The IT Landscape for Financial Firms in 2023
Volatile interest rates and economic conditions are rocking financial services in 2023. A majority of financial institutions don’t anticipate economic recovery until sometime in 2024 so financial institutions are using a conservative approach to their strategy. This means that mortgage products are being reduced and banks are much more cautious on lending as the economy continues to be challenging.
Having said that, where financial services firms have been reducing budgets and focusing on cost optimization, technology and innovation still continues to be a key area of investment.
According to McKinsey, collaboration continues to be a key focus for banks and financial institutions to allow teams, customers and partners to work seamlessly together and get products to market faster. With overhanging interest rates, this is key when customers need fast decisions and banks need to close business quickly.
According to a recent survey by Sophos, the rate of ransomware attacks in financial services continues to rise. It went up from 55% to 64% in this year’s study. Although the sector experienced an increased attack rate, it was below the cross-sector average of 66%. Therefore curbing ransomware attacks and protecting client data continues to be top of the agenda.
Financial firms must take a proactive and comprehensive approach to address data protection. Regular risk assessments, robust security measures, and staying compliant (GLBA, SOX and any state specific regulations).
Your IT Infrastructure Partner
Opti9 partners with banks, credit unions, and other financial organizations to provide reliable, high-performance, fully managed cloud and IT infrastructure solutions tailored to fit their unique needs. Our cloud services allow organizations in the finance sector to focus on achieving their business objectives instead of worrying about data backup and management tasks.
Prioritising Data Security
Opti9 understands that no single measure can guarantee complete protection against ransomware. Therefore, we adopt a holistic and proactive approach to cybersecurity, continuously adapting to the evolving threat landscape. We recognize that prevention, detection, and rapid response are crucial in mitigating the risks associated with such attacks.
Our award winning Ransomware Detection and Prevention software helps keep your client data safe.
We also have decades of expertise to ensure your firewall, patching and monitoring strategies are running well.
Get in touch today about how we can inspect and protect your IT estate.
Planning for the Worst
A major operational disruption such as a natural disaster can devastate any business, leading to costly downtime and huge recovery costs, but the consequences in the field of finance can be even more devastating. When there’s a disruption in business in finance, it doesn’t just disrupt a sole business. It can throw entire markets into chaos.
With so much at stake, how can banks protect their data from threats like ransomware and minimize the risk of major disruptions, lawsuits, and penalties?
We recommend a solid backup and disaster recovery strategy. We work extensively with the likes of Veeam and Zerto to deliver bespoke solutions to keep your strategy compliant and bullet proof. Get started by taking a look at our free disaster recovery plan template.
Ensuring everything is Compliant
Due to the finance industry being heavily regulated across the globe, we understand that we must comply with several important regulations and standards to ensure data security, privacy, and overall compliance. Here are some of the key compliance requirements that we adhere to when serving the finance industry:
- Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA): Enforced by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the GLBA requires financial institutions to protect the privacy and security of customer information, including implementing safeguards to protect data.
- Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX): Publicly traded companies must comply with SOX regulations, which include requirements for data retention, access controls, and internal controls related to financial reporting.
- Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) Guidelines: The FFIEC provides guidance on IT examination and cybersecurity for financial institutions.
- Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA): Requirements for securing federal information and systems.
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR): Although this regulation is from the European Union, it also applies to those outside the EU that handle any EU personal data.
- State-specific regulations: Various U.S. states have their own blueprint when it comes to data protection regulations – get in touch and we’ll be happy to discuss any concerns.
Why choose Opti9?
- Expertise: Decades of experience delivering managed services to a range of firms across the financial sector.
- Savings: Financial services firms can reduce their overheads by outsourcing to our enterprise grade infrastructure. Fully managed, monitored and maintained by our technical consultants. This leaves your business able to allocate more resource to automation and innovation.
- Security: Comprehensive security measures and protocols to protect financial institutions from cyber attacks and data breach.
- Promote Better Customer Service: Having reliable and efficient IT systems in place enables financial services firms to provide their clients with better service. This includes faster response times, better communication, and more efficient access to information.
Symmetry Lending partnered with Opti9 to build its IT platform from the ground up. As a start up organization the decision was made to build in the cloud, thereby avoiding upfront capital expenses associated with hardware. Being an online lender, the IT environment would require the integration of numerous platforms including, Microsoft 365, Active directory, Great Plains and SQL servers. Symmetry chose AWS due to their cost effectiveness, ease of application integration and ability to scale. With the build complete Symmetry now has a secure, efficient IT environment that can grow along with the organization.
Marty Crowley
CIO of Symmetry Lending