This is article #3 in the series on optimizing banking and credit union innovation and productivity through AI and cloud communications.
The threat of cyberattacks against banks and credit unions has never been more intense. According to KPMG research, 84 percent of bankers expect cybersecurity risks to increase in the coming years, and 43 percent acknowledge that their organizations are inadequately prepared to protect customer data, privacy, and assets in the event of a cyberattack.
Security incidents are also getting costlier. According to IBM’s annual Cost of a Data Breach report, the average cost of a data breach for critical infrastructure has risen to $4.88 million. That’s a 10% increase year over year and the highest number on record to date.
Regulators are tightening their controls in response to these increased risks. The KPMG study found that 74 percent of risk management executives in the financial services sector expect that compliance risks will increase in parallel with cybersecurity risks.
By partnering with the right technology platform providers, banks and credit unions can maintain a strong security posture, reducing the risk of costly security incidents, enhancing compliance, and ensuring that customers’ financial data is secure.
Managed cloud services offer a range of security benefits, including routine updates, security checks, and compliance with industry standards such as FINRA-regulated customer compliance requirements.
Unified communications as a service (UCaaS)
Even as banks and credit unions struggle to secure their systems and comply with evolving regulations, they must continuously strive to meet higher standards for customer experiences. Leveraging multiple communication channels, they endeavor to meet each client on their own terms. But as communication technologies evolve, these institutions must consider how such changes impact the cyber risk landscape.
By adopting cloud communications, also known as Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS), financial services get a holistic platform that offers voice, video meetings, messaging, file sharing, SMS texting, and more. This enables streamlined processes, enhanced productivity, improved collaboration, and better control over costs, and the communications data can be utilized in various AI tools to improve productivity and customer experience.
All of that translates to strong ROI, positively impacting the bottom line. However, there are substantial benefits for security and compliance as well. In a highly regulated industry like banking, those benefits are strengthened by the additional advantages of managed cloud services.
The security advantages of managed cloud services
RingCentral’s UCaaS solution enhances security for companies in the financial services sector in several ways:
- State-of-the-art security: RingCentral deploys gold-standard security technologies including encryption, firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and advanced threat protection, ensuring that your data is protected, both in transit and at rest.
- Financial services expertise: RingCentral’s dedicated security and compliance experts understand regulations such as GDPR and SOX, protecting against the specific compliance risks that apply to financial services organizations.
- 24x7x365 monitoring: RingCentral monitors networks and systems constantly to detect potential security threats early and respond rapidly.
- Routine security audits and updates: Regular reviews, audits, and updates are essential in a rapidly evolving cybersecurity threat landscape. By focusing on continuous improvement, RingCentral maintains a highly robust security posture at all times.
- Disaster recovery and business continuity: RingCentral implements measures to ensure business continuity and prevent data loss. This is especially critical for organizations in the financial sector.
- Strict access controls: Robust identity and access management ensures that only authorized personnel can access sensitive financial information.
By working with a managed cloud service provider that offers these enhanced security measures, financial services companies can protect their data, comply with regulatory requirements, and ensure the integrity and confidentiality of their operations.
Security without boundaries
RingCentral’s RingEx UCaaS platform supports multi-channel communications between individual branches, regional offices or headquarters, and remote employees. That empowers your team to communicate seamlessly and collaborate effectively, regardless of where they are located. RingEx offers substantial cost savings, delivering strong return on investment.
For banks and credit unions, security and compliance are non-negotiable. This is where managed cloud services shine.
Security is as critical in financial services as it is in any industry. Banks and credit unions handle a lot of data, which requires a massive technology infrastructure. There is also a lot of internal communication and interaction with customers and members that require secure communication pathways.
To enable optimized communication among employees working in various locations, you need a solution that is comprehensive and secure. RingCentral’s cloud-based communication platform features seven layers of security to provide banks and credit unions with confidence. The platform:
- Provides TLS and SRTP encryption between all endpoints
- Is rated Enterprise-Ready, Skyhigh’s CloudTrust™ highest rating
- Is HITRUST-CSF Certified
- PCI DSS Compliant (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard)
RingCentral is designed as a cloud platform, first and foremost. Unlike on-premise systems, it was built specifically with geographically dispersed, highly connected organizations in mind. RingCentral includes cloud security and compliance by default. Additionally, customers and members benefit from automatic updates and security enhancements, multi-factor authentication, and routine security audits.
Compliance without worry
Fragmented and multiple duplicative systems offering messaging, voice, and video connections have made it difficult for compliance teams to monitor and track all employees’ communications. Tools available on the older on-premises platforms were not easy to use. However, an AI-enabled and cloud-based unified communications platform can give firms the tools, access points, and economies of scale to efficiently feed multiple systems for surveillance, compliance, audit, and proprietary analysis while enabling the communications modes (messaging including SMS, video, phone) that empower employees to work effectively. Some firms may want to manage access to different features at a user level as well, so providing Role-Based Access Controls (RBAC) is also important and a feature to look for in any UCaaS platform.
Comprehensive compliance with cloud communications offers financial services companies significant benefits, including simplified adherence to regulations like FINRA, FCA/MiFID II, CFTC, SEC, and others through built-in compliance tools and real-time monitoring. Automated archiving, audit trails, and centralized compliance controls improve operational efficiency and risk management while reducing IT costs. Cloud solutions also support disaster recovery, business continuity, and future-proofing through regular updates and scalability. These advantages ensure regulatory compliance, strengthen customer trust, and safeguard the company’s reputation.
Many banks and credit unions have deployed AI and ML tools to monitor compliance, but these tools are only as effective as the data they can access. RingCentral offers customers a complete solution through out-of-the-box integrations with leading partners like Theta Lake, Smarsh, Dubber, and Liquid Voice, among other leading AI and ML analysis tools to provide advanced capture, archiving, and supervision functionality for your compliance requirements.
Infused with AI, secure by default
RingCentral is the leader in AI-infused communication, connecting and unifying voice, messaging, and online meetings, then adding insights and time-saving features that improve productivity and enhance employee effectiveness:
- Business phone systems: Cloud-based telephony with advanced features, augmented by AI technology.
- Video meetings: AI-enabled meetings with advanced collaboration tools, automated note-taking, and integration with popular productivity tools.
- Messaging: Team collaboration, including chat (with an AI-assisting writing tool) and file-sharing tools.
- Enhanced business SMS: Business texting optimized for deliverability.
- Cloud faxing: Simple, highly secure digital faxing from any device.
RingCentral understands data security is critical, so our AI platform is designed for enhanced privacy and security. We never use our customers’ data to train our AI models, nor do we ever allow our third-party vendors to use our customers’ data for AI model training.
RingCentral has developed an AI governance program for trustworthy AI, based on the NIST AI Risk Management Framework. We’re committed to security, transparency, and customer choice.
The combination of AI-infused communication tools, routine security audits, and disaster recovery measures mitigates risks and supports business agility and stability. This dual focus enables financial services companies to adapt swiftly to market changes while maintaining the integrity and confidentiality of their operations.
Cyberthreats will undoubtedly increase in the years ahead. By leveraging managed cloud services, banks, credit unions, and other financial services organizations can benefit from state-of-the-art security, continuous monitoring, and strict compliance with industry regulations. RingCentral’s UCaaS platform enhances communication, improves productivity, and ensures that customer data is fully protected.
As cyberthreats continue to evolve, partnering with RingCentral ensures that banks and credit unions remain resilient, compliant, and competitive in an increasingly complex digital environment.
Want to learn more? See our solutions for financial services.
Originally published Aug 16, 2024
