User Review
( votes)When you think of an industry that could “never” allow working from home, banking would be at the top of the list. There are too many security issues involved.
Banking systems have social security numbers, account balances, mortgage details. Everything you wouldn’t want to fall into the wrong hands.
Last year very few banks had planned for a complete shutdown, yet all of a sudden, to continue serving customers, they had to quickly find a way for employees to work remotely.
Most banks did it the hard way, which is also the expensive way. Some banks found a better way.
The hard way:
Most banks use legacy technology that runs on internal servers. To access it remotely, they must use a Citrix encrypted access link. Each of these connections requires a license and costs money.
In the past, perhaps just a few salespeople or top executives were given one of the RSA access token key fobs to go through an encrypted Citrix connection and securely log into the bank systems.
In 2020, to remain fully operational, suddenly, banks were faced with the expense of possibly hundreds of extra remote licenses. More likely, only a few selected people received a license, and the others were rotated into the office on a schedule. Except when a branch had someone exposed to COVID, and then the entire team had to quarantine.
Of course, this impacts productivity and puts a strain on the workers in the office. Another casualty is that essential systems, such as the CRM system, may not be kept up to date.
It is hard enough to get bank employees to keep a CRM system up to date. If they do not have access from home, they have to wait until they are rotated back into the office, which in some cases is two weeks. Then if the employee is only back in the branch for a short time, likely their first priority is not to update the CRM system. Admins who have remote access have to think of workarounds such as manually exporting lists, asking people for updates, and then entering the updates for them.
This “system”, both from a technical and operational perspective, is expensive and inefficient.
The easy way:
Microsoft’s mission is to empower banks to achieve more by delivering solutions with security, privacy, compliance, and transparency in mind. Microsoft Dynamics 365 was built for the cloud and designed specifically for remote access. Everyone licensed in the system can use it, no matter where they are, and stay secure. Microsoft Dynamics 365 with Crowe CRM for Banking is a system built for the banking industry. There is no extra cost for remote connections. There is no extra cost for the world-class governance you are afforded in the Microsoft cloud. Microsoft Dynamics 365 helps bank employees remain productive without increasing cybersecurity risk.
Employees can stay in touch with coworkers using chat applications like Microsoft Teams and shared documents using SharePoint or OneDrive. They can replace in-person meetings with conference calls. All this is done on the Microsoft platform.
Microsoft’s security approach begins with Zero Trust, which is based on the principle: never trust, always verify. Every access request is strongly authenticated and inspected before access is granted. This approach helps Microsoft protect employees, devices, applications, data – no matter where users are located.
Next steps:
While we hope that business will soon be getting back to normal after the pandemic, will your bank be ready if something similar happens again? Even if we do not have another full lockdown, would your team be more productive if it was easy for them to access systems, securely, from any location where they might be working?
Crowe works with more than 2,000 financial services organizations across the country, including about two-thirds of the top 100 U.S. banks. The Crowe’s Banking Consulting team is dedicated to helping banks improve efficiency and achieve greater success.
Crowe professionals focus on helping banks manage technologies, enhance systems, address complex data and analysis challenges, and organize processes for optimal efficiency. We provide practical advice and proven methods designed to help organizations create lasting change.
Visit CroweCRM.com for more information about Crowe CRM solutions and services for Microsoft Dynamics 365 software.
By Ryan Plourde, Crowe, a Microsoft Dynamics 365 Gold Partner www.CroweCRM.com
Follow us on Twitter: @CroweCRM
