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Your source for the latest technology information of interest to community banks across America.

Subscribe to 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.

November 21, 2022


Hardware News

 

Kyocera Launches New Hybrid-Driven Printers

Kyocera Document Solutions America announced new ECOSYS MA2100cwfx and ECOSYS PA2100cwx printers. They support output of up to 22 pages per minute and 1200 x 1200 dpi printing. They also include Wireless & Wi-Fi Direct, mobile printing, EcoPrint and Quiet mode capabilities for those printing from shared or remote workspaces.

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Software Updates

 

Microsoft Project and Planner Are Getting Long-Awaited Features

Microsoft has been slowly aligning its multiple task management tools over the last few years, including bringing Planner and To Do tasks into Teams and making more sense of the different roles that Project and Planner are suited for. Viva Goals will soon let you add Microsoft Project and Microsoft Planner plans to the dashboard and set how they relate to high-level objectives and key results for the organization. These goals will be updated automatically as the work is done.

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Palo Alto Targets Zero-Day Threats with New Firewall Software

Palo Alto Networks has released next-generation firewall (NGFW) software that includes some 50 new features aimed at helping organizations battle zero-day threats and advanced malware attacks. The new features are built into the latest version of Palo Alto's firewall operating system – PAN 11.0 Nova – and include upgraded malware sandboxing for the company’s WildFire malware-analysis service, advanced threat prevention (ATP), and a new cloud access security broker (CASB). WildFire is Palo Alto’s on-prem or cloud-based malware sandbox that is closely integrated with Palo Alto’s firewalls. When a firewall detects anomalies, it sends data to WildFire for analysis. WildFire uses machine learning, static analysis, and other analytics to help discover threats, malware and zero-day threats.

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ATMs/Kiosks

 

Berkely Intros Wireless Tool To Help Prevent Skimming

Berkely Varitronics Systems has introduced its BlueSleuth-Pro Bluetooth and BLE locator to help users locate unsecured wireless devices such as card skimmers in ATMs. The device uses direction finding hardware, a scanning receiver and software algorithms to detect the hidden Bluetooth devices.

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Why FIs Should Include ATMs in the 2023 Budget

Some FIs are moving exclusively towards mobile banking for 2023, but research reveals consumers, including Gen Z still want ATMs. By some estimates, the majority of consumers under the age of 40 consider ATM network access a primary consideration when searching for a primary FI. Plus consumers 18-34 visit an ATM to get cash more than 7 times per month.

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Wireless World

 

Most Consumers Use an App Despite Security Concerns

A new NerdWallet survey finds that close to three-quarters of banking consumers (72%) use a mobile banking app, and 41% use more than one. More than 3 in 5 mobile banking app users (62%) say they conduct most of their regular banking activities via a mobile app, and 41% say they don’t typically need to use a branch for banking activities. More than 2 in 5 consumers who don’t use mobile banking apps (42%) say it is because they don’t trust the security of these apps. Similarly, nearly half of mobile banking app users (46%) are concerned about their accounts getting compromised, but continue to use their mobile apps anyway.

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Security Section

 

Visa Report Finds That Even Savvy Consumers Get Tripped up by the Language of Fraud

A new research report out from Visa says that when it comes to spotting scams, cybercriminals are finding vulnerabilities among even the most tech-savvy consumers. While nearly half of the population are confident they can recognize a scam, 73% are likely to miss the requisite red flags in digital communications. The study revealed that solutions inviting consumers to engage with a problem or offer are the most common fraudulent message, occurring in 87% of the scam text messages, while problem statements that provoke action from the recipient were the second most common. The most enticing clickbait messages capitalize on consumer excitement, and fraudulently tout “winning,” “exclusive deals” or “free gift,” the survey found.

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44% of FIs Believe Their Own IT Teams Are the Main Risk to Cloud Security

44% of respondents in the financial services sector say their own IT staff poses the biggest risk to data security in the cloud and 47% worry about contractors and partners, compared to 30% and 36% respectively in other verticals surveyed by Netwrix. Netwrix stated that in order to address this threat, organizations need to implement a zero-standing privilege approach in which elevated access rights are granted only when they are needed and only for as long as needed.

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Technology and Marketing

 

Reaching New Audiences Using Social Channels

According to a recent Vericast survey, 34% of Gen Z consumers obtain financial advice from TikTok, 33% from YouTube and only 24% from traditional FIs or financial advisors. The author states that before launching a social media campaign or promotion, it’s critical to know the message you want to get across and the content strategy you will use to do so. She says that in order to build awareness and generate engagement, content is king. Here are her 5 key social media marketing best practices to keep in mind: 1) Humanize your brand; 2) Highlight the key message early; 3) Inclusivity is key; 4) Tap into popular trends; and 5) Don’t forget the basics.

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Online Banking/E-Commerce/Website Design

 

Fed Maintains Skepticism on U.S. Digital Currency

There is currently no credible case for the United States to develop an official digital version of the dollar, according to Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller. However, Fed policymakers remain divided on the need for a central bank digital currency, with Fed Vice Chair Lael Brainard, second in command at the Fed, among those expressing support. Regardless, the Fed has indicated it would not launch one without clear support from the White House and lawmakers.

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Omnichannel Is the Future of Banking yet One-Third of FIs Still Mistake Multichannel Account Opening for Omnichannel

FIs are mistaking multichannel account opening for omnichannel account opening, according to The Omnichannel Account Origination Report released by MANTL. More than one-third of FIs (35%) that claim to offer omnichannel account opening do not have the ability to start an application in one channel and resume it in another channel, revealing they have multichannel account opening instead. The report revealed that relationship managers are still the primary driver of new account openings and FIs only open a small volume of deposit accounts via digital channels. Nearly half (48%) of FIs open less than 20% of their consumer deposit accounts online. Plus, only 12% of FIs offer omnichannel account opening for both businesses and consumers.

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How Digital CX Technology Gives Local FIs an Edge

The author is convinced that given new technology options, small local FIs can now provide omnichannel experiences on par with those of major retail banks. She lays out 4 fundamentals of digital CX that all FIs should keep in mind: 1) Artificial Intelligence Powered with Human Intelligence; 2) Lead with a Mobile-First Experience; 3) Build on the Strength of Community Connection; and 4) Opt for Omnichannel to Put Consumers First.

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Internet Access

 

IT Execs Flag Agility as Top Reason for Multi-Cloud Networking

Many IT leaders consider security complexity the “most significant” challenge of managing hybrid cloud and distributed workloads, according to a Cisco survey. Cisco’s 2023 Global Networking Trends report shows that 42% of IT executives want to use multiple private and public clouds for a more agile development environment as well as to better manage network security. Business agility (40%) and resilience (35%) ranked slightly lower in importance, while 34% of respondents said they would transition to multi-cloud primarily to reduce cloud costs.

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Amazon Web Services vs VMware Cloud

Amazon Web Services and VMware Cloud can both be leveraged for successful cloud migration through the vast scope of migration solutions and services they provide. This article compares and contrasts the two platforms.

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Cloudbrink Wants to Fix Everything That’s Wrong with SD-WAN

Cloudbrink recently emerged from stealth and is peddling what it calls hybrid access-as-a-service. They claim that their software is designed to address a number of flaws in traditional SD-WAN solutions, including issues with performance, latency, security and mobility. They compress the traditional connectivity stack into an app that can be downloaded on any device. In action that means that unlike traditional SD-WAN, specialized hardware isn’t required on either end of the connection.

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Call Centers

 

Digital Banking Didn’t Kill Branches—But Chatbots Will

The author states that despite the additions of new online and mobile banking features and functionality over the past decade, digital banking simply doesn’t do everything people need to do. While admitting that the chatbot experience isn’t very good, he predicts that it will get better, and here’s the important part: The chatbot experience will improve faster than the branch and contact center experiences will. He posits that the chatbot experience will improve because FIs will evolve their chatbots to become intelligent digital assistants, and then goes on to explain the evolution in the application of conversational AI technology from chatbots to intelligent digital assistants.

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