What Mobile Trends Mean to the Financial Services Industry

There is no question that mobile usage within the financial services industry is growing exponentially. Improved networks, increased applications and deployment of multiple smartphone technologies have encouraged quicker adoption by consumers and industry professionals alike. As in many other industries, these technologies have helped blur the lines between personal and professional use.

Banking and financial services business leaders who understand the changing wireless landscape will have an easier time leveraging their web presence and gaining a strategic advantage by deploying applications that support a mobile workforce. Here are a few trends related to mobile deployment and usage to get you started in that analysis:

• Global mobile users are expected to surpass desktop internet users by 2014.
• On average there will be one mobile phone for every person on earth by 2015.
• 41% of U.S. online consumers own a smartphone.
• Sales of tablet PCs are expected to reach 500 million by 2014.
• More than 2 billion people have mobile phones but no bank account (expansion opportunity) 
• M2M generated revenue will triple for businesses by 2015.
• In the past year mobile searches have grown four fold.
• Half of all mobile searches lead to a purchase.

It is critical to optimize your company’s online presence to support the increased number of users browsing and accessing information, possibly on your organization and its services, on their phones. 

You may want to begin by testing your website on multiple mobile devices or with a simulator. Most users now expect their online mobile experience to be on a par with their desktop experience. According to Google about two thirds of mobile users will not re-visit a site if it doesn’t load after two tries. If you find that the site isn’t loading correctly or easy to navigate have your team build out a mobile version of the site or optimize the existing site for mobile viewing.

It is equally as important to provide your employees with secure, remote, mobile access. The number of companies working virtually continues to grow as they interact with customers, conduct business transactions and attract new prospects while away from the office. Employees today want to use their own mobile devices to increase their own productivity. One of our partners, Cisco, has embraced this Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) vision and continues to build solutions to help IT departments who are receiving an increased number of requests to support a wide variety of these technologies. 

Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Solutions is a great place to start for providing secure access to your enterprise. Their Mobility Client now supports the more popular devices used by your organization’s mobile workforce including phones and tablets running on the Android, iOS (Apple), Nokia Symbian and Windows Mobile platforms. To learn more about how these solutions offer a common, predictable user experience while also addressing productivity and security concerns please give us a call and we’ll be happy to provide you with more information.  Our team of consultants and solutions experts is ready to help assist you and your team with gaining insight and developing a roadmap to a more competitive future for your organization.

Building an Environment to Support Scalability and Rapid Deployment

There are three primary factors that define the security of your organization’s applications and information while also enabling quick and reliable transmission of that data over a converged network; the hardware that makes up your technology infrastructure, the network that your data is transmitted over and the people who support it. Having the right balance of these elements will contribute to sales, customer service and innovation. It will also make your business more agile by establishing an environment that supports scalability and rapid deployment.

Here are a few of the other benefits associated with creating this type of ecosystem:

• Provides both employees and customers with the information and support they need when they need and on their preferred devices
• Strengthens connections with customers to increase loyalty and satisfaction
• Connects people in less time and with contextual relevance
• Personalizes the customer experience with voice, web, email, video and social media
• Accelerates time to resolution by using an integrated communications network to identify and resolve customer issues

One of our partners, Cisco, offers a suite of Unified Communications resources to make sure that your data is secure and your apps run effectively over a single converged network. Products like their Virtualization Experience Client, UC Gateway and Business Edition 6000 contribute to an improved customer experience. Their products also help enable collaboration by offering reliable communications support for delivering multiple applications like voice, video and presence services to various types of devices and IP endpoints. Embracing Cisco’s technology allows your IT team to support business-critical apps and data while also providing your organization with interoperable connectivity to your communications provider. 

The right communications partner will allow businesses to access information, strengthen relationships and enable success. They can also provide you with the correct mix of connectivity to match your needs and budget. Find a service provider who can deliver voice and data networking at the best cost per service. This might mean that your information runs on the networks of multiple providers. But companies like IPLogic, who offer carrier solutions, can serve as a single source for billing, customer support and help managing multiple communications services and providers.

Your IT team will appreciate the functionality of the Cisco equipment and management interface. And you will benefit from the purchasing and admin assistance that a third-party communications provider can offer. Engaging a partner allows you to augment your existing team with additional technical expertise and support. Adopting this model can also deliver access to immediate assistance with upgrades and hardware maintenance.

Taking a look at each of these critical components is the first step to improving the experience for both your employees and external stakeholders. Let us know how we can help you identify the right hardware, technology and communications configuration to support your organization’s growth and continued success.

Focus: Managed Services for the Healthcare Industry

Challenges such as constantly shifting government regulations, growing staffing issues, increasing expenses, competition and rapid changes to the economic payment model are driving the need for a review of the industry’s technology needs and assumptions.  Significant change can often be challenging in any industry. But for both patients and providers it can be especially disruptive.  The fact also remains that these changes can also produce tangible benefits for all stakeholders.  Engaging a competent partner to provide assistance and expertise in managing through these changes will help your organization effectively address its technology strategy and navigate many of the potential negative impacts caused by these industry changes.

A competent managed services provider that brings relevant industry experience and expertise will help your organization address the shifting requirements in maintaining and monitoring critical technology platforms responsible for electronic health records (EHRs), lab information systems, patient billing, HIPAA compliance, practice management, HL7 interfacing with clinical devices, storage and physician mobility. They should be expected to help reduce liability associated with regulations impacting the industry by maintaining secure and compliant systems. If you select the right provider to partner with they should also be able to contribute to reduced healthcare costs, decreased downtime and improving the services and experience you provide to your patients.

So, how do you get started? 

Begin by researching a few managed services providers to see what they offer and the industries where they have experience. Their websites are an obvious starting point. Be prepared to also dig a little deeper into the range of technical expertise offered by their employees. This can often be found by the scanning the business partners listed on their website (Cisco, VMware, NetApp, etc.) or the industry / technical certifications they promote (Partner Certification or Specialization level, GOLD Level, CCIE, CCNA, etc.).

The next step, once you have identified a group of possible service providers, is to identify one service that can serve as a starting point to assist with your technology management strategy. For example, below is a list of the typical service offerings:

• Backup and Recovery - Provides redundant access and portability for critical patient information while also reducing exposure to HIPPA violations as outlined in this past blog post.
• Communications - Carrier solutions can address your telecommunications and networking requirements with voice, data and video connectivity built specifically to align with your needs.
• Engineering Support & Maintenance - Skilled technology professionals are available to supplement your internal team by assisting with network, infrastructure and application support as well as performing hardware upgrades and replacements.
• Mobility - Wireless devices are managed and mobile applications are secured and maintained to deliver increased efficiency.
• Network Monitoring and Management – Devices and components that exist on your network to manage communications and applications (e.g. servers, routers, etc.) are proactively monitored 24x7 to deliver the benefits outlined in this past blog post.
• Security - Protects information and applications utilizing technologies ranging from anti-virus software to firewalls and encrypted data transmission.

Limiting the initial interaction to a single service or two gives you the opportunity to begin interacting with a few managed services providers, learn more about their offerings and capabilities and make a more informed decision based on experience.

Simplify Your IT with Network Monitoring and Management

The availability, performance and security of an organization’s IT infrastructure can significantly impact their success. Companies need to be able to monitor their network and make rapid adjustments to their technology infrastructure. In addition, it is important to have access to the expertise needed to support this technology while also having quick access to replacement parts for maintenance.

For small and medium sized organizations it may make sense to have an external partner assist with network monitoring and management. An effective service provider can serve as an extension of your IT team and provide you with access to the technical expertise and resources required to optimize your technology usage. In addition, cost savings can is often a by-product of working with an external provide of IT services.

Companies who don’t have an IT team benefit from a complete suite of services that include strategic planning, budgeting assistance, server administration, user support, network monitoring and hardware maintenance. However, organizations with some IT expertise in-house can benefit as well from services like 24/7 network monitoring, proactive alerts, performance reporting, security updates and tier-2 IT support. Organizations with an IT team will also appreciate the assistance a third party can provide by automating repetitive, simple tasks and identifying and correcting network issues before they cause a work disruption.

Here are a few specific examples of how you can simplify your IT by engaging an outside provider:

• Reduced Downtime - Alerts allow an issue or interruption to be identified and addressed immediately.
• Improved Performance - The framework offers performance management by analyzing usage trends on the network then adjusting accordingly.
• Cost Savings - Expenses associated with recruiting, hiring and employing full-time, specialized IT talent are lowered or completely eliminated.
• Asset Control - A better understanding of your IT resources assists with inventory management of your hardware and software assets.
• Expanded Coverage - A combination of remote and onsite technical support results in better coverage of your IT footprint.
• Understandable Analytics - Regular reports are available that include performance analysis, trends and incident tracking
• Interoperability - Many providers work with hardware and software partners to secure replacement parts under your existing maintenance agreements.

If you decide to consider using a partner for these services it is important to find a company who can supply a small team with the ability to quickly develop in-depth knowledge of your network, employees and business. This will make it easier to build a working relationship that seamlessly integrates with your other business process. But you also want to work with a service provide who is large enough to provide 24x7 coverage and offer access to a pool of superior IT talent and expertise.

IPLogic offers what we call Day 2 Support to ensure your IT investment is managed effectively. We utilize powerful network management tools to monitor and optimize your network. Our team of experts is available to provide around-the-clock support and proactive administration. Connect with us to discuss how you can begin simplifying your IT.

Focus: Managed Services for the Education Industry

It is safe to say the IT landscape is in a constant state of change. New technologies emerge and existing platforms are updated to address the ever changing needs of users. For many organizations an efficient and cost-effective way of coping with the evolving nature of technology is through the use of managed services. 

Within this model a managed service partner provides maintenance, monitoring and ongoing management of an organization’s technology and infrastructure so they can focus on their core business. Large businesses have been quick to adopt managed service solutions however recently, progressive education providers are realizing benefits from these solutions as well. 

An education provider’s technology and support should align with its organizational and educational goals. In order to achieve this synergy, a growing number of institutions  seek external assistance with planning, implementing and managing their technology plan.  As a result they are able to maximize the role technology plays in the success of their students, teachers and employees. 

Here are a few of the specific benefits that managed services offer to the education industry:

• Network monitoring provides 24x7 infrastructure coverage . 
• Enables additional application level security.
• Enhances compliance and addresses risk management.
• Provides proactive maintenance for software and hardware platforms. 
• Fixed fee pricing models make it easier to forecast and control costs.
• Disaster recovery features offer additional layers of data redundancy and risk management for the organization.
• Serves as a dependable extension of the IT team.

Managed services enable all stakeholders to maximize the benefit from each technology investment. The managed service platforms also act as an extension to the IT organization rather than a replacement. Offerings like backup and recovery provide risk avoidance to organizations with critical data to protect, while network monitoring enhances the responsiveness of the IT team, Additionally the technical expertise brought by these providers allows for additional expertise to be immediately available to assist with upgrades and the daily care and feeding of the organizations’ application infrastructure in maintaining a functional and secure environment.

Although every institution’s needs are different, this does not mean the upfront investment needs to be significant  in order to acquire the latest technology and support for academic or administrative needs. An experienced managed service provider will offer an assessment to identify requirements and recommend an appropriate solution to move from current to future state. They can also assist with implementation and rapid scalability if needed.

IPLogic offers a full suite of managed services to assist with IT support, maintenance, monitoring and network management. IPLogic’s consulting team and managed service solutions offer more effective utilization of IT budgets while helping to improve the learning environment. Contact IPLogic to learn more.