Credit Union tech-talk News

September 22 - September 26, 2008

• General News
• Hardware News
• Software Updates
• ATMs/Kiosks
• Biometric Digest Highlights
• Wireless World
• Security Section
• Leaders Roundtable
• Technology and Marketing
• Online Banking/E-Commerce/
  Website Design
• Internet Access
• Call Centers
• Conferences

* Harland Financial Solutions Announces New CRM Offering
* CU*Answers Clients Realize 161% Increase in E-Statement Enrollments
* Open Solutions Opens High Tech Lab
* Horizon CU Partners with IT-Lifeline
* Bluepoint Solutions Closes 2nd Quarter with 74 New Users

Harland Financial Solutions announced the release of its next generation Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Solution, Touché CRM, at its recent user conference Connections 2008. Touché CRM succeeds Touché Sales & Service as Harland Financial Solutions’ CRM offering and features a more contemporary architecture with added business intelligence integration. Integrated with Harland Financial Solutions’ Touché Analyzer and Touché Messenger solutions, Touché CRM combines standard CRM functionality with business intelligence features and enterprise-wide messaging.

CU*Answers recently announced the completion of a successful Collaborative Marketing campaign aimed at promoting e-Statements for clients utilizing its CU*BASE processing system. Clients could purchase marketing materials, such as 4-color statement inserts and lobby posters, at considerably discounted prices as compared to purchasing these materials on their own. After tallying the results from 56 participating credit unions, 10,249 members signed up for e-statements in the 2-month period for which the contest ran which represented a 161% increase in e-Statement enrollments as compared to the 2-month period prior to the contest.

Open Solutions, a leading provider of software to the financial services industry, announced the opening of its new Enterprise Usability Lab, a state-of-the-art facility the company will employ to conduct usability tests on existing and new products. The new lab replicates the environment in which an individual uses a particular product and utilizes Morae software to record all aspects of the individual’s experience while using the product: keystrokes, clickstream, audio and video. Those recordings are then synchronized into a single file and studied to determine, among other things, how simple, convenient and easily mastered the product is by the end-user.

Spokane-based Horizon Credit Union has signed with IT-Lifeline to provide for back-up data storage services. IT-Lifeline provides a complete recovery and continuity solution, from plans to action, for both core systems and business applications.

Bluepoint Solutions, a provider of Check 21, remote deposit capture, electronic document management and multi-factor identification software technology for credit unions, announced it added seventy-four users during the 2nd quarter of 2008 to the more than 900 financial institutions who have chosen its real-time Teller Capture, Branch Capture, and Receipt Manager solutions.

Hardware News

Lenovo said it is entering the server market with the ThinkServer, a lineup starting at $749 targeted at small and medium sized organizations. Lenovo, the former PC business of IBM, hit the market with a focus on laptops and notebooks, but will now offer three towers and two x86 servers that run on Windows Server or SUSE Linux Enterprise Server from Novell. The company bundles software dubbed EasyStartup, EasyUpdate and EasyManagement to configure the servers and track performance.

JVC and GVI Security Solutions have launched new IP video surveillance solutions. JVC is expanding its V.Networks line-up of advanced IP-based video security products with the launch of its new VN-X35U IP security camera. JVC claims that their new 1.3 megapixel camera creates a surveillance environment where the user can see an image at four times the resolution of standard IP network cameras. As for GVI, they are launching a Samsung-branded, end-to-end IP video security surveillance system. They say that their new Samsung Electronics NET-i I IP Video Security Solution brings together all of the company's IP product ranges including cameras, software, encoder, DVRs and LCD monitors.

Back to Top

Back to Top

ATMs/Kiosks

Triton Systems announced plans to produce a new low-end, off-premise model ATM. Plans call for the new ATM, which will be modeled after Triton's popular RL line of off-premise ATMs, to include a 5.7-inch color display, 60mm printer, business-hour cabinet and 1,000 note CDU with removable lock box cassette. It will run on Microsoft Windows CE 5.0 with Triton's X2-based technology.

CO-OP Financial Services has begun offering its first subsidized ATM Signage Program as another way for members to easily identify the nation’s largest surcharge-free network of ATMs. The new ATM signage, offered either as a backlit display and/or banner with stand for drive-up terminals, will retain the credit union’s own branding. CO-OP will subsidize signage placed with the CO-OP logo – up to $400 per terminal. .

Back to Top

SafeBoot, which was acquired by McAfee last year, protects computers by encrypting their hard drives. It can be used to prevent malicious access to data on a stolen laptop, for example. SafeBoot works by requiring users to authenticate at the hardware level before the operating system boots up. This prevents a malicious user from bypassing the operating system password with a boot CD. Although by default it uses a standard user ID and password, it can also works with various biometric techniques such as fingerprint readers.  

Back to Top

Despite the fact that over 90% of Americans that own contactless payments cards like using them, three quarters of the population are not even aware of the technology's existence, according to a survey commissioned by the Smart Card Alliance. A Javelin Strategy and Research study reveals that nine percent of the U.S. population now have a contactless credit or debit card. Last year the number of open network contactless cards in circulation reached 35 million. Additionally, contactless users are paying with their contactless cards or fobs frequently, with over 22% using contactless payment more than six times per month. An estimated 75,000 U.S. merchant location are now accepting contactless payment.

As more and more credit unions offer their members mobile banking services, some observers believe that the threat for data compromise and virus attack will rapidly increase, thereby putting these transactions and member money at risk. In response, an Ohio-based security company has launched a secure mobile banking endpoint security solution for credit unions and their members. We will cover it in the October issue of Credit Union tech-talk - subscribe now. 

Back to Top

Open source vendor Untangle has come up with a new version of its gateway that can turn any Windows XP PC into a security appliance. Basically a scaled-down version of the company's Linux-based Untangle server, the new 'Re-Router' system puts itself between the network's main router and other PCs, filtering all traffic for a range of security threats. While all routing functions - including fixed IP addresses and NAT (Network Address Translation) - remain the domain of the main gateway, the Re-Router takes over a range of security functions such as content filtering, anti-virus and anti-spam. The free software is only suitable for use on small networks, up to around 25 users in size.

Antivirus and security software vendor Panda Security has completed a new study which indicates that the growth of malware and other attacks will soon overwhelm current client/server-based AV software. Even as antivirus vendors push out larger and larger signature files to clients and servers, these signature-based updates are becoming less effective. In a study of almost a million clients, Panda found that 30 percent of U.S. PCs contained an active infection - even though half of them were running up-to-date antivirus or anti-malware software. Panda is moving to a "cloud computing" SaaS model that places the memory-intensive signatures into a central database that can be accessed via a thinner client, thus reducing the CPU drag on the client machine. Eventually, the company plans to store less and less data on clients and servers, making less impact on CPU utilization. In fact, they say that they would like to evolve to a 100% software-as-a-service model at some point in the future.

Trustwave has collected hard data from 400 recent cardholder data compromise incidents, and analyzed them to find the latest attack trends and techniques. The top 10 methods of card data compromise were:

1. SQL injection
2. Backdoor/trojan
3. Remote access issues
4. Perimeter security issues
5. Weak passwords
6. Remote exploit
7. Keystroke loggers
8. Internal attacks
9. Physical security issues
10. Wireless

Back to Top

Core Systems:

Core Systems – Collaborating to Better Serve Members

COCC - http://www.cocc.com Read Joe Trafton's comments: http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/COCC.pdf

CU*Answers - http://www.cuanswers.com Read Randy Karnes' comments: http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/CUAnswers.pdf

Enhanced Software Products - http://www.espsolution.net Read Matt Lefler's comments:    http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/ESP.pdf

Fidelity Information Services - http://www.fidelityinfoservices.com Read John Schooler's comments: http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/FIS.pdf

Fiserv - http://www.cu7.fiserv.com Read John Edwards' comments:     http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/Fiserv_XP.pdf

Fiserv - http://www.cu7.fiserv.com Read Jay Slavin's comments:     http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/Fiserv_Galaxy.pdf

Harland Financial Solutions - http://www.harlandfinancialsolutions.com Read David McConney's comments: http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/HFS.pdf

Open Solutions - http://www.opensolutions.com Read Michael Nicastro's comments: http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/OSI.pdf

ShareOne - http://www.shareone.com Read Daryl Tanner's comments: http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/ShareOne.pdf

Software and Management Associates - http://www.smausa.com Read Michael W. Taylor's comments: http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/SMA.pdf

Symitar - http://www.symitar.com Read Kathy Hooker Burress' comments: http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/Symitar.pdf

Back to Top

In a survey conducted by Coinstar, in partnership with Kelton Research, more than two in five (43 percent) consumers say they would prefer a change of environment at their financial institution, modeling it after retailers such as premium coffee shops or apparel stores known for personal shoppers and exceptional service. According to the poll results, 50 percent of consumers would take advantage of financial or related services not traditionally provided by their branch if they were offered. Legal advice and financial planning were among the most desired. Their top choices for non-traditional banking services were: self-service coin counting; postal services; and computer and printing services. Other services of interest to respondents included a snack bar, Wi-Fi, neck and shoulder massage, and a supervised play area for children.

Woodland, CA-based Yolo Federal Credit Union announced a new “Go Solar” loan. These low cost loans are targeted at home owners who are interested in installing photovoltaic solar systems. The loans feature fixed rate financing up to $25,000 with no application fees or closing costs.

Back to Top

A survey by Datamonitor indicates that while Web 2.0-inspired online banking interfaces and services are likely to be launched on a small scale, large-scale adoption of interactive online banking services is likely to take a longer time due to security concerns. The firm notes that young people who grew up using customizable, interactive Web 2.0 applications are likely to demand the same amount of flexibility from their online banking service providers. However, the researchers believe that financial institutions are hesitant to offer Facebook-like online banking features such as personalized account home pages, online widgets and third-party information delivered via RSS feeds – mainly due to security concerns.

Javelin Strategy & Research believes that financial institutions must incorporate expedited payments now or risk losing $5 billion in fees to third party billers. The current economy motivates consumers to accept higher fees associated with expediting bill payments in lieu of facing costly late payment charges. Javelin forecasts that cash-strapped consumers using expedited payments as a way to hold onto bill payments longer could face a doubling in the price of expedited payments over the next five years, from $8 on average to $16 in 2013. The study titled "2008 Expedited Payments Forecast: Banks Must Add Expedited Payments Now or Lose $5 Billion in Fees to Billers" also highlights the implications for mobile expedited payments, citing that currently 45% of existing mobile bankers use expedited payments at least once a month and certain age groups are poised to drive mobile channel growth.

Back to Top

At the recent ITEXPO conference Microsoft and 8x8 announced that they will be working together to offer Packet8 VoIP SIP trunking service with the Microsoft Response Point Business Phone System to small to mid-size organizations. The companies will jointly market the combined solution through their respective value-added reseller (VAR) channels. In addition, they will jointly market this solution online and via other marketing channels.

There are many different instant messaging (IM) applications on the market which can make it difficult to communicate. However, multiprotocol software like Pidgin allows you to communicate with users across more than a dozen IM services: not just AIM, ICQ, and other large services, but also numerous lesser known ones. Trillian is similar package, but it supports fewer services.

Back to Top

Sixty eight percent of credit union call centers ranked call quality as the leading measure to evaluate the performance of their agents, according to Callahan's Credit Union Call Center survey. Call quality programs often include scoring evaluations, coaching programs and training tools to guide member service representatives. The survey noted that credit union scoring systems should include: member verification; professionalism; connecting with the member; and service and sales.

Back to Top

Catch Tom and Bill Rogers, Associate Editor of Credit Union tech-talk at the following conferences in 2008:

October 15-18, Las Vegas - Firefighters' National Credit Union Summit

November 13-15, New Orleans - Credit Union InfoTech Conference

June 4-5, Lake Las Vegas - Credit Union InfoSecurity Conference

Back to Top