Optimizing Technology for Financial Institutions with Managed IT Services

Technology is rapidly transforming the finance industry. From mobile banking to interactive teller machines, financial institutions must embrace technology to better serve customers. However, effectively leveraging technology requires strong IT management. This is where managed IT services can make all the difference for banks, credit unions, and other financial firms.

External Expertise Keeps You Ahead of the Curve

• Managed service providers (MSPs) bring experience from diverse clients across the finance sector. This external viewpoint allows MSPs to:
  • Share fintech best practices and innovations
    • For example, an MSP may have helped implement a chatbot for a client that provides automated customer support 24/7. They can take those lessons learned and apply them to your institution.
  • Help financial institutions become industry leaders
    • MSPs stay up-to-date on the latest fintech advancements and can guide you in adopting innovations before competitors. This enables you to gain a competitive edge.
• MSPs boast expansive resources, so they can handle:
  • Daily IT firefighting
    • Your in-house IT staff often gets bogged down handling daily issues like password resets, software glitches, and hardware failures. MSPs have the bandwidth to take over these repetitive tasks so your team can focus on innovation.
  • Long-term strategic tech projects
    • An experienced MSP has the resources and knowledge to manage large projects like a core banking system migration or digital transformation initiative. Rather than stretching your internal team thin, you can entrust complex initiatives to seasoned MSP project managers.
• This enables financial firms to fully utilize technology instead of just maintaining it.
  • Without an MSP, you may only have the capacity to keep existing systems running day-to-day. With an MSP handling daily maintenance and IT projects, you can shift focus to gaining real business value from technology.

Effortless Regulatory Compliance

Financial institutions must adhere to strict regulations like SOC 2 and PCI DSS compliance. MSPs can support compliance in the following ways:

Benefit	Description
Certifications and processes	MSPs have the certifications and processes to easily meet compliance mandates. For example, they may have SOC 2 Type II attestation demonstrating strong security controls for customer data.
Expertise	Their wide-ranging expertise allows MSPs to stay current on evolving finance industry rules. MSPs work with many types of financial firms, so they stay up-to-date on the latest compliance requirements.
Audit support	They can further support compliance by liaising with auditors and guiding organizations through audits. MSPs are accustomed to audits and can provide necessary documentation and reports.

Outsourcing compliance activities to experienced MSPs reduces the risk of non-compliance penalties and reputation damage. Their expertise also minimizes the internal resources your team must devote to compliance.

Robust Security for Your Business

Cyber attacks pose severe threats to financial firms, making IT security non-negotiable. Data breaches can erode customer trust and lead to hefty regulatory fines. MSPs bring multifaceted experience securing diverse clients to the table.

Their expansive expertise enables MSPs to implement layered protections:

• Employee training
  • Through security awareness training, MSPs can educate your team on cybersecurity best practices to reduce human error risks.
• Cloud security
  • MSPs can apply advanced cloud security like encryption and role-based access controls to safeguard data.
• Data backups
  • MSPs can configure backups with best practices like versioning and offsite storage. This enables quick restoration after outages and rapid recovery after ransomware.
• Perimeter security
  • MSPs stay on top of the latest security tools and tactics to harden your network perimeter defenses. This includes firewalls, intrusion prevention, and endpoint security.
• Vulnerability management
  • By performing frequent scans and patching, MSPs can proactively identify and mitigate security gaps before cyber criminals exploit them.

Partnering with an MSP arms financial institutions with robust, industry-tested security tailored to mitigate risks specific to the finance sector. Rather than a one-size-fits-all approach, MSPs take a strategic, layered approach to security.

Conclusion

In summary, partnering with an MSP allows financial businesses to reimagine how they leverage technology. MSPs' real-world knowledge brings strategic insights that position organizations as fintech leaders. Their experience implementing emerging innovations for other clients enables your institution to stay ahead of the curve.

MSPs also handle compliance burdens by leveraging their extensive experience assisting financial firms with regulations and audits. Their layered security protections provide robust defenses against ever-evolving cyberthreats.

All of this allows your IT team to focus less on maintenance and more on using technology to drive business results. With an MSP as your strategic partner, technology becomes an invaluable asset for innovation and growth rather than just a maintenance hassle. The right MSP helps you optimize your tech stack to provide better customer experiences, reach strategic goals, and gain a competitive edge.