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July 20, 2015

~ This Week's News is Sponsored by Better Branches ~

 

General News  

* IMM Launches TotaleAtlas 2015
* Seaboard FCU Selects Synergent for Core Processing
* PSCU Introduces Data Mining Tool
* Desert Schools FCU Chooses Bluepoint Solutions

IMM, a leading provider of integrated eSignature, workflow and document solutions for credit unions, announced the official launch and general availability of TotaleAtlas 2015, the next generation of the company`s flagship eSignature solution. TotaleAtlas 2015 introduces device-less in-person signing options, as well as a new session “dashboard” that provides greater visibility into the signing status of each transaction, among other enhancements.

Synergent announced that Seaboard Federal Credit Union, headquartered in Bucksport, ME, with 12,154 members and $116M in assets, has selected the Episys Core Processing Solution with Synergent Technology Services. In addition to core processing, Seaboard FCU also utilizes Synergent for ATM/Debit Cards, Bill Pay, Check Processing, Direct Marketing Services, Mobile Banking, Shared Branching, and Statement Processing.

PSCU has released a data tool dubbed DataVue that the CUSO says gives member credit unions an unprecedented ability to access and use member payment information. The St. Petersburg, FL-based CUSO's DataVue solution is the latest tool in their Member Insight suite of card management and information tools.

Bluepoint Solutions announced that Phoenix, AZ-based Desert Schools Federal Credit Union has selected its ImagePoint Teller capture solution. Desert Schools Federal Credit Union ($3.7 billion in assets), with over 300,000 members, will add Bluepoint`s ImagePoint Teller to over 440 workstations at its 47 branch locations.

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Hardware News

SMR (Shingled Magnetic Recording) is a new hard disk drive recording technology designed to increase density beyond the limits of traditional Perpendicular Magnetic Recording (PMR). The technology will be used in archive, backup, data lakes and repositories, WORM (Write Once Read Many) and object storage environments due to its performance characteristics. Some experts contend that SMR`s compatibility with emerging recording techniques and its low cost assures it will be used for many years. They note that SMR HDDs from several vendors are already penetrating into enterprise applications through CSP (Cloud Service Providers) and hyperscale deployments, and will work downward into storage and server OEMs.

SanDisk unveiled a new wireless mobile flash drive, the SanDisk Connect Wireless Stick, which works with smartphones, tablets and computers to enable sharing, transferring and accessing data. The SanDisk Connect app, which enables management of content between devices including, iOS and Android devices; and Macs and PCs – uses password-protected Wi-Fi connectivity. With its USB connector, users can also connect directly to a computer to save and transfer files. The SanDisk Connect Wireless Stick comes in capacities of 16GB, 32GB, 64GB and 128GB at prices ranging from $29 - $99. 

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Hardware Section Sponsored by
Millennial Vision, Inc. (MVi)

 

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Software Updates

Zinstall says that their WinServ software will make your migration from Windows Server 2003 much easier by moving everything as well as making it possible to go from a 32-bit system to a 64-bit platform. The software migrates applications, configurations, databases, profiles, shares and data from one server to another. You can even migrate across different Windows Server versions, including 2003, 2008 and 2012, 32bit and 64bit.

LogMeIn is probably the most famous screen sharing application, but there are many others on the market. According to its website, ShowMyPC's mission is to offer "free and integrated collaboration tools for all users." Download the free software, then upon starting it, you can generate a password to send to other participants. Users can chat and take screen shots with the free service, but you will need to pay a subscription fee if you want to share files, switch presenters or record the meeting.

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ATMs/Kiosks A study conducted by Credio, which is part of data research company FindTheBest, asked 3,000 Americans what the most important factors were when selecting their primary financial institution. 41% replied that it was ATM and branch availability. Even millennials who love their online and mobile banking said that they want to make sure ATMs and branches are available.

It costs about $2,000 to $4,000 to upgrade an ATM to be EMV compatible, according to the Aite Group. Yet EMV proponents say that the fraud reduction costs are worth it and point to $50,000 per skimming incident costs as estimated by the U.S. Secret Service. Some contend that non-EMV ATMs will be top targets as machines are migrated. They point to the fact that small areas with very few ATMs began seeing so much fraudulent traffic in Canada during EMV migration that some processors shut down those machines until they were upgraded.

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ATMs/Kiosks Sponsored by
Heritage Industries


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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:  

Aimbridge

Aimbridge

 

and their client is:

SECU

Credit Unions - if you have a vendor that you are happy with then please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.!

Vendors - if you have a credit union that is happy with your solutions then please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and we will give you a $100 discount on your Case Study!
 

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Wireless World

The Aite Group recently examined how mobile ID photo capture can improve the in-branch member onboarding experience. In action, employees use the camera on a mobile device to capture data and auto-populate most entry requirements for the enrollment or account opening process. Branch staff can use tablets to snap a picture of the applicant`s ID to initiate the process, without needing desk space or a computer to fill out application paperwork. The research firm notes that using mobile-camera-enabled onboarding to prefill forms that would otherwise be manually completed reduces opportunities for errors, delays and abandonment.

Google has launched "Eddystone," an open source, cross-platform Bluetooth LE beacon format. These Bluetooth beacons are small transmitters (usually battery powered) that can send out a range of information. This is in response to Apple's two-year-old iBeacon standard which is a proprietary standard. Eddystone is cross-platform—support is built into Google Play Services' Nearby API on Android, and it can be used via a library on iOS.

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Wireless World Sponsored by
Member Access Pacific (MAP)

MAP

 

The MAP App™ is the first network-branded prepaid card exclusively serving credit unions to offer mobile banking -
contact us now to learn more about this market-leading innovation for credit unions:

(866) 598 - 0698

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Security Section

According to the 2015 Black Hat Attendee Survey, 73% of security professionals think it is likely that their organizations will be hit with a major data breach in the next 12 months - but they won't have enough time, money, or skilled staff to handle the crisis. 57% cited sophisticated, targeted attacks as their greatest concern. Many respondents said that compliance and software vulnerabilities require a disproportionate amount of budget and time, and that end users who violate security policies and are easily tricked by phishers are their weakest link.

Verizon has launched a managed security service dubbed Unified Security Services (USS). The services come in three tiers and are designed to be an IT security team in a box. USS will be an on-premise appliance that will include features such as firewall protection, VPN, anti-virus and anti-spam as well as Wi-Fi segmentation. Higher levels will offer security for Layer 7 network access controls and advanced encryption, and a cloud offering will follow shortly.

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Leaders Roundtable

Online and Mobile Banking:

Using Digital Technology to Create Value for Members


Cognizant - http://www.cognizant.com
Read Steven DeLaCastro's comments:
https://www.cunews.com/Cognizant.pdf

D+H - http://www.dh.com
Read Nigel O. Prince's comments:
https://www.cunews.com/D+H.pdf


 
IMM - http://www.immonline.com  
Read Nish Shah's comments:

Javelin Strategy & Research - http://www.javelinstrategy.com
Read Mary Monahan's comments:
https://www.cunews.com/Javelin.pdf

PSCU - http://www.pscu.com
Read Jeremiah Lotz's comments:
https://www.cunews.com/PSCU.pdf

 

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Technology and Marketing

Business Intelligence software is often geared towards large organizations with hefty budgets, but Quatrro`s new BI Tool is designed to bring business intelligence and financial analytics to small and medium-sized businesses. Their goal is to help organizations make sense of the ever-growing piles of unstructured data at their disposal. Their offering includes financial dashboards, alerts and reporting templates. The company says that their financial planning and analysis capabilities can be used for benchmarking and comparing goods/services performance.

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Online Banking/E-Commerce/Website Design

Fiserv announced that a new charitable giving feature has been added to their Popmoney personal payment service, enabling consumers to donate to hundreds of charities directly from their online or mobile banking account. Popmoney users can search for charities, and because donations are made directly from the donor's online or mobile banking account, they do not have to share their account information with the charity.

According to the EMV Migration Forum, approximately 120 million chip cards were issued by the end of last year, a figure expected to rise to 600 million by the end of 2015. However most issuers are issuing so-called chip-and-signature credit cards which are not as secure as cards that require a PIN. While chip-and-signature lets issuers get cards out faster and at less cost, some issuers are insisting that cardholders be issued PINs. For example, State Employees Credit Union, an early proponent of EMV, is using online PIN verification, the type of authentication familiar to any mag-stripe debit card holder. (SECU also supports signature authentication which the majority of their members are using in the retail world.) Meanwhile many foreign issuers have adopted so-called offline PIN verification, where the chip compares the PIN entered by the cardholder with an encrypted version stored on the chip. Online PIN is more affordable for the issuer, since it requires a less expensive chip.

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Internet Access

A new Acunetix report covering over 5,000 organizations comprising 15,000 website and network scans finds nearly half of the web applications scanned contained a high security vulnerability such as XSS or SQL Injection. They also note that almost 4 in 5 web applications were affected by a ‘medium security` vulnerability. Attackers continue to concentrate their efforts on web-based applications since they often have direct access to back-end data such as customer databases.

Domain Name System (DNS) is a fundamental part of your infrastructure, but it is also a major avenue of attack. Unfortunately, Data Leak Protection (DLP) systems that check protocols used by email, web browsers, peer-to-peer software, etc., often neglect DNS. In response, some vendors are starting to offer DNS security tools: Palo Alto Networks offers DNS inspection services; Infoblox`s appliances check DNS; and Cloudmark analyzes patterns of DNS behavior to help detect links in emails going to sites that host malware. Many security experts recommend that organizations make the effort to monitor their DNS infrastructure because you can detect phishing attacks and malware command and control more efficiently at the DNS layer than using a web proxy or doing deep packet inspection.

Microsoft has introduced their latest Surface Hub which offers low-cost telepresence in 4K resolution. The all-in-one solution for collaborative meetings uses Windows 10, Skype for Business, Office, OneNote, and Universal Windows apps. The Surface Hub is available in two sizes. The first measures 55 inches and is designed for huddle spaces, smaller conference rooms, and offices. Its cost is set at $6,999, while the larger 84-inch model runs $19,999.

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Call Centers

8x8, a contact center solutions service provider, announced new features have been added to their Virtual Contact Center (VCC) portfolio. New VCC "views" allow managers to monitor agent performance and see when increased call volumes start triggering abandoned calls. Other new VCC capabilities include:

  • Virtual Queuing: offering callers the option to receive a callback when an agent is available
  • Co-browse: allowing agents and Web visitors to view the same page
  • Proactive Web Chat: providing Web visitors a chance to chat with an agent
  • Web Callback: Offers Web visitors the option of having an agent call them

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