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.
Top 6 Tablets for Business Professionals
There are a multitude of tablets available that can fill a vital role for different types of professional users - in some cases, even replacing a work laptop entirely. This article looks at six tablet options: 1) Apple iPad Pro; 2) Samsung Galaxy Tab S7/S7+; 3) Microsoft Surfaces; 4) Samsung Galaxy Tab Active Pro; 5) HP Elite X2 G4; and 6) Apple iPad Air 4.
Extreme Unveils Universal Networking Gear to Simplify Infrastructure Decisions
Extreme Networks is rolling out new core switches: the wired 5520 Series universal edge and aggregation switches, and the wireless, WiFi 6-based AP300C and AP400C Series universal access points. The 5520 Series includes 24- and 48-port 1 Gigabit models, 1/2.5/5 Gigabit multi-rate models, as well as a 24-port 10 Gigabit model. The series also offers multi-watt power over Ethernet (PoE) capabilities, making it a well suited wired backend for wireless APs or for supporting for next-gen powered Ethernet devices.
~~~
Attivo Networks Announces New Capabilities to Endpoint Detection Net Solution
Attivo Networks announced new capabilities to its Endpoint Detection Net (EDN) solution that improve file protection against human-operated ransomware by concealing and denying access to production mapped shares, cloud storage, and selected files or folders. By hiding this information, the EDN solution limits the malware’s choice to engage only with the decoy environment and helps reduce the risk of a successful data compromise.
~~~
Almost Half of Global Consumers Expect a Cashless World by 2030
COVID-19 has seen consumers across the world ditch cash and in-person shopping in favor of online spending, according to Standard Chartered’s latest global survey. Almost two-thirds of survey respondents (64 per cent) agree that COVID-19 has made them more positive about online shopping, but they are also more careful with their spending and want new ways to track their money digitally. Almost two-thirds globally now expect their country to go fully cashless, with almost half expecting this to happen by 2030.
~~~
How 'Pandenomics' Will up Mobile Check Deposits
The author states that "pandenomics" dictates that consumers make daily choices through the prism of how those choices might impact their health. In other words, safety reigns supreme. Against that backdrop, there’s room for mobile check deposit to enter its next leg of growth. The article suggests that FIs should require taking prospects through mobile deposits as a pre-condition to onboarding new accounts.
Wi-Fi 6: Expanding the Role of Wi-Fi in the Enterprise
As enterprise connectivity needs grow, Wi-Fi has stepped up to the challenge with higher capacity, greater reliability and security, and lower latency, alongside a new set of traffic management tools. Wi-Fi has been around for 20 years, but now Wi-Fi 6, and its most recent expansion to 6 GHz with Wi-Fi 6E, could be the biggest evolutionary step of the technology. The article goes on to cover what Wi-Fi 6 offers businesses of all sizes.
~~~
Adopting More Tools Doesn't Necessarily Improve Security Response Efforts
While organizations have slowly improved in their ability to plan for, detect and respond to cyberattacks over the past five years, their ability to contain an attack has declined by 13% during this same period, IBM reveals. Their global survey conducted along with Ponemon Institute found that respondents’ security response efforts were hindered by the use of too many security tools, as well as a lack of specific playbooks for common attack types - only 33% had playbooks in place for specific types of attacks. The research concludes that that adopting more tools didn’t necessarily improve security response efforts – in fact, it may have done the opposite. However, they noted that the use of open, interoperable platforms as well as automation technologies can help reduce the complexity of responding across disconnected tools.
~~~
Using Social Media to Reach Underbanked Communities
The author lays out a couple of high level social media strategies when trying to reach underbanked populations: 1) Empower employees with a voice on social media and 2) Be a helpful resource.
~~~
Online Banking/E-Commerce/Website Design
Grandma Wants Digital Banking Too — Don't Ignore Her Needs
About 83% of U.S. household wealth is held by people over 50. This article posits that while seniors may be going out and buying smartphones — and even dabbling in digital banking — the current digital services simply aren’t designed to encourage consistent usage among seniors. It then discusses the main issues that are holding seniors back from actively using digital banking.
~~~
Palo Alto Networks Updates SD-WAN Solution
Palo Alto Networks’ CloudGenix SD-WAN offering gained a spate of updates including artificial intelligence operations (AIOps) capabilities, tighter integrations with its Prisma Access secure access service edge (SASE) platform, and two new SD-WAN appliances, with one of them being the ION 1000 which is a small form factor appliance aimed at small retail or branch offices and remote workers.
DDoS Attacks Rise in Intensity, Sophistication and Volume
There have been significant shifts in DDoS attack patterns in the first half of 2020, a Neustar report reveals. There has been a 151% increase in the number of DDoS attacks compared to the same period in 2019. These included the largest and longest attacks that Neustar has ever mitigated at 1.17 Terabits-per-second (Tbps) and 5 days and 18 hours respectively. The company notes that there is no one-size-fits-all solution for security, but having a reliable cloud service that ensures availability and security for all services and users is key.
~~~
How to Calibrate Your Contact Center's Quality Management Program
Calibration sessions - where individuals from the contact center get together, review and evaluate caller intereactions to ensure alignment, consistency, and fairness within the contact center - are important events in the contact center industry. The author states that in order to fully leverage your quality program, you need to calibrate internally and with other business units for verification and validation of success criteria; communicate analyzed data and information; and, collaborate for continuous improvements.
The State of Chatbots: Pandemic Edition
Video conferencing isn't the only technology that's gotten a pandemic boost - chatbot use and deployment is also on the rise. Generally speaking, there are two types of chatbots right now. The first kind is the more primitive kind that is based on simple question and answer rules. The other kind of chatbot is the more sophisticated kind based on natural language technology, and this type of chatbot is designed to be conversational. These chatbots take longer to create, but they can be trained, and they can learn.
~~~