|
August 1, 2011 - August 5, 2011
General News
* Symitar Announces Hosted Failover Service
* Desert Schools FCU Launches Finivation's VoiceVerify
* CU*Answers Introduces EXAMSHARE
* PSCU Financial Services Posts Contact Center Growth
Jack Henry & Associates, a leading provider of computer systems and electronic payment solutions for credit unions, announced that its Symitar division, which provides core data processing and other technology solutions to credit unions of all sizes, has introduced a hosted failover service for in-house users of its Episys core platform. Developed jointly by Symitar and Jack Henry & Associates' Centurion Disaster Recovery group, Hosted Failover provides an alternative to traditional "warm recovery" services.
Financial technology provider Finivation Software has officially launched its voice biometrics solution, VoiceVerify, to enhance credit unions’ security measures. Desert Schools Federal Credit Union (Phoenix, AZ) will be the first financial institution to implement the new software that is designed to help quickly and cost effectively verify a person’s identity remotely.
CU*Answers, which was founded 40 years ago and is a 100% Credit Union owned CUSO located in Grand Rapids, MI, announced EXAMSHARE, a website for peers to provide feedback through a survey reflecting examination experience. The CUSO says that it plans to take resulting answers from the surveys and send out reports breaking down the survey responses by criteria such as region, size, charter and exam subject matter – in hopes this information will provide credit unions the needed information to arm themselves for examination and obtain a much more effective and higher score.
PSCU Financial Services, the nation's largest CUSO, posted 11% growth in its Total Member Care customized member servicing since the beginning of 2011. Year to date, it has signed contracts with 11 credit unions, representing 1 million additional members for its Contact Centers. Credit unions that recently signed up for Total Member Care include: VyStar Credit Union, Jacksonville, FL; Citadel FCU, Exton, PA.; Fairwinds CU, Orlando, FL; Lake Trust CU, Plymouth, MI; Hawaii State FCU, Honolulu, HI; San Diego Metropolitan CU, San Diego, CA; Air Force FCU, San Antonio, TX; Wanigas CU, Saginaw, MI; Sb1 FCU, Philadelphia, PA; MECU, Baltimore, MD; and Inova FCU, Elkhart, IN.
Hardware News
The Kace unit of Dell is shipping a new asset management appliance aimed at cutting costs of managing hardware and software. The Kace M300 is the first appliance in a new line of M-series devices for 200 seats that track hardware configurations and changes and software compliance. The M300 automates asset management, with agents deployed on PCs communicating configurations and changes to the appliance.
Dell said it will warranty servers to run at 113 degrees Fahrenheit for a limited number of hours per year, so that customers can make wider use of "fresh-air cooling" in their data centers. Fresh-air cooling is an emerging technique that draws outside air into the data center, filters it and uses that to cool the IT gear. Dell will warranty many of its mainstream servers, as well as some network and storage products, to operate at 104 degrees Fahrenheit for up to 900 hours per year, and at 113 degrees Fahrenheit for 90 hours per year. The products covered in the announcement include two-socket 1U and 2U servers, as well as tower servers.
|
Hardware Section Sponsored by
Millennial Vision, Inc. (MVi)
|
Back to Top
Software Updates
Nervepoint Access Manager is a free, preconfigured virtual appliance offering a self-service solution for managing Active Directory identities. Credit unions looking to implement some type of password and account self-service options would be good candidates for this application. Because there is no hardware needed specifically for the account management tools, the startup costs are quite minimal. Other commercial solutions include ScriptLogic Password Self Service and NetWrix Web based password change for Active Directory.
One of the big selling points of server virtualization is that it permits you to reduce hardware costs through server consolidation. Naturally the best way to achieve this cost reduction is to have your hardware host as many virtual machines as possible. We will supply some virtualization tips in the September issue of Credit Union tech-talk - subscribe now.
|
Software Updates Sponsored by
Raddon Financial Group (RFG)
|
Back to Top
ATMs/Kiosks
ATM network operator NYCE has signed a multi-year agreement with its United Kingdom counterpart Link that will enable consumers to withdraw money from cash machines on both sides of the Atlantic. The FIS-owned NYCE network includes 360,000 ATMs across the US, while Link includes 63,000 machines.
Genmega is a fairly new ATM brand that recently released new ATM models that includes the Genmega 2500. The unit comes standard with a large 8-inch high resolution LCD screen, with the option to upgrade the LCD to a 10.2-inch touch screen. Along with a high-definition LCD screen, an integrated illuminated ATM sign comes standard with every G2500 ATM. In addition to supporting cash dispensers from alternative manufacturers, the G2500 is built to allow ATM deployers the option of fixed, removable and multi-cash cassette dispensers (up to 3,400 notes). Finally, a majority of the machine's parts are interchangeable with ATMs manufactured by Hantle (i.e. 1700W and C4000).
Back to Top
CU Success Stories
Here is a chance to learn about real life credit union success stories from various technology vendors through the words of their clients. This week's vendor is:
Synergent
and their client is:
University Credit Union
Credit Unions - if you have a vendor that you are happy with then please let us know!
Vendors - if you have a credit union that is happy with your solutions then please let us know and we will give you a $100 discount on your Case Study!
Back to Top
Wireless World
Confident Technologies has unveiled Confident Multifactor Authentication, which they say is a new approach to two-factor authentication that delivers an image-based authentication challenge to users’ mobile phones for a more secure out-of-band authentication process. Here is how Confident Multifactor Authentication works:
1. When a user first registers, they select a few categories of things they can easily remember – such as dogs, flowers and cars.
2. When out-of-band authentication is needed – such as when the user is attempting to transfer money to another account – an application on the user’s smartphone displays a randomly-generated grid of pictures that has a one-time authentication code encrypted within it.
3. The user identifies the pictures that fit their previously-chosen, secret categories by tapping the appropriate pictures on the smartphone display. By identifying the correct pictures, the user is essentially reassembling the one-time authentication code that was encrypted within the grid of images.
In a report based on three surveys with more than 13,000 people, Javelin Strategy and Research says there has been a 42% increase in the number of smartphone owners over the last year, with 34% of the population now owning one. However, the percentage of these smartphone owners that actually use their handsets for banking has stayed fairly static. In 2010 63% had never used mobile banking, compared to 59% in 2011. Security concerns continue to be the major barrier - between 2009 and 2010 the number of consumers who rated mobile banking as "unsafe" or "very unsafe" increased by 54%.
Back to Top
Security Section
Mavituna Security has released version 2.0 of their Web app security scanner called Netsparker. The firm says that the scanner can identify web application vulnerabilities like SQL injection, cross-site Scripting (XSS), remote code execution and many more. Netsparker 2.0 comes with 7 major updates, 16 new security checks, 15 new features and a Vulnerability Database, which stores a list of known vulnerabilities for commonly-used systems and components.
Norman announced the launch of the Norman Malware Analyzer G2 platform, which offers traditional sandbox analysis while also offering new IntelliVM capability, which embeds Norman's proprietary KernelScout technology for discovery of deeply hidden suspicious software behavior. The solution is offered as a hardware appliance or as software. In addition to emulation and virtualization, the G2 environment includes Norman Malware Debugger PRO, which performs deep analysis of suspicious files with all of the functionality of traditional reverse-engineering and debugging tools in a single interface.
Back to Top
Leaders Roundtable
Online and Mobile Banking:
Lowering Channel Costs & Enabling More Self-service
Back to Top
Technology and Marketing
A recent study by Mintel Compermedia found that 47% of consumers surveyed who participate in a debit rewards program have never actually redeemed their rewards points. The results of the survey suggest that debit rewards programs are not a strong incentive to stay loyal to a particular financial institution. The research firm believes that going forward debit rewards will become less of a standalone product and more of a part of an overall loyalty program.
Milwaukee, WI-based Summit Credit Union will make loans available for residents to purchase solar electric or hot water systems. Homeowners also can take advantage of a 30% federal tax credit and a Focus on Energy incentive. The credit union has set aside $2M for the loans which are capped at $20,000 per project over 15 years.
|
Technology & Marketing Section Sponsored by
MARQUIS Software Solutions
|
Back to Top
Online Banking/E-Commerce/Website Design
Payment company Jumio says that their patented Netswipe solution turns any webcam into a secure credit card reader that allows merchants to more easily and efficiently accept payments online. To complete a transaction, consumers hold their credit card in front of their webcam. Through secure videostreaming, the credit card details are recognized and verified. No snapshot image is taken, and no data is stored on the computer that is used for the payment. Jumio’s advisory board includes former executives from Google, Amazon, Facebook and NASA.
Financial institutions in the United Kingdom have cancelled their plans to abolish checks by 2018. They have backed down in the face of strong opposition from consumer groups, charities and politicians. The Payments Council has scrapped their check abolishment plans with promises that checks will continue for as long as customers need them.
Integrated Media Management (IMM) announced that the company has seen the total number of remote signing events in their TotaleAtlasWeb solution increase incrementally every month through the first two quarters this year. Transactions processed through TotaleAtlasWeb have also risen 63 percent from January 2011 to June 2011. The company attributes the rise to the fact that consumers are becoming more comfortable with online channels and the use of remote digital signatures.
Back to Top
Internet Access
Through partnership agreements with leading UC (unified communications) firms like Microsoft, Avaya, Polycom and Alcatel-Lucent, Hewlett-Packard will provide solutions and consulting services that help organizations integrate telephony services with communication applications. The HP Network Readiness Services can be provided in conjunction with HP's new Virtual Workplace Solution, which includes a platform that integrates a host of UC services. Finally, HP's Voice Transformation Solutions, which help organizations evolve their infrastructure by combining Voice over IP (VoIP) and legacy phone systems using SIP Trunking.
Caller ID spoofing is the practice of causing the telephone network to display a number on the recipient's Caller ID display which is not that of the actual originating station. The term is commonly used to describe situations in which the motivation is considered malicious by the speaker. One company claims to be able to counter this with a new solution. We will cover it in September issue of Credit Union tech-talk - subscribe today.
Back to Top
Call Centers
SimplyCT has launched the SimplyCT Virtual Contact Center Solution, a cloud-based tool that allows organizations to self-configure a custom virtual contact center. Using the SimplyCT platform, contact centers can design to their specific call center needs by choosing from a variety of features, such as Web chat, recording campaign dialing and callback. The solution also includes monitoring tools that provides users with real-time results of contact center activity.
|
Call Centers Section Sponsored by
Better Branches
|
Back to Top
Conferences
Catch Tom and Bill Rogers, Associate Editor of Credit Union tech-talk, at these upcoming conferences:
October 9-12, New Orleans - Firefighters’ National Credit Union Summit
November 5-9, Palm Springs - Reaching Your Members in the 21st Century
June 6-8, Las Vegas - Credit Union InfoSecurity Conference
Back to Top
|
