BANK tech-trends News
 

 October 27 - October 31, 2008

• Hardware News
• Software Updates
• ATMs/Kiosks
• Biometric Digest Highlights
• Wireless World
• Security Section
• Leaders Roundtable
• Technology and Marketing
• Online Banking/E-Commerce/
  Website Design
• Internet Access
• Call Centers

Hardware News

If your bank is looking for business notebooks for your senior managers that cost $850 or less, you may want to consider these three models: the $782 Dell Vostro 1510, the $800 Toshiba Satellite Pro L300D EZ-1003X, and the $829 HP Compaq 6735b. All have 15.4-inch screens, midrange Intel or AMD processors, and wireless networking capability. They all weigh between 5 and 6 pounds and offered a reasonable amount of memory and hard drive space.

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ATMs/Kiosks

Level Four Software has introduced BRIDGE:test 2.10 which consists of a new regression test manager engine designed to use a database repository for test data. Using open standards-based software, BRIDGE says that they enable banks to select alternative suppliers for their ATM and self-service software, while providing the ability to interact more easily with third parties. 

Privier, a Charlotte, NC-based startup, has launched a no-card ATM service called Privier iTransfer and Privier mPayment. The firm says that their iTransfer and Privier mPayment will allow customers to electronically transfer funds using online banking or mobile banking, and then have the recipient be able to withdraw the funds without a card or account. Privier equips ATM screens with an icon, which reads 'Pickup Cash.' The recipient presses this icon, which will automatically activate the ATM for a Privier iTransfer or mPayment transaction.

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NCP Engineering announced that its Secure Entry Client now supports many biometric devices. The latest compatibility testing has been successfully completed for digitalPersona's U.are.U 4000B USB-based fingerprint reader. By integrating biometric authentication devices into a traditional VPN, NCP says that network administrators have proof that only an authorized user is accessing that laptop, PC or handheld. Further, NCP's Secure Entry Client forces each device to match a specific software and settings profile, defined by the network administrator, before the VPN gateway allows access to the network.

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Sybase 365 announced the release of the latest version of their mobile banking platform - Sybase mBanking 365 version 2.0. The company says that this release focuses on minimizing deployment time and allows for easy mobile banking integration with the bank's existing core system. Sybase 365 supports SMS, mobile browser, and rich-client on a single platform. 

Contactless payment stickers, or chip-and-antenna inlays that can be affixed to mobile phones or other tokens to turn them into contactless-payment devices, appear to be making headway in the marketplace. For instance, card manufacturer CPI Card Group claims that they expect to ship “several million” bank-card-branded payment stickers over the next 12 months. CPI is partnering with a French company called Inside Contactless to manufacture the products from so-called prelams, or inlays. Contactless stickers are seen as a way of allowing handsets to perform point-of-sale transactions without the need to embed near-field communication (NFC) chips in the devices.

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Network Box, a worldwide managed security company, has begun beta testing a new, different kind of relationship management technology to combat unsolicited email. The company says that during preliminary testing that they are "catching virtually 100 percent of spam without any false positives." The technology not only analyzes the content and IP addresses, but also learns from user email behavior and relationships to better understand which emails are welcome and which are unsolicited.

Altor Networks says that their Altor VF is the first “purpose built” firewall for virtualized environments. The Altor VF enforces security policy on a per virtual machine basis. Unlike existing firewalls designed for physical networks, the Altor VF virtual firewall can secure Live Migration – a technology designed to trigger automatic movement of VMs across physical servers, but capable of inadvertently moving an application to a less trusted network. The Altor VF provides NetFlow statistics, Sys Log, and other network statistics on a per application basis. 

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Core Systems:

Core Systems – Collaborating to Better Serve Customers

COCC - http://www.cocc.com Read Joe Trafton's comments: http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/COCC.pdf

Fidelity Information Services - http://www.fidelityinfoservices.com Read John Schooler's comments: http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/FIS.pdf

Open Solutions - http://www.opensolutions.com Read Michael Nicastro's comments: http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/OSI.pdf

Software and Management Associates - http://www.smausa.com Read Michael W. Taylor's comments: http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/SMA.pdf

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A recent survey by Raddon Financial Group found that financial institutions that score high marks in customer loyalty had an average return on assets of 0.79% vs. 0.56% for those with low scores. High-loyalty institutions also grew deposits at an annual clip of 8.1% vs. 7.5% for mid-loyalty and 3% for low-loyalty institutions. With real estate originations, auto financing and nonsufficient funds charges declining in many areas, Raddon suggests that customer loyalty should be a top priority for banks. Several factors contribute to customer loyalty: branch convenience measured by branch hours; availability of ATMs; staff friendliness; employee knowledge and professionalism; and the ability of staff to answer questions and resolve problems quickly.

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Many banks have introduced savings programs that link checking activity to a savings account. In one scenario, debit purchases are rounded up to the nearest dollar and the excess amount from the purchase is deposited into savings. In another approach, $1 is deposited into savings when the account holder uses their debit card for purchases, pays bills online, or makes automatic payments from checking. According to findings from a recent survey by SYNERGISTICS Research, Gen X and Gen Y consumers expresses significant interest in this type of ‘no-brainer’ savings program. Overall, one-fifth of Gen Y who have checking accounts currently participate in such a savings program. However, more than half of the nonusers express interest. Interest is particularly high among those in Gen Y who are heavy debit card users, using a debit card 20 or more times per month.

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Internet Access

Nextiva is a virtual PBX business VoIP service provider that offers small organizations their Connect 360 business phone service as an all-in-one VoIP solution that comes with unlimited local and long distance calling and flat rate pricing. None of their plans have activation or termination fees, and businesses with Nextiva’s service are able to utilize an auto-attendant in order to better route calls when they come in. In addition to the an auto-attendant, the system offers features like find me/follow me, voicemail to email, and hunt groups. 

INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine have awarded RingCentral a 2008 Excellence Award for delivering cloud computing business phone and fax service to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). The company provides a hosted multi-extension business phone and fax service for SMBs. By combining a toll-free or local number with advanced call management, PBX, voicemail and Internet fax, RingCentral enables customers to set up multiple extensions with voicemail, automatically screen, forward and place calls, take voicemail, send and receive faxes, and receive message alerts. 

Microsoft has introduced Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Release 2 (R2), an update to the Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007. The new functionality of Office Communications Server 2007 R2 extends software-powered voice, particularly for remote and mobile workers. In addition, this updated version provides on-premise audio-conferencing; and introduces new developer advances, including the ability to build communications-enabled business processes. It also comes equipped with new capabilities such as dial-in audio conferencing and persistent group chat.

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Call Centers

There are a wide variety of ways to calculate call center agent productivity and performance including:

- Average Handle Time
- Calls Per Hour
- Adherence to Schedule
- Call Quality
- Data Accuracy
- Phone Occupancy 

Some call center experts point out that there are only two metrics which agents have complete control over: schedule adherence and call quality. They argue that these two should be the benchmark for measuring their performance and productivity, and if they are satisfactory then your call center will perform well.

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