IntroductionDigital transformation might seem like a new concept, but the reality is that it has a long history. In the 1970s, computer-aided manufacturing and design were first used in business. We saw the introduction of enterprise resource planning in the 1980’s. eCommerce and online banking were introduced in the late 1990s, and social media emerged in the mid-2000s. Companies first started using these digital channels as a way of connecting with and supporting their customers. We have seen a renewed focus on digital transformation over recent years as work has become digital, mobile, and social. Companies striving to remain competitive globally have prioritized digital transformation in 2024. Below, we will talk about where these companies are starting. Understanding Digital TransformationDigital transformation is a holistic approach to altering business processes, culture, and customer experiences to meet changing market and business requirements. This strategic initiative integrates digital technology into all business areas, fundamentally changing how businesses operate and deliver customer value. These changes will drastically improve the experience for both the employee and the customer. Key Components of Digital Transformation: Cloud Integrations: Moving towards a hybrid or multi-cloud environment to optimize performance, cost-effectiveness, and flexibility for remote work. Cybersecurity: Cybersecurity remains a top priority with the continued expansion of digital infrastructures. This involves comprehensive strategies encompassing firewall protection, intrusion detection, data encryption, and secure network segmentation. The proactive approach to cybersecurity is crucial for safeguarding organizations. IT Modernization: IT modernization encompasses various strategies and practices to upgrade and optimize an organization’s IT infrastructure, systems, and business applications to meet the current security and technology needs. Data-Driven Decision Making: Leveraging data analytics for better decision-making and strategic planning. Sustainability: Sustainability has become a guiding principle in business decision-making. Companies are looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprint and operate more sustainably, leveraging digital technologies for energy efficiency and reduced paper use. Total Experience (TX): Focusing on enhancing customer and employee experiences, integrating technologies to create superior shared experiences. IT Modernization: A Pillar of Digital TransformationIT modernization is crucial in digital transformation, upgrading existing technology systems and infrastructure to improve efficiency, security, and scalability. It’s about moving from outdated processes and legacy systems to more agile, cloud-based solutions. Application Modernization: Improving and upgrading existing software applications to align with the latest technology to meet customer demands. It’s about decommissioning or retiring legacy applications and adopting more modern, cloud-based, data-driven platforms created with coordination and scalability in mind. Infrastructure Modernization: Upgrading the hardware, servers, and networking components that support a company’s IT operations is crucial. This can include adopting converged or hyper-converged infrastructure systems, making the infrastructure more manageable, scalable, and easier to repair. Data Modernization: This aspect focuses on organizing and transforming data into a more usable and valuable format. It typically involves consolidating data into one unified platform and analyzing data to gain valuable insights, which can guide business decisions and strategies. Lifecycle Modernization: Reshaping internal operational processes, including managing IT hardware and devices throughout their lifecycle, is essential to IT modernization. Benefits of IT Modernization: Enhanced Efficiency: Streamlined operations with faster, more reliable systems. Improved Security: Advanced security measures to protect data and assets. Scalability: Easier adaptation to market changes and business growth. Cost Reduction: Lower operational costs by eliminating legacy system maintenance. Legacy Application Retirement: Clearing the Path for InnovationLegacy application retirement is an essential step in the digital transformation journey. These outdated systems often pose risks and hinder innovation due to their inflexibility and high maintenance costs. Strategies for Legacy Application Retirement: Application Assessment: Evaluating the usefulness and efficiency of existing applications. Data Migration: Safely transferring data from old systems to a modern platform like Infobelt’s Omni Archive Manager. Phased Approach: Gradually retiring applications to minimize disruption. Employee Training: Ensuring staff are equipped to use new systems effectively. Aligning Digital Transformation with Business GoalsThe ultimate aim of digital transformation is to align IT infrastructure with business goals. This alignment requires a strategic approach, focusing on data management, customer engagement, and operational efficiency. Steps to Align Transformation with Business Objectives: Define Clear Objectives: Understand what the business aims to achieve with digital transformation. Involve Stakeholders: Ensure all company parts are engaged in the transformation process. Focus on Customer Needs: Use digital tools to improve customer satisfaction and engagement. Embrace Data Analytics: Utilize data for insights and informed decision-making. Data Management in the Era of Digital TransformationEffective data management is the backbone of digital transformation. Modern businesses are inundated with data, and managing this data effectively is critical for success. Critical Aspects of Data Management: Data Storage and Accessibility: Implementing cloud storage solutions for better data accessibility and management. Modern platforms like Infobelt Omni Archive Manager can securely retain, index, and manage every type of data in one platform, making this easy for storage and accessing your business’s most valuable data. Data Security: Ensuring robust security protocols to protect sensitive information. Data Analytics: Utilizing advanced analytics tools to gain insights and drive business strategy. Compliance: Adhering to data protection regulations and standards. ConclusionDigital transformation, IT modernization, and legacy application retirement are essential for businesses looking to thrive in the digital era. By embracing these changes, companies can improve efficiency, enhance customer experiences, and make better, data-driven decisions. The journey might seem daunting, but a clear strategy and commitment lead to a more agile, innovative, and successful business model.
Could the marvels of quantum computing break our conventional data storage systems? Dive deep into how RPA is emerging as the guardian of quantum-resilient data storage. The pace at which technology advances is mind-boggling. Once dominated by magnetic tapes, the data storage landscape has evolved into high-speed SSDs and sophisticated cloud architectures. But what happens when quantum computing, a technology that’s gaining rapid traction, poses a threat to our existing storage infrastructures? Why Should You Care? Whether in healthcare, financial services, pharmaceuticals, or agriculture, how data is stored matters more than you might think. Not only do these sectors have to maintain massive records, but they also have to protect data from malicious entities. Imagine a quantum computer, with its unparalleled computational capacity, being used by a bad actor to break into conventional storage systems. Scary, right? Here’s the value bomb: The evolution of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) could be the answer to creating quantum-resilient storage systems. Let’s explore. 1. Healthcare: Digital EHR and Quantum-Resilient StorageA renowned hospital dealing with millions of electronic health records (EHR) recently piloted an RPA-backed quantum-resilient storage system. The results? Not only did the RPA help seamlessly transfer EHRs to the new quantum-secure system, but also detected and rectified inconsistencies in the process.Do you belong to the healthcare industry? How do you envision the role of RPA in ensuring the security of patient data?2. Financial Services: Protecting Transactions in the Quantum Age A global bank incorporated RPA to transfer its vast trove of transaction data to a quantum-resilient platform. With the potential vulnerabilities of quantum hacks, the bank’s proactive approach, assisted by RPA, ensured a smooth transition without compromising transaction integrity. How do you think financial institutions should prepare for the inevitable rise of quantum computing? 3. Pharmaceuticals: Securing Formulae and Research DataA leading pharmaceutical company, sitting on years of research data, realized the impending threat of quantum computing. Using RPA, they migrated their invaluable data to a quantum-secure system. The automation facilitated by RPA ensured that the intricate data structures and formulae remained intact during the transition.Have you thought about how RPA might revolutionize data handling in the pharmaceutical domain?4. Agriculture: Shielding Genetic Data for the FutureWith the agriculture industry increasingly relying on genetic data, one pioneering agri-firm leveraged RPA to transfer its genome databases to a quantum-resilient system. The migration was efficient, and RPA also automated periodic checks to ensure data accuracy. Considering the crucial role of data in modern agriculture, how do you see its protection evolving in the coming years? In ConclusionThe threat posed by quantum computing to our existing data storage systems is real. But, as with every technological challenge, innovative solutions like RPA are rising to meet the challenge head-on. By examining these case studies, we can see the potential of RPA in safeguarding our data in a quantum-dominated future.I have a question for you: Are you prepared for the quantum shift? How do you see RPA shaping the future of your industry’s data storage needs? Take the Leap: If you’re as fascinated by this as we are and keen to dive deeper into the world of quantum-resilient storage, contact us. Equip yourself with the knowledge and tools to stay ahead in this brave new quantum world.
In the current digital era, businesses generate and accumulate vast amounts of data daily. The influx of information poses significant challenges for data management and security. However, organizations increasingly recognize the importance of archiving to overcome these challenges. Archiving is a proactive approach that streamlines data storage and enhances data management and security. In this blog post, we will explore why archiving is crucial for businesses and how it can assist in achieving better data management and security.Safeguarding valuable data is pivotal for businesses, and archiving plays a crucial role. By systematically archiving data, companies can ensure the long-term preservation of critical information, even as technology evolves. This protection is vital for compliance, litigation, and historical records. Archiving prevents data loss due to accidental deletions, hardware failures, or cyberattacks, providing businesses with peace of mind and protection against potential disruptions.Archiving also helps businesses improve their data management practices. Organizations can reduce their primary storage infrastructure strain by implementing archiving systems. Infrequently accessed data can be moved to lower-cost storage mediums, freeing up valuable space on high-performance storage systems. This optimization enhances storage efficiency and reduces the costs of acquiring additional storage resources. Archiving also simplifies data retrieval and improves search capabilities, allowing employees to access relevant information quickly.Compliance with various regulations is a significant concern for businesses across industries. Archiving facilitates compliance efforts by ensuring that essential records and documents are securely stored and readily accessible when needed. Regulatory bodies often require organizations to retain data for specific periods, and archiving assists in meeting these requirements. By maintaining a comprehensive and well-organized archive, businesses can easily retrieve relevant data during audits or legal proceedings, avoiding potential penalties and reputational damage.A robust archiving strategy can be crucial for legal disputes or litigation businesses. Archived data can serve as essential evidence and support in legal proceedings, helping organizations defend their interests. Companies can demonstrate data integrity, establish timelines, and support their legal claims by maintaining accurate and tamper-proof archives. Archiving also helps mitigate the risk of spoliation, which refers to the intentional or accidental destruction of evidence. Consistent archiving practices ensure that data remains intact and unaltered, strengthening a business’s legal position.Let’s explore the steps to automate archiving and discuss how it can help businesses achieve better data management and security. Assess Your Archiving Requirements: The first step in automating archiving is to assess your organization’s specific archiving requirements. Consider the types of data you need to archive, regulatory compliance obligations, retention periods, and access requirements. By identifying these factors, you can design an archiving solution that aligns with your business needs and ensures that the appropriate data is archived. Choose an Archiving Solution: Select a suitable archiving solution that supports automation features. Look for features such as automated data classification, policy-based archiving, and integration capabilities with existing systems. An archiving solution should provide scalability, robust security measures, and flexibility to adapt to future data volumes and format changes. Implement Data Classification: Data classification is essential for effective archiving automation. Define classification rules based on data types, sensitivity, and relevance. Automated classification tools can scan data and assign appropriate tags or metadata to facilitate archiving. This step streamlines the archiving process by automatically identifying which data should be archived, improving efficiency and accuracy. Define Archiving Policies: Establish archiving policies that dictate when and how data should be archived. These policies can be based on data age, usage patterns, or specific business requirements. Automated archiving solutions enable the creation of rules and triggers that initiate the archiving process based on predefined criteria. Archiving policies ensure consistency, reduce manual intervention, and allow timely data archiving. Set up Regular Archiving Schedules: Automation allows businesses to set up schedules based on their specific needs. Define intervals or triggers that initiate archiving processes automatically. For example, you can schedule archiving weekly, monthly, or when data reaches a certain threshold. Regular archiving ensures that data is consistently managed and archived promptly, minimizing the risk of data loss or non-compliance. Integrate with Existing Systems: To achieve seamless automation, integrate your archiving solution with existing systems and applications. This integration enables data extraction, transformation, and archiving without disrupting daily operations. Integration also facilitates data retrieval, ensuring that archived data remains easily accessible for authorized personnel. Implement Security Measures: Automation should be accompanied by robust security measures to protect archived data. Implement encryption techniques to secure data during storage and transmission. Apply access controls and authentication mechanisms to restrict unauthorized access to archived data. Regularly monitor and update security measures to stay ahead of evolving threats. Monitor and Maintain Archiving Processes: Regularly monitor and maintain your automated archiving processes. Keep track of archiving logs, verify data integrity, and address any issues promptly. Conduct periodic reviews to ensure archiving policies align with business requirements and regulatory changes. Proactively maintaining the archiving system can enhance data management and security over time. Data breaches and cyber threats pose significant risks to businesses in the digital landscape. Automating archiving processes offers numerous benefits to businesses, including improved data management and enhanced security. Organizations can achieve efficient archiving workflows by assessing archiving requirements, selecting a suitable solution, implementing data classification, defining archiving policies, establishing regular schedules, integrating with existing systems, and implementing robust security measures. Automation streamlines data archiving reduces manual effort, ensures compliance, enhances data security, and enables businesses to focus on core operations. Embracing archiving automation empowers organizations to achieve better data management and security in today’s data-driven business landscape.
Why do applications need to “retire”?Anyone who runs an IT department will tell you that, over time, applications become redundant (or even obsolete). When this happens, one or more applications become underused…or cease to be used at all. Those unused applications can create severe problems, especially for highly regulated industries.For example, redundant applications are frequently a result of: Mergers and acquisitions Product lines or services being discontinued Departments being disbanded Other assets/business lines being divested Applications being replaced with more up-to-date alternatives So applications become outdated and go unused…but so what? Can’t the application simply remain as-is, just in case it or some of its data are needed?Generally, this is a bad idea. There are several reasons why these legacy applications need to be retired appropriately and not left to linger on systems.Reason #1: They Are Business RisksThe technical skills required to maintain a legacy system are often in short supply. For example, between 2012 and 2017, nearly 23% of the workforce with knowledge of mainframes retired or left the field, according to Deloitte. Finding people with legacy tech skills can be costly, and keeping them in-house can be difficult. The Deloitte study also found that 63% of those “legacy mainframe” positions remained unfilled at the time of the study.Many legacy applications are also incompatible with more current systems and software. Thus, legacy systems might only work with older operating systems and databases, which themselves have not been updated with the latest security patches or software updates. This is both a stability issue and a cybersecurity risk.Reason #2: They Are CostlyGartner estimates that the annual cost of owning and managing software applications can be as much as four times the cost of the initial purchase, with 75% of their total IT budget spent on maintaining existing systems and infrastructure. In some instances, software vendors will charge more for supporting older versions. IT personnel’s extra time resolving problems associated with less-familiar systems can also create high support costs.Reason #3: They Raise Regulatory Compliance ConcernsAround the world, there is rising concern about data governance. Regulations such as SEC 17a3/4, FINRA 4511, GDPR, and many other government mandates have forced most companies to pay closer attention to managing data and protecting data privacy. Older applications may not provide the security levels required to control sensitive data access and may be incompatible with modern access requirements.Businesses must also balance the two priorities of data minimization and compliance with long-term retention requirements. A legacy application typically lacks the necessary controls to meet these requirements. In contrast, a purpose-built application retirement repository will incorporate data lifecycle management capabilities to handle things like data retention, data destruction at the end of life, eDiscovery, and legal holds.Reason #4: They Suck Up Time and Talent That Could be Spent on InnovationSupporting legacy systems is a distraction from modern business and IT initiatives. Retiring legacy applications not only frees IT personnel from firefighting problems on systems that have little value to the company, but it also reduces the overhead needed while allowing the IT team to focus its energy on innovation. Reason #5: They Can Devalue the Customer ExperienceLegacy systems are often isolated from other pieces of customer data, which means that customer requests can be slower and less efficient—especially if customer service teams need to log into multiple systems to access customer information. On the other hand, a single content repository for legacy and current application data provides secure access to all information in one place.Reason #6: They Are a Lost Opportunity for Business InsightsMost organizations have a mountain of operational and customer data hiding in legacy systems. That data could deliver valuable business intelligence…but only if it is accessible in the right ways. Decommissioning or retiring an application offers a way to bring together diverse information from disparate systems into a single location. Once combined, the data can be mined using analysis tools or interrogated using artificial intelligence. But Is There an ROI for Application Retirement Solutions?Naturally, there is no general answer to this question. Whether or not your organization can benefit from an application retirement solution depends on the number and scope of its legacy applications, its exposure to risks around data retention and compliance, its current spend on these applications, and a number of other factors.One way to begin that ROI calculation is to consider four categories of potential savings: Direct savings. This is the money saved through elimination of legacy support and maintenance tools and services. Efficiency gains. These would include efficiencies that evolve when business users have access to all data in a central place. This would include increased efficiency for customer service. (See Reason #5.) Innovation gains. This category is more difficult to figure out but is worth having in the calculation. First, what would be the return on having new insights into customer/user data? (See Reason #6.) Also, what could your technical teams work on when they “get their time back” from not having to service legacy applications? (See Reason #4.) Avoiding regulatory compliance costs. These could be potential fees avoided by having appropriate compliance in place, especially where data retention and data privacy are concerned. In many cases, the direct savings and efficiency gains alone are enough to justify an application retirement solution; innovation and peace-of-mind are the cherry on top.The case is clear: Applications do become redundant or obsolete with time. It is costly, and risky, to let them sit there on the system. Retiring them appropriately and archiving the data they contain is the only way to maintain security while keeping appropriate access. Interested in finding out more about application retirement, and how Infobelt can help with this critical service? See what we offer.
It should surprise no one that today’s corporations generate a lot of data. And they will continue to do so at an increasing rate: From 2020 to 2022, the amount of data the average enterprise stores more than doubled, from one petabyte to roughly 2.022 petabytes. That’s over 100% growth in just two years.Financial services (“Finserv”) firms create more than their fair share of that data. Even a modest-sized regional bank will likely traffic in as much data as a company ten times its size. But what few experts have come to grips with is the sheer variety of data that finserv companies must manage.All that variety creates a huge hurdle for data management and compliance simply because most solutions on the market specialize in certain types of data only. This fact has forced most finserv companies to cobble together several disparate solutions…or to forego any sort of data management whatsoever.And that is creating an extremely large but hidden source of risk for finserv firms.The Varieties of Data in the Average Financial InstitutionConsider for a moment all the sources of data that, say, a regional bank traffics in every day: Transactions at all physical locations Transactions carried out online and via a mobile app Client personal data (name, address, birthday, social security number, etc.) Account information (account numbers, transactions, balances) Spending categorization Credit information Mortgage and loan information Contract information Emails (to the tune of 128 messages sent and received each day, on average, per employee) Employee personal information and pay information Employee logs Analytics data (based on customer spending patterns, segments, new products, customer feedback, etc.) Marketing data (email open rates, website visits, direct mail sent, cost of obtaining a new customer, etc.) Customer service data (tickets, rep notes, inquiries, dates) Network usage and access statistics General data on markets, commodities, and prices A similar exercise works for other finserv companies (insurance companies, wealth management firms, etc.).Looking at this list, it’s clear that all this data is gathered, stored, and used by different departments within the organization. In part because of that, data is probably also spread across several systems—for example, an OLTP database for online transactions, an OLAP database so that marketing can do interesting analytics work, an email server maintained by IT, etc.It’s also clear that this data differs a lot in and of itself. For example, emails are a popular example of unstructured data: Individual emails can vary widely in terms of length and kinds of information, and there is no real formatting that lends itself to classical database storage. On the other hand, transaction data are a good example of structured data: The information is organized into specified fields of known structure and length.The Problems that Come from Scattered DataWho cares that there are so many kinds of data being tossed around? Compliance officers should, for one thing. Having different kinds of data in different places can be a complete nightmare when it comes to things like data privacy and compliance. For example: What happens when transaction data is appropriately encrypted in a transaction database but fails to be encrypted when that data is aggregated for analytics purposes? How can appropriate access be maintained? For example, how can institutions ensure that clients have access not only to their account information but also to things like customer service correspondence? Which bits of data are covered by the company’s privacy policy, and which aren’t? Which are included in state and federal privacy laws, and which are not? How would someone even know? What mechanisms are in place to ensure that all kinds of data in every location is destroyed once it reaches the end of its data lifecycle? Again, keeping track of all that data is, from a compliance standpoint, exponentially more difficult with each kind of data and each new “data home.” Moving Forward: A Singular Data Archiving Solutions?To be clear, the issue is not a lack of solutions. The idea of data archiving—that is, moving data from its more readily-usable formats to a kind of “deep storage” for long-term preservation—has been around probably since the library of Alexandria (roughly 222 B.C.). Today, there are literally dozens of data archiving and data storage alternatives on the market.The real issue is that most of these tend to be one-trick ponies. For example, there are some great examples of email data archiving platforms, and they do really well with unstructured data. There are also document management systems, backup, archival software, monitoring systems, and more. But each one has its own specialty; few can act as a central repository for everything while still managing access, logging, and data destruction as needed for compliance.Indeed, this patchwork landscape of solutions is precisely what drove our engineers to create the Omni Archive Manager. We saw that there was a need for a single tool that could archive all data, maintain appropriate records management across the data lifecycle, and monitor and control access. The need for such a tool happened to be greatest for financial institutions—precisely because of the amount and variety of data they were generating every day.It might be the case that some institutions can get along with a “cobbled together approach.” But, with increasing regulatory legislation around data privacy, and increasing sophistication of cyber attacks, those days are numbered. No longer can finserv rest easy, assuming that siloed information will be their saving grace. Soon, even smaller companies will need to archive and monitor their data as if they were huge international companies. Then the question becomes: How quickly can they do it?
Ransomware is becoming a growing problem, and not just for larger organizations. As modern encryption methods become more sophisticated, so do ransomware scams. These threaten encryption of vital data unless a fine or “ransom” is paid. Would-be ransomers are now targeting “mid-market” organizations, hoping that these have fewer resources to detect, repel, or recover from the attack. But ransomware is, at its core, a scare tactic. As James Scott, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology, puts it: “Ransomware is more about manipulating vulnerabilities in human psychology than the adversary’s technological sophistication.”Which means that, far from being the cause of ransomware attacks, technology is the solution.The Growth of the Ransomware Threat in 2022That ransomware poses a sizable security threat to organizations is not news. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), which provides the public with a trustworthy source for reporting information on cyber incidents, reported some 2,474 ransomware complaints in 2020. This reflects a whopping 225% increase in ransom demands due to ransomware. Those demands are thought to total $16.1 million in losses in the U.S. The amount lost to ransomware worldwide is on an order of magnitude greater than that.In addition, the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) reported in February 2022 that it was aware of ransomware incidents within 14 out of 16 critical infrastructure sectors in the U.S.But it’s not just big businesses and critical infrastructure that are being targeted. Ransomers are starting to target smaller organizations. Automation and increasingly sophisticated techniques are allowing criminals to scale their efforts to hit more of these smaller companies. And, without proper resources or protection, those smaller organizations are more likely to be vulnerable to such attacks—and to pay the outrageous ransoms.Which raises the question: What can small and mid-sized organizations with fewer resources possibly do to mitigate or prevent the potential damage done by ransomware attacks?Recoverability Renders Ransomware UselessNaturally, the first line of defense against ransomware would be to prevent the infection and spread of malicious software to begin with. But that’s a tall order. Today’s modern organizations have multiple databases, tied in with multiple outside networks (vendor databases, for example). Add in the human element—someone falling for a phishing scheme, for instance—and it’s likely that most organizations have compromising ransomware somewhere in their digital ecosystem.But if organizations can’t prevent ransomware from taking hold, they can render it useless. In fact, cybersecurity experts often recommend not paying the ransom. This keeps money out of the bad actors’ hands and lowers the chance they will do it again.That makes recoverability the lynchpin of any ransomware defense strategy. If an organization can recover their data and applications from a point in time before the ransomware infected the system, they can refuse the ransom while minimizing their losses.Immutable Storage and WORM for RecoverabilityImmutable storage (more specifically, immutable backups) are a part of any organization’s data recoverability efforts. An immutable backup is a backup file that can’t be altered in any way. Most systems for immutable backup also have extensive logging capabilities for recording who accessed what bits of data, and when.Immutable backups should be created using a WORM (write-once-read-many) designated database or data archive. In a WORM system, data cannot be changed, overwritten, or deleted—not even by the administrator. This means that a bit of ransomware cannot overwrite the data present in the database with an encrypted form.The idea of WORM is not necessarily new—some forms of WORM have been around for decades. What is new is incorporating WORM data archives into a modern infrastructure dominated by cloud applications and APIs.Considerations for Using WORM to Protect Against RansomwareOf course, immutable storage is not a cure-all when it comes to ransomware. A 2021 article in TechTarget, for example, takes aim at the idea that immutable storage can be used alone, or that it is really a “last line of defense” against ransomware. The overall idea is correct: Immutable storage should be part of a larger, more holistic strategy to prevent and combat ransomware breaches. The takeaway here is that, when WORM databases are set up and maintained correctly, they do offer solid defense against this costly kind of attack.That setup and maintenance should include: Evaluating storage systems for “backdoors” that could give would-be ransomers the ability to remove WORM designations or delete whole clusters serving backup functions. Employing a suitable versioning system (for example, creating new versions of backups rather than appending to, or changing, previous versions). Scheduling backups and maintaining versions at an interval that makes sense for business continuity. Monitoring access logs to identify unauthorized users or suspect locations. Employee education and training, so that ransomware does not take root to begin with. Again, immutable storage cannot detect or discourage ransomware attacks. But, to use a medical metaphor, it can bolster the organization’s immune system to fight and recover from such attacks when they do happen. Do you have further questions about ransomware and immutable storage? Or just need help setting up your own immutable storage solution? Reach out to us so we can discuss the possibilities.
Each year, countries pass new data privacy laws, each with their own regulations and requirements. For companies that do business in America, the picture is even more stark. Four states already have data privacy laws on the books, with an additional 15 states with bills in active consideration, and 14 that have proposed at least one in the past. In total, that’s 33 different laws… in just one country. While the rules in these laws vary, what remains the same is the need for strong cybersecurity efforts to ensure that user data is protected.The increasing demands in these areas can leave companies feeling like they’re slowly getting buried and unable to dig themselves out. Other companies may be able to keep up with new developments, but expend an exorbitant amount of resources to make it happen. Either way, large and enterprise firms need a better say to keep their systems secure and compliant without breaking the bank or running their team ragged.Integrating Cybersecurity and Data Privacy FunctionsOne of the most significant developments in recent years in cybersecurity and data privacy is the growing realization that these two areas hold more in common than many may think at first glance. Cybersecurity often works from the outside in—preventing breaches using protocols that manage external access to a system. However, how a company organizes, secures, and encrypts data at rest can have a massive impact on the effectiveness of breach prevention and mitigation.Data security, on the other hand, works from the inside out. You may have a ton of data, with different rights requirements. Some employees should be able to access all of it. Others only need access to some of it, and there are likely some who shouldn’t see any of it. Complicating the matter are the variety of third parties that need access to your data: Analytics firms, payroll vendors, and integrated technology partners. Data must be kept fluid and usable, but sensitive data should be masked or encrypted to prevent such unauthorized access from within. Again, determining the manner in which your company organizes, secures, and encrypts data is a significant part of this team’s operations.So, even though the day-to-day operations of these two areas may feel like they’re separate, they share many of the same underlying core tasks. In some companies, different teams run these operations, while in others, it may be different people on the same team—or possibly a fully integrated security team. But no matter how a business approaches cybersecurity and data privacy, how it sets data governance policies affects both efforts.The Human ElementUnfortunately, correctly structuring your cybersecurity and data privacy operations isn’t enough to overcome all problems. There’s one weak link that threatens to bring down operations every day, and it’s one that often goes under the radar or gets misconstrued as a major strength: The human element.Humans are a major cause of vulnerabilities. We tend to use weak passwords, even though we know better. We fall for phishing attacks and give our credentials away for free. Or, we fail to secure data, leaving it open for others (employees, consultants, vendors, or even hackers) to access.But worse than mistakes that come from laziness or ignorance are those that we make by design, believing them to be good. As Forbes points out, we often make policy decisions that compound our difficulties instead of relieving them. When we add tools that provide new features for our workers, better security, or other benefits, we’re also adding maintenance, proactive security actions, and overall monitoring to our agenda.Better Protection with Automated SolutionsThe key to overcoming human tendencies to undermine security is through the use of controlled workflows. By ensuring that people work through each of the required steps for security and compliance, companies can limit the mistakes their employees make. While companies’ strategic decisions matter when it comes to security and data privacy, a huge portion of the success or failure of these programs comes down to the consistency of execution. Companies first learned this lesson when it came to patching: More than 60 percent of data breaches have been traced to missing operating systems or application patches. This fact help spurs the move to the cloud, or to automated systems to ensure that the right steps are done every time, often without requiring worker input. The same is now true of data privacy and compliance workflows: Automating them saves time, but also ensures that critical actions don’t fall through the cracks. Whether streamlining regulatory compliance, books and records management, or database optimization, automation can help reduce the amount of time that your employees are spending on non-critical tasks and lower your long-term costs. Automated processes can also prompt employees to take actions that only they can complete, ensuring that regulatory and security actions are completed on time.How Infobelt HelpsIf you find yourself using a ton of different platforms to manage your data security, then adding one more isn’t always the right move. But, if that one platform replaces everything else you’re using, taking away the headache of integration and paying for service agreements across a wide range of tools, the savings in time and money can be massive.At Infobelt, we’ve worked hard to create tools that help enterprises take control of compliance and data privacy while still ensuring the visibility needed to run a modern tech stack. Building the right data management strategy, managing access, ensuring a smooth compliance workflow, and developing a storage strategy can be huge challenges, but Infobelt makes it easy. And since new threats and new laws never stop, we don’t either.Schedule a demo today to get matched with the right tools for compliance with financial, healthcare, or energy data privacy laws and simplify your data compliance processes.
If there’s one industry where consumer trust leads to success, it’s in the financial services industry. But when researchers look at the data on customer trust with financial institutions, the picture gets muddy. It seems that customer trust is high, but eroding. A mix of demographic changes and industry disruption is, in effect, “shifting the customer trust landscape.”Financial institutions are in a much different place when it comes to trust than they were after the 2008 financial crisis and ensuing recession. Regaining customer trust now, in 2022, is not an exercise in restoring faith in institutions. It requires convincing a new generation of consumers that individual brands are being “above board,” especially when it comes to things like data privacy and governance. Firms that can do that will realize a major competitive advantage.How the Customer Trust Landscape is ShiftingFirst, there’s good news: U.S. households are more likely to trust financial institutions than other insitutitions, including government agencies and fintechs, and especially when it comes to safeguarding their personal data. That was the finding of a survey of 1,300 heads of households done by Bank for International Settlements, and the data held consistent across age, ethnicity, and gender.That said, overall trust in financial institutions is declining somewhat. A Morning Consult poll of over 4,400 U.S. adults found that, while 13% said they trust the financial industry more than they did a year ago, a full 17% reported that they trusted the industry less. While that swing in opinion is not as large as for other industries (social media companies and entertainment companies, for example), it still shows an emerging “trust gap” to which financial services firms need to pay attention.That gap is set to grow rapidly. Younger generations especially are reporting that they trust Fintech companies more than any other financial companies, even large National Banks. That trust might come, in part, from familiarity…but that cannot be the whole picture. For one thing, the higher level of trust in Fintechs holds even for those in their 40s—a cohort that did not grow up with smartphones and mobile apps. Other factors, such as a feeling of objectivity and well-defined processes, might also come into play.Another major factor is consumer opinion about data privacy itself. Trust in a company starts with everyday interactions with customers, and data privacy is a key area where those customers will feel the impact directly.A Focus on Trust Can Be a Major Competitive Advantage for Financial Services FirmsIndeed, consumers are not shy when it comes to what they want. Most of them simply want to have a clear idea of how their data is collected, tracked, used, and shared. And they want the option to “opt out” of certain activities (sharing contact information with a third party, for example).In short, having strong data privacy management, with a clear communications component, will go a long way to establishing consumer trust across platforms and user experiences. Closing the trust gap here will be a huge competitive advantage for firms—but it will require a collaborative effort between customer service, risk, IT, and compliance.But is that collaboration worth the cost? Even putting aside issues of company culture—making decisions around products and service lines rather than around customer concerns like privacy, for example—there is the issue of having the appropriate technology. Lacking the appropriate technology for streamlining reporting and tracking can be a serious hurdle, while investing in the appropriate RegTech makes a strong data privacy management program that much easier.RegTech is the “Behind the Scenes” Basis for Building TrustTo put the point a little more bluntly: Nothing will betray customer trust more quickly than that moment when someone from the firm has to look the customer in the eye and say, “Your data may have been exposed.”Or, when the firm cannot give a straight answer to the questions “So when is my data shared? And how is it used?”The problem here is usually one of scale: The average financial services firm processes thousands of documents every month. Much of that includes various forms and requests that carry with them pieces of personal data and financial data. That data is often a mix of structured and unstructured.Ingesting and managing all of that data—and doing so in a compliant format—is a huge task. Tracking that data once in the system, and maintaining appropriate access control, can be even harder. This must include audit capabilities that can show who worked with what data, and when (with timestamp). And finally, there has to be a guarantee of full data destruction, so that any attempt to recover or restore data fails when that data truly should be absent from the system.This is why RegTech must be the basis for data privacy management as well as compliance. As much as some authors want to argue that customer trust is a “human issue,” or a “cultural” issue, trust comes down to this: Are firms making it easy for their employees to “do the right thing” when it comes to handling, archiving, retrieving, tracking, and sharing data?Think about it: No one trusts Amazon to deliver to their door because Jeff Bezos seemed like a nice guy. They trust Amazon because the company has obviously made the investment in technology, logistics and infrastructure. How much more important will those investments be in the competitive financial services industry?If the numbers we’re seeing are any indication, they will be very important. Financial institutions cannot gain trust just by talking about the privacy game. 2022 will be the year where they put their money where their mouth is.
Financial services firms have recognized digital transformation as a means to ensure compliance with regulators. Due to expanded offerings from RegTech firms, transforming how financial service firms manage their regulated data has never been easier. Financial services firms will continue to increase investments into RegTech firms that offer data management transformation, back-office automation, modern technologies, and a reimagined workforce to limit their future regulatory compliance exposure.Options to work with third-party providers, such as Infobelt, can offer fast deployment options. With every financial institution looking to drive operational efficiencies, it is more important than ever to understand how much data they have, how many hours it takes to manage it, and how the regulators might use it.Each organization will need to determine what works within the parameters of existing and desired business models. Traditional financial institutions will feel increased pressure to act quickly and decisively regardless of the selected path. Here are the most critical digital banking trends impacting the adoption of RegTech.Keeping up with Regulators Data TechnologyRegulators continue to improve their capabilities with the use of AI and other data aggregation technologies, such as Supervisory Technology, also known as “SupTech.” SupTech is described as the use of technology by supervisory and regulatory agencies to improve efficiency in their duties overseeing industry. As the adoption of SupTech increases, so does a firm’s vulnerability in exposing non-compliance. A recent paper published this past December by BIS noted “The Covid-19 pandemic has prompted authorities to rely on virtual inspections, including the increased use of suptech tools to support supervisory risk assessments.” Reinventing Data Management Processes”The key for financial services firms to ensure compliance is to have all the necessary information that a regulator may require,” says the Chief Operations Officer at a leading RegTech company. “Sure, regulations are changing, but what changes more often is what regulators look at to ensure compliance.” Not only is it essential for banks to know what data should be retained, but it’s also imperative that they know precisely where it is. Relying on outdated data management processes will only continue to hurt financial services firms. By reworking their current data architecture, firms can automate processes to capture regulated information in one place where it can be indexed and retained for any required amount of time.A Changing Workforce Increases Data Capture NeedsThe need to transform digitally will be crucial in managing remote work’s success. The firms that can adapt how their regulation information is captured will be better prepared for information requests by regulators. Gartner reports that between 2016 and 2019, nearly 75% of the required job skills had changed by more than 40%. The use of new technologies has driven the need for new soft skills. Gartner says that financial institutions need employees who can collaborate, innovate, adapt, and persevere through business disruption, not to mention that close to 75% of financial services firms’ employees will continue to work from home in 2022.Consumer Insight Will Be The DifferentiatorThe fuel that powers digital banking transformation is data and analytics. In 2022, customers will increasingly expect their financial institutions to know, understand, and reward them in real-time. Using internal resources and partnering with firms like Infobelt, financial institutions can replicate the intelligent experiences their customers have become accustomed to with Amazon, Google, Netflix, and others.In conclusion, financial services firms must embrace transformation and keep pace or get ahead of technological change and data management to remain compliant and competitive. Internal modernization provides broad advantages and responds to marketplace needs. To streamline back-office operations and make more informed business decisions, financial services firms can take the lead from FinTech and big tech organizations. As data is centralized across the organization, the information can be analyzed to create a better experience for their customer base.
“Digitalization is not confined to the banking industry, of course. But it has already left a strong imprint on banks, and all signs point to even more sweeping changes ahead.” Andrea Enria, chair of the Supervisory Board of the European Central Bank, September 2021 The RegTech industry had a banner year in 2021, as the COVID-19 pandemic continued to fuel the already existing trend of digitization of everything in our daily lives. Financial institutions (FIs) have followed suit and accelerated their pace to meet consumer experience expectations and regulatory demands involved in digital transformation to compete and survive in this increasingly unpredictable post-pandemic world.For the upcoming year, 2022, the RegTech sector anticipates the following themes to become focal points:The War for Talent During the “Great Resignation”Forrester predicts that in 2022 “Banks will double down on innovation” by spending lavishly on technology, talent, and fintech. Banks will find stiff competition with tech companies and other sectors for top engineering talent and technology workforce.Deloitte also reports seeing the need for technology talent. Individuals with process and technology backgrounds, be it in investment management, banking, capital markets, insurance, or real estate, will be highly sought after. “In fact, in every sector, we’re seeing the opportunity for this relationship between focusing on transformation and technology and the need to have talent that can help with marrying that technology to a much more seamless process to help improve the experience of the customer overall,” says Deloitte’s Monica O’Reilly.Already, JP Morgan has ramped up recruitment for its new UK digital bank and plans to take staff numbers above 1,000 in 2022. Additionally, opportunities for new roles within the global anti-money laundering market will arise as the market expands at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.6% from 2021 to 2028, reaching USD 3.19 billion by 2028, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc.People are resigning from their jobs in droves during the pandemic, unveiling a rarely seen time where the job market favors the candidate. As the war for talent wages on, an influx of new regulations, increased incidents of fraud, evolving customer demands, and the move towards digital transformation usher in new, more specialized roles. Finding the right talent fit may be a pain point for FIs in 2022.Financial Institutions will Fully Embrace the CloudIn 2022 financial institutions look to accelerate moving more data and compliance processes to the Cloud. By the end of the year, on-premise deployments will be a thing of the past and will soon be considered archaic. This change of opinion emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic, as the rise in hybrid or work from home (WFH) arrangements demonstrated to FIs how valuable the flexibility of the Cloud is.The challenge of ensuring compliance within a distributed workforce is better suited for cloud-based RegTech solutions. These solutions allow financial institutions to scale their financial workflows to meet hybrid or WFH requirements and reduce compliance costs by eliminating the need for on-site computing and storage.Operational Resilience Continues to be of Key ImportancePredating the pandemic Regulators have long been concerned about operational resilience. The difference now is that the pandemic has accelerated its development and implementation. Operational stability pertains to the idea that digital solutions, which may operate critical business functions, must be resilient to any disruption. Also, risk and compliance applications must accommodate any shift to alternative working patterns such as remote and flexible working arrangements.Thomson Reuters’ recent report defines it as such; “There appears to be a consensus that operational resilience entails the following main steps: identify, prepare, respond and adapt, recover and learn. Versions of operational resilience definition can be applied in all jurisdictions as the basis upon which to develop approaches to operational resilience.”This past March, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) published their final policy and supervisory statements on operational resilience. It stated that by March 31, 2022, firms must have identified any critical business services, determined maximum tolerable disruption, and undertaken the necessary mapping and testing. As soon as possible after March 31, 2022 – and no later than March 31, 2025 – organizations must have performed mapping and testing to remain within impact tolerances for the services.In general, financial institutions that struggled with manual or legacy solutions throughout 2020 or 2021 should expect regulators to become more demanding in 2022.Prioritizing Holistic Compliance Will Ease the Burden of Regulatory ChangeHolistic compliance has been one of the most vital points of emphasis in the RegTech world in 2021. “In the last year, there has been much talk about the value of holistic compliance in managing existing and future obligations. 2022 will be the year where this will turn into action and firms start to invest in holistic or integrated data capabilities,” says Matt Smith, SteelEye, CEO.FIs are now changing how they approach regulatory change. In the past, financial firms have inefficiently addressed compliance by tackling different regulations and implementation deadlines as separate projects – creating other teams, solutions, and data sets for each obligation. The challenges of ad hoc or project-based approaches to addressing compliance needs have clarified the long-term benefits of working with consolidated data, platforms, and processes.Holistic, all-in-one solutions have recently gained popularity as many more companies were challenged to remain compliant in the face of pandemic-related restrictions.”The general concept of a holistic solution is to offer a range of compliance procedures in a single package, as opposed to going with individual vendors, each of whom offers a best-in-class solution for a particular compliance requirement. Arguments against this approach hinge on the idea of dead weight, of paying for unnecessary features, and even on the assumption that holistic vendors might boast an impressive range of features and solutions without providing the specificity and reliability of best-in-class vendors” stated Ben Parker, CEO, and founder, flow Global.One possible outcome is for FIs to seek heightened coordination among vendors. Strong vendors could offer some benefits of a holistic approach while minimizing the downsides. However, resource constraints among regulated companies may, in