In the post-COVID era, financial services institutions must depend more than ever on dependable and secure network connections. Cybersecurity risks have increased as a result of the pandemic’s acceleration of digitization of financial services and the virtualization of the workforce. Network infrastructure has often been neglected by financial institutions due to limited budgets and other priorities.
5 Key Challenges Financial Services Face in the Digital Era:
1. Digitization And Cloud Migration:
Financial services organizations are implementing new technologies to improve customer experience and provide enhanced services through the cloud. The trend is accelerating due to two key factors: the dematerialization of human exchanges following the COVID-19 crisis, and the increasing number of fintech startups that offer new digital services that offer an improved customer experience. Additionally, this trend accelerates the migration of internal business applications to the cloud. Additionally, as digital services expand, branch locations are increasingly focusing on sophisticated operations to improve the customer experience in branch locations instead of simple transactions that can be done online.
2. Work From Home:
To remain productive, employees must receive the same level of digital experience as in the office to perform video conference meetings, financial transactions, and other online activities. Employees’ homes are becoming remote “branches of one.” This means that employees’ homes are becoming remote “branches of one.” Financial services institutions are realizing that this trend is here to stay.
3. Network Infrastructure:
Aging network infrastructure is hindering financial institutions’ ability to connect their headquarters and branches using rigid MPLS connections that are expensive and rigid. In spite of the fact that many applications have been migrated to the cloud, the internet traffic is often still routed through the corporate data center for security reasons. The cloud era has made this no longer viable since it drastically slows down network performance.
4. Financial Institutions are more susceptible to cybersecurity threats than any other industry due to the sensitive nature of the data they manage. Additionally, banks’ growing interconnectedness is another factor that poses a risk since threats can spread among banks.
5. As a result of money laundering, terrorist financing, and other illicit financial transactions, financial institutions are required to adhere to an increasing number of regulations. A common example is the PCI Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), which aims to protect credit cardholder data.
Role Of SD-WAN in Addressing These Challenges:
In a highly competitive environment that demands innovation and agility, a dependable and secure network is essential for financial services institutions. SD-WAN technology can replace old and expensive MPLS lines while providing flexibility in the digital era by securely using broadband internet and 5G/LTE technology. With an SD-WAN, financial institutions can address five use cases that help them streamline digital transformation efforts and reduce cybersecurity risks. Among these are:
1. Reduce Network Costs by Simplifying Infrastructure:
In addition to the benefits that private dedicated lines offer, financial institutions can leverage internet broadband and 5G LTE connections at a lower cost by leveraging Aruba EdgeConnect’s SD-WAN edge platform.
2. Easily Create New Branches from Home and Work Securely:
The Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN provides the best quality of service, regardless of where new branches are located, even in remote locations.
3. Improving Disaster Recovery Plans Through Faster Backups:
Due to the distance between disaster recovery sites and the original sites, latency increases, which reduces network performance. The Aruba Boost WAN Optimization software, in conjunction with the EdgeConnect SD-WAN, speeds up network transmission and ensures the confidentiality of financial data.
4. Maintain Customer Confidentiality and Security:
As well as offering advanced security capabilities, Aruba EdgeConnect integrates tightly with the best cloud security providers to secure internet-bound traffic and enables financial institutions to select the best cloud security solutions to create a secure access service edge (SASE).
5. Ensure Compliance with PCI DSS:
Payment card industry data security standards and guidelines are established by PCI DSS. Due to its robust security and segmentation capabilities, Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN is able to assist organizations in meeting compliance for nine of the twelve requirements, with the remaining three not being applicable.
To learn more about networking services and managed IT services from BITS Secure IT Infrastructure, get in touch with us. We will be more than happy to help you!
