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January 11, 2010 - January 15, 2010
* uMonitor Announces 4 CUs Expanding Online Financial Services uMonitor, a financial solution services provider for operational excellence with member acquisition and retention, announced that Eli Lilly Federal Credit Union, CINCO Family Financial Center Credit Union, Communications Federal Credit Union, and CDC FCU have stepped up to expand their online offerings with services powered by uMonitor's platform. Services include online account opening and funding service with a built-in switch kit, stand alone switch kit and account-to-account money transfer. Lexmark has won a CES Innovations award in the Computer Peripherals category for their Platinum Pro905 Inkjet All-in-One printer. The best feature about this new printer is its incredible ink cartridge pricing: $4.99 for black ink, which equates to about $0.01 per page. The three color cartridges cost $9.99 each, so a replacement for all four cartridges will cost about $35. Meanwhile, most color inkjets that use four replacement cartridges will cost you $75-$125 to replace. The cost of the Pro905 itself is $399 retail and it comes with a five-year limited warranty.
Since just about anyone can be a deleted file recovery expert using free tools like Recuva, it is always wise to use a utility to securely erase critical files before PCs are retired. If you just have a handful of files to completely delete, you can use a free tool like Eraser which is an advanced security tool for Windows which allows you to completely remove sensitive data from your hard drive by overwriting it several times with carefully selected patterns. It works with Windows 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, Vista, Windows Server 2003 and Server 2008, and is available here: http://eraser.heidi.ie
At the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Intel announced new chips aimed at ATMs and kiosks. This rollout marked Intel's shift to a 32-nanometer manufacturing process that allows the chipmaker to put more transistors on an integrated circuit and create smaller, more powerful semiconductors. Plus, it includes the introduction to mainstream PCs of an Intel technology dubbed "Turbo Boost" that enables chips to automatically increase its processing power depending on the workload. Here is a chance to learn about real life credit union case studies from various technology vendors through the words of their clients. This week's vendor is: Shoreline Business Solutions, Inc.
and their client is: 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!
Morgan Stanley's recently released Mobile Internet Report predicts that more people will connect to the Internet via mobile devices than PCs in five years. The author of the report, Mary Meeker, was also behind the firm's seminal 1995 report heralding the growth of the Internet industry. Some analysts believe that it offers fresh validation for launching new mobile startups and initiatives while boosting the claims of existing mobile businesses. The Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC), a group formed in response to a 1998 Presidential security directive, has invited financial institutions, retailers, card processors, and businesses of all sizes to participate in its Cyber Attack against Payment Processes (CAPP) Exercise. The three-day exercise is scheduled for February 9 through 11, 2010. Participants will be expected to activate their incident response procedures in accordance with the scenario presented and to complete an anonymous survey to evaluate their organization's response. Security: Managing Risk and Security Efficiently and Affordably
According to research from Gartner, too many financial institutions lack a formal innovation program which Gartner believes will severely restrict their growth potential. The research firm says innovation is becoming increasingly important because non-banking competitors, such as retailers, online firms and telcos, are making inroads into the industry with strong consumer-oriented services. Gartner recommends that financial institutions focus innovation initiatives on service improvements, as opposed to pure product development and says personalization is a critical component of new offerings. Finally, Gartner says that technology - rather than products and services - will remain the leading enabler of sustainable competitive advantage. Online Banking/E-Commerce/Website Design Debit cards that use a signature for verification dominate debit use in this country, accounting for 61 percent of all debit card transactions. Visa has a commanding lead in signature debit in the United States, with a 73 percent share. Meanwhile, its share of the domestic PIN debit market is smaller but growing, at 42 percent, making Visa the biggest PIN network, according to The Nilson Report. Plus, there is even more go news for debit card issuers: by some estimates, debit transactions are forecasted to overtake cash purchases by 2012.
Credit Union tech-talk readers receive a 10% discount! Sign up today: http://www.codegreen.org/cuwebhunt In a major development, AT&T filed comments with the FCC in which the carrier explicitly calls for the phasing out of the legacy Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and the accompanying POTS service. According to AT&T, broadband is currently available to 90% of households, and 66% of households subscribe to broadband; and over 99% of Americans live in areas with cellular phone service, and approximately 86% of Americans subscribe to a wireless service. The carrier is making detailed arguments to the FCC to support what it considers the urgency of its need to begin the process of getting out from under its requirements to deliver POTS. Contact centers are gaining new labor efficiencies through the deployment of workforce management solutions, which are increasingly available via the software-as-a-service model. Monet Software is one vendor that offers an on-demand call center scheduling package called Monet WFM Live. This solution, like other WFM packages, offers capabilities that go far beyond what spreadsheets can deliver. First and foremost, they deliver advanced analytics that allow call center managers to forecast, with a high degree of accuracy, how many agents will be needed for any given shift. Plus, WFM software can do more than just improve schedule adherence and reduce shrinkage, they actually serve as short- and long-term strategic planning tools for contact centers of all sizes.
Inbound Telecom Disaster Recovery
Nothing is more important than serving your members. Telecom Recovery, which protects the communications for dozens of credit unions across the US, has a very powerful - and low cost - technology that protects your inbound calls during any kind of outage including:
Catch Tom and Bill Rogers, Associate Editor of Credit Union tech-talk at the following conferences in 2009: February 21-25, Washington - CUNA Governmental Affairs Conference May 19-21, Las Vegas - Credit Union InfoSecurity Conference |
