Your source for the latest technology information of interest to community banks across America.
Subscribe to our weekly e-mail newsletter and/or our monthly newsletter and stay on top of the latest technology trends in Hardware, Software, ATMs, Biometrics, Wireless, Online Banking, Marketing, Security, Internet Access and Call Centers.
Intel Releases 'World’s Fastest' 10th-Generation Mobile Processors
Intel has released the long-anticipated 10th-gen Comet Lake Core H-series processor, packing more power than ever into laptops. The new processors fall into the Core i5, Core i7, and Core i9 lines. At the top end of the refresh is the Core i9-10980HK, which features eight cores, 16 threads, 16MB of Intel Smart Cache, and can run at up to 5.3 GHz Turbo.
~~~
12 Zoom Tips to Improve Your Video Conferences While Telecommuting
Whether you want to share a document, a presentation, a video, or an image, Zoom has the capabilities to do it. The Zoom tutorials in this article can help employees working from home due to the coronavirus pandemic have more productive video conferences.
How Businesses Can Save Money When Everyone Needs Office to Work from Home
When companies scatter their workforces, they can save money by providing the new remote employees with the right kind of Office. This article presents several practical ideas for Office licensing.
Slack vs. Teams: Comparing Their New Features and Approaches
Two of the biggest names in collaborative tools just unveiled new features. Slack's subtle tweaks were meant to amplify features that users might not have known about, and to encourage prolonged engagement in the Slack workspace. By contrast, Microsoft's announcements for enhancements that will be available later in 2020 are not about boosting engagement so much as they are about expanding the prospective user base for their overall suite of tools.
~~~
The Dos and Don’ts of Cleaning Your Kiosks
Here are the do's: 1) clean your kiosk's screen regularly; 2) use a soft, lint-free microfiber cloth; 3) start with soap and water and begin the next step with a new cloth; and 4) use a screen-safe solution like a combination of 70% isopropyl alcohol and 30% distilled water. Here are the dont's: 1) use highly concentrated solutions and 2) get liquids inside of the screen or the kiosk itself.
~~~
Large Number of Mobile Apps May Be Vulnerable to Hacking
A research team evaluated Android 150,000 apps and found that about 8.5 percent contained something the research team labeled “backdoor secrets” – hidden behaviors within the app that accept certain types of content to trigger behaviors unknown to regular users. They also found that some apps have built-in “master passwords,” which allow anyone with that password to access the app and any private data contained within it. Additionally, some apps had secret access keys that could trigger hidden options, including bypassing payment.
Issues with SMS Authentication
The author argues that SMS should not be the default option for FIs for two-factor authentication (2FA). He claims that SMS is one of the most expensive methods for FIs to use, and that it is insecure because scammers can intercept SMS OTPs via malware and SIM swapping.
~~~
The author has rounded up some of the best and most popular IDS/IPS products on the market. Some stand on their own while some are just a part of a broader system, and he explains where each tool falls on that divide.
Patching Poses Security Problems with Move to More Remote Work
In mid-March, 45% of companies encouraged workers to move to remote working, up from only 13% of companies in 2018, according to IT community Spiceworks. Yet security teams consider their company's capability to patch remote systems to be inadequate, according to a recent study released by Automox, a cyber-hygiene tools provider. While 48% of security teams patch on-premises desktops and laptops in the first three days, that declines to 42% for remote desktops and laptops, according to the firm.
~~~
How to Move Quickly into a Digital Marketing Strategy
This marketing strategist has two recommendations for moving quickly into a digital marketing strategy: Offer Value and Start Conversations. He says that blogs have to help, educate, inform or entertain. He also states that Service pages, product pages, “About Us” pages all signal high intent, and that you should add bots or live chat here to encourage “buy now” or “set a meeting” type actions.
~~~
Online Banking/E-Commerce/Website Design
ICICI Bank announced the launch of banking services on WhatsApp to enable its retail customers to undertake a slew of banking requirements from their home. Users can check their savings account balance, last three transactions, credit card limit, get details of pre-approved instant loan offers, block/unblock credit and debit cards and locate branches/ATMs with ICICI WhatsApp banking services.
Plaid to Power Microsoft's New PFM Tool
Plaid will integrate with Microsoft Excel to help give the budget spreadsheet a major upgrade. Launching under the guise of Money in Excel, the new tool will use Plaid to import users’ financial information, helping to bring an automated approach to financial management. With access to 11,000 FIs across the U.S., Canada, and Europe, Plaid claims to be able to import the user’s entire financial picture in real time.
~~~
IBM Providing 9 Free Public Cloud Business Services to Customers During Coronavirus Pandemic
Under Big Blue's new offer, nine IBM cloud products and services are now available for use by IBM customers that need them at no charge for 90 days, including IBM Cloud, Aspera file sharing and team collaboration, IBM Security, IBM Video Streaming and IBM Enterprise Video Streaming, IBM Sterling supply chain tools, IBM Blueworks Live remote collaboration tools, IBM Cloud Event Management, remote learning resources, and IBM Garage. One of the tools, IBM Aspera on Cloud, is aimed specifically at new clients.
SASE Might Be Better than VPNs for Quickly Ramping up Remote Access
Some experts posit that the Secure Access Service Edge (SASE, pronounced “sassy”) framework can replace VPNs and be a model for re-architecting the enterprise network. SASE is Gartner’s name for a combination of SD-WAN capabilities and security services such as secure web gateway (SWG), cloud access security broker (CASB), and cloud-based firewall. In short, a SASE offering helps simplify network management by offering highly customizable policy-based control that can be tailored by user identity, session context, and application needs for performance and security – and it’s delivered from the cloud.
Microsoft Outlines More New Features Coming to Its Chromium-Based Edge Browser
Microsoft is readying several new capabilities for its new Edge browser, including a password monitor and vertical tabs. Password Monitor is not the same as a password manager like LastPass or Dashlane. The Chredge Password Monitor feature will notify users if the credentials they've saved to autofill have been detected on the dark web. Plus Microsoft is planning to allow users to display their tabs along the side of their Chredge browsers, not just along the top.
~~~
Coronavirus Forcing FIs to Revamp Contact Centers
Why are contact centers so busy right now? Perhaps in times of stress people crave the ability to speak with fellow humans who are helpful and empathetic. Also contact centers handle a great deal of non-voice communications. This varies by FI but often includes live web chat, SMS messaging, email and, in some cases, conversational AI — chatbots. The article provides suggestions for FIs who need to ramp up their ability to handle inbound calls and be able to respond with empathy.
Make Sure Your Customers Can Get a Human
According to Harris Interactive, 75% of consumers feel it's too hard to reach an agent. This article provides some real world examples of unanticipated costs due to low quality support and understaffing.
~~~