How is the BFSI sector looking at SD-WAN?
Is it a viable addition to their rural and standalone ATMs connectivity?
Financial institutions cannot be sluggish when adapting to new technologies. BFSIs must stay updated and adaptive to the changing customer needs to stay ahead in the race. Unlike other fields, the BFSI sector has to be extra cautious regarding security aspects, and in the quest to change, they should not put the customers in a vulnerable position.
The pandemic has accelerated the digitisation of financial services, and more people have started relying on digital transactions for money transfers, payment of bills, and investment portfolios, among others. With virtualisation and digitisation come risks like cyber-security. Besides adapting to better and more efficient network connectivity, finance industries must prioritise security. Many banking and financial institutions find SD-WAN routers very effective when offering a range of services to customers at the branch level and maintaining the highest security grade.
SD-WAN Creating Opportunities for Expanding Financial Services
Even the remotest and smallest of financial service branches can now offer the best customer service owing to the flexibility and agility of SD-WAN technologies. Cost of building a new structure and enabling IT support are the main reasons for not extending banking services like ATMs to remote and sparsely populated regions. But that is a thing of the past. SD-WAN can activate any number of remote branches without worrying about restructuring the network infrastructure. With centralised IT support moving banking services to the nook and corner of the country is simple, thanks to SD-WAN solutions.
Here are the significant challenges faced by financial services and how SD-WAN can help resolve them:
Aging Network Infrastructure
Financial institutions use expensive and static MPLS connections to connect headquarters with the branches. Even though many applications are migrating to the cloud, the internet traffic is backhauled to the data centre for security reasons. This results in poor network performance, which is unacceptable in the digital era.
Old network structures have disaster recovery sites located hundreds of miles away from the base location, increasing latency and reducing network performance. With SD-WAN, you can accelerate network transmission and have financial data securely backed up.
Cyber security
Security is one of the main concerns of the finance industry. Interconnectivity of banks is a major risk resulting in the rise of a data breach.
Most SD-WAN routers offer advanced security features that avoid data breaches during transactions and always keep customer account information secure.
Compliance with Regulations
Financial sectors must comply with numerous regulations to protect their customers and their systems from data theft and illicit financial transactions.
Choosing the right SD-WAN provider is essential because only a few SD-WAN technologies offer features that comply with the data security regulations set by PCI Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).
Work From Home
With more employees opting to work from home, financial companies realise the need to offer effective VPN connectivity to keep the performance and productivity of employees on the rise.
Introducing SD-WAN into your network structure would help establish a highly effective network connection with any number of branches or remote workers and even improve customer satisfaction.
SD-WAN & Customer Satisfaction:
The goal of BFSIs is to increase their customer base, and the key is to retain existing customers and bring in new customers, providing them with a hassle-free banking experience. Some of the ways to increase customer satisfaction include:
- ATMs and Kiosks allow customers to transact without worrying about long queues.
- Connect with customer service 24/7 without worrying about server downtime or data threats.
SD-WAN allows customers to access information quickly, withdraw cash and connect with banking agents with ease. SD-WAN helps customers avail more convenient services without compromising on Quality of Services (QoS) or data security.
SD-WAN has gained prominence in almost every industry, and the financial sector is no exception. It is well-known that SD-WAN ensures high network performance, reduced latency, and hassle-free management. You need to make sure that you choose the right SD-WAN service provider for your financial institution to reap the maximum benefits.
SMOAD SD-WAN for BFSI
BFSI can conquer the challenges through robust SD-WAN connectivity to keep track of their ATMs. Setting up ATMs in remote locations and managing them is more effortless with SMOAD. The secure firewalls help in the secure traversing of data from one location to another. Real-time syncs using LTE and 5G as primary and secondary links avoid transaction delays. The convenience to connect from anywhere provides seamless and secure connectivity with ease to manage ATMs and remote branches for more advanced service delivery.
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