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General
News
* WesCorp selects IPLocks
* Freedom CU Partners with AFTECH
* Cavion Plus Intros Gateway Anti-Virus
* Seven Seventeen CU Wins Best Practice Award with SilverCloud's Help
* New CUSO to Offer Open Solutions Core Data Processing Suite
IPLocks, a provider of database vulnerability assessment, continuous risk monitoring and non-repudiation audit analysis systems, announced Western Corporate Federal Credit Union (WesCorp), has selected IPLocks' Database Security Monitoring, Assessment and Audit Analysis System. The corporate CU will use the system to provide the visibility, access control, and real-time notification required for effective database security operations and IT governance requirements in a non-intrusive, automated and scalable manner.
AFTECH, a leading core system data processing supplier to credit unions and a specialized resource of Fiserv, announced that Philadelphia-based Freedom Credit Union will implement its Advantage core processing system. Freedom has also chosen a variety of other AFTECH products, including Internet credit reporting, Advantage email, shared branch issuer software, and AFTECH's negative-outstanding-balance software for processing overdrafts.
Cavion Plus, one of the credit union movement’s leading providers of e-Business solutions, has added an additional layer of security to their managed firewall product. The new development, Gateway Anti-Virus, is designed to be a seamless add-on to Cavion Plus’ existing managed firewall product and all updates and maintenance will fall under the managed firewall service agreement.
Seven Seventeen Credit Union received the Best Practice in Technology award at the recent 2004 Call Center Conference. The credit union presented how they improved member service by reducing redundant employee questions and reducing the time employees spend researching products and procedures. They said that they have saved over $100,000 in management and service rep time after the implementation of the SilverCloud Information System.
Open Solutions, a provider of integrated enabling technologies for credit unions, announced that Shared Resource Technology Group, a CUSO (Credit Union Service Organization) that was recently formed between two Ohio-based credit unions, AurGroup Financial Credit Union and CINCO Family Financial Center CU, intends to resell outsourcing services using Open Solutions’ technology to credit unions in Kentucky and Ohio with less than 10,000 members. Both credit unions are moving to Open Solutions' The Complete Credit Union Solution for their internal core data processing needs.
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Hardware
News
Cisco Systems is targeting small and medium-size businesses (SMBs) that have growing needs and sparse technical expertise with the introduction of a pair of LAN switches and a graphical management application. The hardware includes new 24-port modules for the Catalyst 4503 Ethernet switch chassis, with features such as secure LAN switching and power over Ethernet (PoE). Cisco also offers a 48-port, triple speed switch, as well as a free network management software package. The Cisco Network Assistant (CNA) software is intended to open up management of Cisco switches, routers, and wireless LAN access points in SMBs to employees who lack the training to use Cisco's CLI (command-line interface.)
Small credit unions may want to take a look at Maxtor's new version of their external hard disk and backup solution, the OneTouch II. Available in 250GB or 300GB versions, the new drives come bundled with Dantz Retrospect backup software that should allow you to retain a series of incremental backups with history, so that if you'd like to retrieve an older version of a document, you can pull up the older version even if you've made multiple changes. As the drive fills up, it will start deleting older versions to free up space. There is also a DriveLock feature which password protects the contents of the drive if it is powered down.
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Software
Updates
Financial software and services company Intuit is looking to make inroads into the estimated 9 million small businesses in the United States that don't use any type of accounting software with the release of a new light-duty version of its QuickBooks accounting application. Surprisingly, QuickBooks Simple Start won't even offer access to online banking - a key element of other Intuit products. However, Simple Start will use the same database format as other QuickBooks packages so customers can easily share data with accountants and transfer accounts when they are ready to step up to a more complex version of the program.
Credit unions that use Microsoft Exchange as their e-mail system now have a new tool to help manage their system. The free Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer Tool performs automated configuration checks and problem diagnosis. It works with Exchange Server 2000 and 2003, and with Exchange 5.5 as long as it is deployed with Active Directory. The tool, which does not rely on agents, collects 1,200 configuration settings and compares them against a database of 800 rules governing best practices for deployment. It relies on best practices information collected from Microsoft's knowledgebase and support services, partners and Microsoft's own internal IT group.
Software Section Sponsored by
Level 9 |
Practical Plug-ins – NEW á la carte solutions for CUs
An entirely new kind of product from Level 9
More and more small modular components -- simply "plugged-in" to existing web sites – are providing specific business solutions and critically needed services.
This is a new breed of solution that increases the service life and value of existing web sites. CUs can now save the cost of major site re-design and achieve much better economy without sacrificing quality of service to members.
• Practical Plug-ins deliver key online capabilities CUs need.
• They’re available individually "a la carte."
• They’re modular by design so each of them is complete.
• Use alone or in combination to fill-in any "gaps" in CUs’ existing web sites.
• Implement with little or no interaction with your ISP or your IT staff.
So often we have seen that just fitting in a few new pieces can make a world of difference in how CU sites are perceived by members.
• They’re quick and easy.
• They’re by far the most economical choice in a wide variety of situations.
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ATMs/Kiosks
Boomerang Tracking Corporation, a Canadian company that competes with LoJack for tracking stolen vehicles, is now offering a tracking device that uses wireless GSM telecommunications to recover stolen ATMs. The firms claims that their system even works in containers and underground. The device, which is about the size of a small brick and costs about $450, sends a signal to Boomerang’s 24-hour operations center when it senses movement. Boomerang's recovery team can then spring into action and attempt to recover the machine.
Credit unions looking to market their products and services at their ATMs have a new option from a company called Graphics Systems. They have a line of six “dynamic messengers,” screens in sizes ranging from 7.5 inches to 17.5 inches that can be positioned atop ATMs for marketing and branding purposes. The screens are priced from $650 to $1,000, with the higher-end models featuring networking and remote management capabilities.
ATMs/Kiosks Section Sponsored by
Nationwide Money Services |
Looking to increase Brand Recognition and provide members with surcharge free ATMs?
Nationwide Money Services, Inc.’s Branded Cash Program is the answer. Fully endorsed by the VA Credit Union League and the CU 24 Network, our Branded Cash Program provides the ATM equipment, great locations, processing, maintenance, insurance, marketing rights and surcharge free transactions for your members, you only provide the cash and cash services for the ATM just as you would if you owned them. The ATMs look and act like your own, extending your reach or filling out your current market.
Our current CU partners include: AEDC, Beacon, Bronco, Carolina Collegiate, Educators, Freedom First, Food Lion Credit Association, Heritage Trust, Martinsville Dupont, NSWC, Old Hickory, Peoples Advantage, Southeast Financial and US Courthouse.
NMS also offers their ‘ATMs Made Easy’ Program for full service ATM management and placement services if you like the idea of having ATMs, but don’t want the hassle of day to day management and the associated costs for maintenance and unplanned expenses like triple DES.
For more information about the Branded Cash Program contact Bob Colabrese, EVP of Sales & Marketing at 904-395-1147 or
bob.colabrese@GLXS.biz.
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Passwords, the dominant form of securing an organization's assets, are a failure, according to a leading research firm. They say that passwords' failings range from organizations wasting time creating convoluted policies to spending too little time protecting crucial applications. On the end-user front, meanwhile, passwords are ineffective when people have too many to maintain and tend to write down complex passwords. What are your credit union's options to bolster ineffective passwords? Can biometrics help? Subscribe to Credit Union
tech-talk and we will discuss these issues in the November issue.
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Wireless
World
Jupiter Research found in a recent survey that many employees want the ability to work within their buildings wirelessly. While some organizations are acceding to their wishes, security issues are the main factor inhibiting even faster uptake of the technology. Ironically, though, the firm found that few companies have actually suffered from WLAN (wireless Local Area Network) security breaches. Jupiter believes that organizations need to make sure that they buy technology based on solid security standards, such as Wi-Fi Protected Access 2. WPA2 adds the Advanced Encryption Standard, which is considered essential to meet government security requirements.
Across the US, high-speed wireless networks connected to the Internet are springing up in towns big and small. For both the cities and their residents, wireless appears to be an affordable way to get more people on the Internet. Philadelphia is garnering a lot of attention with their large scale plans, but small cities like West Monroe, Louisiana and Montpelier, Vermont are also getting onboard with wireless access programs. Proponents argue that wireless represents the best opportunity to connect the next "3 billion people" - a number tech companies use to discuss the future size of the Internet - to the Web.
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Security
Section
For the average corporate or home PC user, "USB" refers to a computer port that makes it very easy to connect devices directly to a machine. But for some security administrators, USB - short for Universal Serial Bus - is taking on an entirely new meaning: ultimate security breakdown. Find out why in the November issue of Credit Union
tech-talk - subscribe and stay on top of security trends.
Tracking e-mail messages is difficult to nearly impossible without a specialized package such as iLumin Software Services Inc.'s Assentor Enterprise. This application automatically captures, indexes and stores all outgoing and incoming e-mail on disk. This makes it easy to retrieve messages for auditing purposes. Other vendors like Veritas/K-Vault (KVS), EMC/Legato and Opentext/Ixos have also been rolling out new products and features designed to take much of the cost and complexity out of message archiving.
MailFrontier, an email security company protecting email from phishing fraud, took a survey of more than 100,000 people that shows that 90% of adults were fooled by phishing emails. You can take the "phishing quiz" to test your email security IQ:
http://survey.mailfrontier.com/survey/quiztest.html
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Leaders
Roundtable
Core Systems - Deploying New Features/Functionality Effectively
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Technology
and Marketing
Hosted CRM (Customer Relationship Management) systems are certainly far easier to deploy than in-house systems. They are also normally less expensive as well. However there can be significant hidden costs with the hosted systems - find out what they are and how you can minimize them in the November issue of Credit Union
tech-talk.
Technology and Marketing Section Sponsored by
Raddon Financial Group (RFG) |
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--"I can’t say enough about iNTEGRATOR and the fabulous people that come with it!”, Brea Abel, Marketing Director, Central Credit Union of Maryland
--"With service and support like this, we'll be with RFG for a very long time!”, Cathy Madsen, VP, Marketing & Business Development, Centris FCU
--"We've enhanced our knowledge about our members, household trends, key profitability areas and growth strategies. We're looking forward to continued success in the future!”, Linda S. Brown, Senior VP of Member Services, Service 1st FCU
--"iNTEGRATOR has proven to be a worthy addition to our marketing department. With iNTEGRATOR we are able to target market more efficiently which has resulted in higher than average response rates on our campaigns.", Kari Hullinger, Marketing Director, Marion School Employees FCU
--"I absolutely appreciate the continually improving and excellent services, resources, and support RFG provides to our industry.", M. Louise Ortlinghaus, Vice President Operations, Kaiperm FCU
--"RFG’s integrated solution gives Denali Alaskan Federal Credit Union management an incredible competitive advantage in the Alaskan market.”, Dale Fosselman, VP, Corporate Development, Denali Alaskan FCU
--"I praise your organization for hiring the best people possible", Andrea Moore, Marketing Manager, HealthCare Associates CU
Give us a hour of your time and we'll show you why our client satisfaction is so high. As an added bonus, if you join us for a future Webcast, we'll give you our "Managing CRM Through Strategy & Metrics" white paper as a gift for your valuable time.
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Online
Banking/E-Commerce/Website Design
The National Automated Clearing House Association (NACHA) is planning to trial a new electronic transaction type for payments on the Internet that would rely on financial institutions' online banking programs to provide user authentication. The new payment type would complement rather than replace WEB, which is the current NACHA standard entry code for online transactions. This plan is based upon an old idea called "credit push." In this scenario, consumers would use their FIs' online bill payment application to initiate payment to online merchants rather than authorizing online retailers to debit their accounts electronically. This new plan requires a re-route during the checkout process to the consumers online banking program where they would login and authorize an ACH payment, and then return to the merchant's site to complete the checkout.
According to eMarketer's just released report, “Online Bill Payment: The Road to Increased Profits,” 34 million households will pay bills online this year and that the number will rise to 42 million by 2006. Taking online households as a base, eMarketer estimates 47.2% of these households will pay bills online by the end of this year. By 2006 over one-half of the US households using the Internet will be paying bills online.
Online Banking Section Sponsored by
Digital Insight |
New Solutions To The Online Lending Challenge
in a few short years online lending has taken the banking industry by storm, bringing with it the promise of a more efficient and profitable loan process for financial institutions, while changing consumer expectations that can be impossible to meet without the right back office systems in place. With more and more consumers applying online, the immediate future of online lending is bright, but requires sufficient technology and an integrated business strategy to deliver on its promise.
Static online applications are now commonplace in the banking world, often put in place as a defensive strategy to answer consumer demand. While they may appear to be current technology, stand-alone products that are not part of an integrated lending platform can create more problems than they solve, proving frustrating for institutions and consumers alike. For instance, static online applications may not be effective in capturing compliance-related data at the time of application. In addition, static applications do not return an immediate decision to the consumer, thus often losing the loan origination opportunity to a competitor.
Click Here to Read the Whole Article
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Internet
Access
Verizon is the latest carrier to select Linksys to provide Internet telephony to consumers. Linksys, a division of Cisco Systems, announced that Verizon will join AT&T and Vonage in using Linksys home networking adapters to allow customers to use their DSL (digital subscriber line) or cable broadband connection to place telephone calls over the Internet rather than over the traditional telephone network.
Meanwhile, Cisco is also on a roll with their Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) systems: first it was Boeing, then Ford, now Bank of America plans to deploy 180,000 Cisco IP telephones. According to company officials, they have sold more than 3.5 million IP phones, displacing 8,000 traditional circuit-based telephones every business day.
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Call
Centers
Voice-prompted banking has been fairly slow to gain momentum because for many years it was poorly applied, prone to inaccuracies and easily confused - by background noise, for example. But proponents say that these days are in the past and that there are significant advantages to voice-based technology over old fashioned touch tone prompts. Find out more and see if you agree in the November issue of Credit Union
tech-talk - subscribe today.
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Conferences
Catch
Tom and Bill Rogers, Associate Editor of Credit Union
tech-talk at the following conferences in
2004:
October 6 - 11, Las Vegas, NV – Combined Council of Auto Credit Unions & Firefighter Credit Union Conferences:
http://www.ccacu.com
November 2 – 7, Orlando, FL – CU InfoTECH Conference:
http://cuconferences.com/detail.aspx?ID=20
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