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AKUVO, a technology organization specializing in collections and credit risk, recently signed 9 more CUs to its Aperture platform. Their new clients are: * GreenState CU * Fibre FCU * Family Savings CU * Clark County CU * Credit Union of America * Marine CU * Affinity Plus FCU * Pioneer FCU * City CU.
Arbor Financial CU Selects Upstart for Personal Lending
Arbor Financial CU announced that it has partnered with Upstart, a leading AI lending platform, to provide personal loans to more members. The company claims that more than two-thirds of Upstart loans are approved instantly and are fully automated.
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Lenovo All-Flash Arrays Aimed at Optimizing AI Workloads
Lenovo's new storage solutions, named DM5100F and DM7100F, come with increased capacity and faster performance capabilities, aiming to speed up AI operations and reduce latency in data-intensive tasks. The DM5100F model is targeted towards small and medium-sized organizations, offering storage capacity ranging from 1.92TB to 38.4TB. It comes equipped with NVMe flash drives, providing faster data access and enabling real-time processing for AI tasks. Additionally, it supports multiple protocols, allowing integration with existing IT systems.
Fortinet Unveils Data Center Firewalls with AI Support
Fortinet's new FortiGate 4400F series firewalls come equipped with Fortinet's AI-powered security processor unit (SPU), enabling faster and more accurate threat detection and prevention. They say that their AI technology can analyze large amounts of network traffic data to identify and block potential threats in real-time. These firewalls also offer increased scalability and performance.
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Best No-Cost Alternatives to Microsoft Excel in 2023
This article lists various spreadsheet software options that can be used as replacements for Excel. Some of the alternatives mentioned include Google Sheets, Apache OpenOffice Calc, LibreOffice Calc, and Zoho Sheet. The article also highlights the features and benefits of each alternative and provides a brief comparison between them and Excel.
Stellar Toolkit for Exchange - Restore Exchange Database
Stellar Toolkit for Exchange can help in repairing and recovering corrupt databases after Exchange failure or any other issue. In addition to Exchange database recovery, this toolkit comes with four different specialized applications for Exchange EDB conversion, Outlook OST file conversion, recovering mailboxes from Exchange backup, and recovering lost server passwords. It’s a complete set of recovery tools that will surely get you out of virtually any situation you might face with Exchange Server.
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The Federal Reserve System's FedCash Services found the average amount of cash held in an adult's pocket, purse or wallet rose from $68 to $73 this year as part of its Diary of Consumer Payment Choice study. The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco said that "consumers have continued to use credit cards — the most used payment method in 2022 — more often. Nonetheless, cash accounted for approximately 20% of all consumer payments since 2020, and this enduring demand indicates that there are consumers who need or choose to use cash, underscoring the need for a strong and resilient payments system."
Hyosung Innovue Intros Cash Recycling ATM Series
Hyosung Innovations' new cash recycling ATMs are equipped with advanced features such as an automated cash handling system, which sorts, counts, and stores cash securely. The machines also have a high-capacity cash cassette that can hold up to 10,000 notes, and also offer a range of other functionalities, including the ability to dispense multiple denominations, accept checks, and provide balance inquiries.
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100x Faster than Wi-Fi: Light-Based Networking Standard Released
The first-ever standard for Li-Fi, a wireless communication technology that uses light waves instead of radio waves to transmit data, has been released by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Li-Fi is expected to provide faster and more secure wireless connectivity compared to Wi-Fi, as it uses light bulbs to transmit data, which means it could potentially be used alongside existing lighting infrastructure. The standard, known as 802.11bb-2020, has several advantages, including immunity to electromagnetic interference and the ability to work in areas where radio frequencies are restricted.
Cradlepoint Differentiates Its SASE Platform with 5G Support
Cradlepoint has recently added 5G support to its Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) platform. The company states that their platform helps create hybrid wireless and SD-WAN environments that optimize availability, quality of service, and security to edge, distributed, and mobile locations. Cradlepoint’s NetCloud Exchange 5G SD-WAN will incorporate zero trust and cloud-based security technology Cradlepoint acquired recently with its acquisition of Ericom.
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Google Cloud Launches AI-Powered Anti Money Laundering Product for FIs
Google's "Risk Protection Program" utilizes Google's AI and machine learning capabilities to identify and flag potential cases of money laundering in real-time. It uses a combination of data analysis, anomaly detection, and predictive modeling to analyze millions of transactions and detect suspicious activities. The program aims to improve the speed and accuracy of identifying money laundering activities, reducing the risk for FIs and facilitating regulatory compliance.
50% of Zero Trust Programs Risk Failure According to PlainID Survey
In response to a PlainID survey, 41% of respondents said they use homegrown solutions (OPA-based) to authorize identities. Moreover, 40% of respondents also said they use a homegrown solution (fully custom) to authorize identities. The survey found that approximately 50% of these programs are facing potential failure due to various factors, including inadequate planning and resource allocation, coupled with difficulty in user adoption.
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Technology and Marketing
The author argues that engagement and rewards programs are proven business investments. He recommends 3 strategies: 1) Differentiate yourself from the competition; 2) Build buying power with timely offers; and 3) Become a relevant brand in consumers' everyday lives.
Social Media’s Growing Role in Service
The author states that it makes sense for FIs to leverage the various digital platforms “because that’s where many of their customers live every day.” She notes one good use of social media is through organic social media content—posts that educate the institution’s followers about important topics, like how to protect themselves from identity theft and fraud, and other financial literacy topics. She also recommends having staff in staff in marketing and operations monitoring social media comments and responding in a timely and appropriate manner.
Say My Name: How Personalized Experiences Can Elevate Financial Services
“Names are the sweetest and most important sound in any language,” according to Dale Carnegie. The author argues that personlization is not just about remembering someone's name, but about building connections through tailored, authentic experiences. To achieve next-level CX, he argues that data must be uniformly available, open to all relevant parties and aligned to “speak a common language” – optimally on a common platform. He concludes that personalization can be achieved through various methods such as data collection, advanced analytics, and artificial intelligence.
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Star One CU Among First to Leverage FedNow, Introduces ‘Instant Pay’
Star One was among the first in the industry to complete testing and certification for the FedNow Service, and is now live with ‘Instant Pay’. By utilizing the new FedNow service, the credit union noted payments will be made and received easily in seconds through its online banking or mobile banking application, and funds will settle between participating FIs in real time, giving members immediate access to money they receive.
Same Day ACH Transfers $1.2 Trillion in First Half of 2023
According to NACHA, Same-Day ACH transfers accounted for $1.2 trillion in transaction volume in the first half of 2023. This indicates a significant increase from previous years, highlighting the effectiveness of Same-Day ACH in facilitating faster and more efficient funds transfers. The volume of 385.6 million Same Day ACH payments in the first half of 2023 is an increase of 13.7%.
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Cisco Hosts Containerized Firewall on Catalyst Switches
Cisco has built a Docker-based container for its Secure Firewall Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) that can be hosted on its Catalyst 9300 access switches. Cisco Secure Firewall ASA combines firewall, antivirus, intrusion prevention, encryption and virtual private network (VPN) support. The firewall supports up to 10 logical interfaces, which can be used for segmentation.
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Robust Knowledge Management Systems Can Cut Costs
Knowledge management systems (KMS) help organizations store and retrieve information easily, thereby reducing the time and effort required to find relevant solutions. This article states that a useful KMS should have an AI component, an automated audit trail for any changes (compliance), robust reporting on how agents use the system to help with agent coaching, a feedback loop for the agent to report mistakes in the knowledge, and a way they can track the progress of the updates in the knowledge management system.
Embracing the Experience Center
This article says that consumers increasingly expect hyper-personalized service from their FI due to their everyday experiences with other industries. Some contact centers are using analytics to determine if specific service reps are falling behind in discussing accountholder financial goals and needs. Then, managers can work with those representatives to improve their responsiveness.
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