Secure Banking, To-Go
Over current years, the epidemic of digital oversharing has grown exponentially. People want to share the good and bad: haircuts, food, selfies, wounds, jobs, kids, heartbreak, and joy. These are just the tip of the iceberg. The majority carry smartphones and are ready to capture every shareable second. Conversely, we are scared to carry our financial information in our pocket with us. We are intrigued with the prospect of having this convenience, but hesitate due to security concerns. We worry that our bank account information will be hacked, data intercepted, or our phones will be lost to the hands of someone with an unsavory character.
As smartphone usage is on the rise and rising fast, the banking industry strives to create banking apps that can provide both convenience AND security. These banking apps are rising in popularity, as customers who regularly monitor their financial accounts can actually increase their personal security. Many banking apps provide mobile alerts via email or text message. These optional alerts can let your customer know when their bank balance is low, statement is available, payment is due, and deposit or withdrawal is complete. In addition, there are alerts that will let your customer know if any fraudulent activity is occurring on their accounts. A most beneficial tool, they can thwart any non-authorized activity almost immediately after receiving a beep or buzz.
Educate your customers and engage them to be smart about using their banking apps securely. Tell them to avoid public networks, to always use your official bank app (not a link in a text or email – typical “phishing” scams), to be wary of unsolicited downloads (could be a keylogger virus), to be aware of their phone’s location and to keep it in a secure place, to lock their phone with a strong personal PIN, to avoid saving their passwords or personal data on their phone, and to avoid selecting “auto login” features on financial apps.
Using bank apps smartly can actually help your customers stay on top of their financial accounts. Create a banking app that can be downloaded for diverse customers via Apple, Android and Windows based phones and pads. It’s not just the big banks who can offer banking apps, many smaller, community-based banks currently offer mobile banking apps for their customers. Join the mobile party and become a part of your customers’ everyday lives, by making banking apps available for their smartphones.
About Insite Data Services
IDS data application hosting services combines secure and cost-effective core banking applications, enterprise-class servers and storage, and proven virtualization technology. IDS hosts all of the bank’s servers in secure data centers that use state of the art security systems including identity verification and biometric scanning. Insite Data Services also offers IDS On-Time, a full-service solution dedicated to back-office bank processing. These operations experts allow partnered banks to focus on their most important asset, their customers. For more information visit www.insitedataservices.com.