really no less sophisticated than your run-of-the mill phishing email today. [Continue]
If you haven’t already, at some point you’ll be faced with the question: Is your bank willing to be a beta site for a new technology product? It’s tempting. You get a “sneak peek” of a new product and the chance to offer feedback. But being a beta site can be disruptive depending on the level of involvement, frequency of feedback requested, and risks to your existing process. [Continue]
Think of the most recent app you downloaded on your phone. When you opened the app for the first time, what was the experience? Could you easily figure out how to navigate and use the app or did you struggle? Now think about your bank’s online and mobile banking experiences, from account setup to reviewing transactions. Are they effortless? Or do users encounter friction? [Continue]
In my neighborhood, trucks and vans from UPS, FedEx, Amazon, the United States Postal Service, and various grocers rumble past my door with increasing frequency. My husband and I had originally selected our townhouse community because it was set apart from highly-trafficked roads. It was secluded and quiet. These days, I feel like my home has been plopped into the middle of Richard Scarry’s “Busytown.” [Continue]