Corporate mobile banking platforms and treasury management systems have made some notable advances over the last several years as corporate treasury departments have begun to catch up to the major innovations in consumer technology. Companies are not only adapting more effectively to information technology and security challenges, but also beginning to proactively establish technology protocols that protect their assets and their customers.
According to a Capital One survey conducted at the AFP 2015 Annual Conference, finance professionals believe their organizations are increasingly more prepared to face the growth in cyber fraud. Seventy percent of those Capital One spoke with reported that their companies had implemented additional security measures in an effort to cope with cyber fraud risks.
With finance professionals feeling more at ease in implementing corporate mobile banking platforms and treasury management systems, these are some best practices to consider to ensure these systems are not only performing well for your team, but improving your operations overall.
1. Get to know your treasury management system’s relationship support team.
Two-thirds of finance professionals Capital One surveyed said they preferred treasury management service providers that focused on problem solving. Surprisingly just one in five respondents said the most important value of their system was its cost effectiveness.
It’s important to know what works best for your organization. If you are more interested in a partner versus a vendor when it comes to your treasury management solutions, get to know the individuals supporting your team early on. Their counsel will only be as valuable as their knowledge of your company’s unique needs and challenges.
2. Evaluate requirements for personnel access to your mobile banking systems.
Corporate finance professionals are demanding more sophisticated digital and mobile capabilities that allow timely and easy access to data. It’s important to evaluate areas where your system is empowering your teams to accomplish tasks while still maintaining data security, and where it is serving as a roadblock.
Capital One found that more and more companies are shifting away from the limited access model of mobile banking where only a small group of key executives were able to use the system. More than two out of three finance professionals surveyed by Capital One in 2015 said their companies did not limit mobile banking access to key executives, a five percent year-over-year increase.
3. Employ information classification protocols that protect data while allowing your team to work most effectively.
While most respondents to the Capital One survey said their organizations were no longer limiting mobile banking access based on employee titles, there was an increase from Capital One’s 2014 survey in companies using mobile banking only in instances of employees working remotely or in extenuating circumstances. Nearly six in 10 finance professionals reported that their mobile banking policies were limited to these conditions.
Rather than restricting mobile banking use situationally, a more effective policy typically uses different data classifications. Sixty-three percent of respondents to the Capital One survey said their organizations’ mobile policies limited remote access to mission-critical information. Taking the data-versus-situation-classification approach allows much stronger protocols to be put in place by your system provider and leaves much less room for human error and data loss or exposure to cybersecurity risk.
4. Tackle the challenge of data security through a holistic review of your information security policies.
Another finding from the Capital One survey was that more than half of finance professionals were on edge due to a perceived increase in cyber fraud in 2015. Concern about cyber fraud has historically served as a barrier to adoption for mobile banking platforms. Organizations are also concerned about the ability to implement a secure bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policy.
Drafting information security policy is complicated enough without creating policies and protocols unique to individual devices. By working with your mobile banking platform and treasury management system provider to examine data security and your current vulnerabilities as an organization, you can improve the way your team accesses data and enforce security from the top down.
