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The Ironkey Workspace W700 looks like a normal 64G key drive, but it is actually a PC that exists completely on the thumb drive. All it needs is any USB port on almost any device and a display to allow users to tap into its Windows 10 operating system. Once you have booted to the on-board OS, you can work just like normal on your chosen desktop with your installed programs. The device is designed to leave no trace on its host device upon unplugging it. In terms of security, data at rest on the W700 is protected by XTS-AES 256-bit hardware encryption.
Silicon Valley-based Exablox offers an on-premises scale-out NAS (network attached storage) platform for small and midsize organizations. It features a cloud-based management service, which proactively monitors and identifies potential problems before they compromise storage services. They recently added variable-length deduplication to its suite of enterprise-class features for its OneBlox appliance. With this addition, Exablox claims to be the only storage provider to offer both inline variable-length and fixed-length deduplication along with inline compression in a single storage pool. These capabilities enable Exablox to decrease the required storage by up to 95 percent and increase data reduction ratios up to 20:1.
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NGData offers a software package called Lily Enterprise which they say is designed to continuously build "intelligent Customer DNA" and execute highly targeted product offers, communications and content. The platform includes a combination of interactive Big Data Management, Machine Learning, Real-time Behavioral Scoring, Dynamic Segmentation capabilities and a Decision Rules Engine. They say that their system features effective and cost efficient micro-targeting and personalized retention offers. Lily Enterprise software can analyze customer data along many different lines, including age, household income, tenure, credit card transactions, number of complaints, average spending, attrition, etc. It can also be used as a fraud detection and risk management tool.
Ninite installs and updates over 500,000 programs each day. You simply go to the Ninite website, select which free software you would like to install on your PC and click Get Installer to receive a single, custom .exe file containing the installers for those programs. Run the executable, and Ninite installs all of them in turn, and it automatically declines the offers for bundled bloatware software that is often part of freeware. There is also a Pro version which the company says is utilized by large organizations such as NASA and Harvard Medical School.
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NCR says that their SmartServ Predict software anticipates problems with ATM components before they happen and dispatches technicians before a machine breaks down, thus minimizing downtime and improving the customer experience. In action, SmartServ Predict watches critical components of your ATMs and proactively schedules fixes.
Most people sign up for mobile banking by downloading an app, in-person at a branch or via their online banking connection. But banks in India have been mandated by their central bank to provide mobile banking enrollment via their ATMs by March 31, 2016. The feature is fairly easy to implement since all participating bank ATMs are connected through a National Financial Switch.
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Bluetooth beacons, which are currently used to push offers to shoppers' mobile phones, could eventually be used to accept payments, according to some observers. Such predictions are growing as the Internet of Things (IoT) boom takes off. For example, consumers may soon be able to pre-order and pay for items with buttons embedded in their home appliances, which would eliminate the need to wait in line at a store. They argue that the growing connection of IoT to consumer payments is setting the stage for a new consumer relationship management model.
Mobile-only bank Moven is looking to dramatically reduce the use of password logins by authenticating via secure keystores to store a device authentication token. They say that users will not need to enter their username and password to conduct 80% of their account activities, such as:
Meanwhile, money transfers, bill payments and other high risk interactions will still require a traditional login.
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Information Sharing and Analysis Centers (ISACs) are not for profit organizations of companies dedicated to enhancing cybersecurity by sharing threat information and collaborating on effective security measures. The Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center is one of the oldest and largest ISACs with 6,700 customer organizations worldwide. The FS-ISAC is working with FIs of all sizes to help identify and stop cyber-attacks. The center is also sharing its Soltra Edge software with all industries to help automate and speed the flow of threat intelligence between entities. The software is jointly backed by the Depository Trust and Clearing Corp.
According to the Alzheimer`s Association, by 2025, the number of people age 65 and older with Alzheimer`s is estimated to reach 7.1 million. This dramatic increase means a greater potential for elder abuse. Banks have many options for reporting suspicious activities involving the elderly beyond their local police, e.g., Adult Protective Services, Legal Aid, and state attorneys general. Security experts recommend that banks train employees to flag potential suspicious behavior, such as possible coercion by family members, forged signatures, absence of adequate documentation about financial arrangements, frequent withdrawals of large sums of money in a short period of time or transferring large sums of money,
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Core Systems:
Supporting Omnichannel Delivery with the Core System
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Bank marketing professionals that would like to hone their social media skills may want to consider the Online Marketing Institute's Social Media Marketing Certification program. The curriculum is designed to familiarize students with the fundamentals of YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Google+, via 13 video classes and about six hours of online instruction. The cost is $859 and students get six months to complete the coursework and take the final exam.
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Online Banking/E-Commerce/Website Design
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of affecting the visibility of a website or a web page in a search engine's unpaid results—often referred to as "natural," "organic," or "earned" results. SEO advocates say that it is one of the most important components of any organization`s branding efforts and online presence because it is estimated that somewhere between 80-90% of customers go to the Internet prior to making most purchases. In many consumers' minds, a higher search ranking equates to more credibility. Optimizing a website involves editing its content, HTML and associated coding to both increase its relevance to specific keywords and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines. Promoting a site to increase the number of backlinks, or inbound links, is another SEO tactic. Of course, SEO is a complex subject and goes far beyond keyword rankings and links which is why many organizations work with SEO and branding experts to continually fine-tune their SEO strategy.
According to global consulting firm McKinsey & Company, up to $1 trillion in profits in five retail businesses - consumer finance, mortgages, small-business lending, retail payments and wealth management - is in play as the world's traditional financial institutions face competition from over 12,000 FinTech startups. Ernest & Young just released a report that shows that 15.5% of digitally-active consumers around the world have used at least two FinTech services — defined as financial services products developed by non-bank, non-insurance, online companies — in the past six months. Their report states that "as FinTech continues to catch on among consumers, traditional financial services companies will have to reassess their view of which customers are most at risk from the new competition and step up their efforts to serve them effectively.”
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Cisco is working to transform their Spark text-messaging app into a cloud-based platform that includes videoconferencing and the core features of an enterprise phone system. Cisco says it's not abandoning its dedicated collaboration products, but merely looking for ways to integrate some desk phones and a big screen video meeting system into Spark. The services that users will reach through Spark will be hosted in Cisco's own cloud infrastructure. As a voice-calling platform, Spark will go beyond simple chatting to include voicemail and the basic capabilities of a corporate PBX, such as the ability to hold and transfer calls. The company will let employees at sites with these Cisco on-premises platforms, such as Unified Communications Manager, take advantage of Spark cloud services, and it will also support third party systems like Microsoft Exchange and Active Directory.
Microsoft is adding some noteworthy features to Skype for Business. The three main new features highlighted in their latest announcement are PSTN Conferencing, Skype Meeting Broadcast, and Cloud PBX. PSTN Conferencing allows employees to attend meetings using a standard traditional telephone, while Skype Meeting Broadcast supports large virtual meetings for up to 10,000 attendees. For Office 365 users, Cloud PBX enables enterprises to retire their old PBX systems and transition to the cloud.
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Some analysts are predicting that digital interactions in the contact center will surpass voice interactions in two years` time. They base this on recent research that shows that over 35% of contact center interactions are currently digital, not voice-based. Text messaging is leading the way in this charge - nearly 40% of contact centers use text messaging/instant messaging, with this number set to increase to over 60% by 2017. One of the top wish lists items for many contact centers is establishing a single platform for omnichannel communications. Fortunately, on many modern systems texting can be managed from the same platform as web chat and voice, and agents can switch between channels seamlessly if they are using the right platform.
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