Leveraging SD-WAN to Solve Business Challenges of Financial Services Organizations

Driven by the demands of new-age customers, new technologies in financial services are making banking better, easier and more innovative. Cryptocurrency applications, cashless societies and Bank of America's solar-powered remote ATM are among the factors pushing the financial industry toward digitization.

Customers require 24/7 business availability on preferred platforms, leading banks to find ways to ensure high customer satisfaction. Not only do clients need access to full product and service information and the ability to initiate or cancel transactions of any size, but they must be able to do this instantly and with comprehensive customer support. However, financial data contains highly sensitive information, exposing institutions to risk. 

So, how can financial services organizations effectively address these seemingly conflicting requirements of meeting customer experience expectations while ensuring data security?

SD-WAN is the answer.

Let’s take a closer look at the aspect of SD-WAN for the financial industry:

The Challenges Faced by Financial Service Enterprises 

Financial services are undergoing digital transformation to serve their tech-savvy clientele and stay competitive in the age of fintech startups. In doing so, they must be sure to avoid using a slow and disintegrated network, which can leave room for security breaches, poor customer experience and frustrated employees. However, organizations cannot develop new networks too fast, as they need to make their way through regulatory mandates and security demands. To meet these demands, financial institutions need to future-proof their IT infrastructure to support a secure, cloud-based solution that meets the requirements of the ongoing shift from a brick-and-mortar store to a flexible digital model.

Solving the Challenges with SD-WAN Solutions 

The right SD-WAN solution overcomes challenges for financial corporations by delivering combined benefits of WAN optimization, traffic shaping, automation, next-gen firewall and more. Your company can significantly benefit from:

1. Security and compliance 

SD-WAN centralized the network provisioning and management. This makes it simpler for financial organizations to implement and maintain network policies across all the branches while ensuring compliance with government regulations.

Moreover, SD-WAN offers high-end encryption across the network along with fine-grained traffic routing. Since traffic does not need backhauling through a central data center, it can be directed from one branch to another without compromising security. SD-WAN's integrated security can also automate threat detection and mitigation.  

2. Service expansion with high flexibility 

Providing cutting-edge financial services may be easy in populated areas. Still, it becomes a pain in the neck when you have to offer the same level of services in thinly populated areas. This is because you rely on just a few employees who can offer essential services as it is not practical for them to have specialists now and then. 

Not anymore. SD-WAN technology allows you to set up branches even in the most remote areas without affecting the service spectrum. You can easily set up a telepresence facility, allowing customers to interact with specialists without travel. Kiosks and ATMs can expand their service base and seamlessly handle the transactions that need a higher level of network access. Branches can also interact with central servers and cloud services, allowing them information access in a snap of fingers.  

Not only this, but SD-WAN also helps ensure the highest level of security standards and comply with the regulations and business policies as your financial institution grows.  

3. Prepare the branch for the tech-savvy customers 

When it comes to finances, customers are more cautious and can cause a big issue for the financial services even in the slightest incident of a data breach. Financial institutions also want these customers to enjoy a seamless experience as they take care of security for them. This requires more convenient services while making sure about top-notch security to the private information. SD-WAN enables just that. With this technology, financial organizations can leverage more innovative ATMs and kiosks to enable their customers to make the best of their time making transactions without standing in long lines. Even if they need expert help, they can quickly seek it by connecting with specialists via teleconferencing. 

Not only this, tech-savvy customers who wish to use mobile banking instead of in-person experience can easily transact online with encryption-based SD-WAN technology working in the background.  

4. Provides agility for cloud-enabled financial institutions 

SD-WAN allows businesses to gain access to their network, helping them to use their resources strategically. Being composed of hybrid network architecture, SD-WAN technology allows a cost-saving alternative to organizations while optimizing the network for cloud-based applications. While today’s tech-savvy customers prefer services on-demand, cloud offerings can help financial organizations take a step ahead. SD-WAN offers the proper network optimization for cloud computing while ensuring security and high-performance networks.  

Choosing the SD-WAN solution provider that changes the game for financial institutions 

Telekom SD-WAN solutions help global financial organizations make the best of their investment in network operations. With inherent SD-WAN benefits, we offer value-added services after analyzing your current network infrastructure to suggest the managed services that align with your goals. Our service spectrum includes: 

• The best underlay for your SD-WAN based on our fiber, wireless and VDSL network. 
• End-to-end SLA tailored to fit your connectivity needs.
• The top engineering expertise of our experts who will design, manage and maintain your SD-WAN network.
• OPEX, a service model with no upfront investment for customers.

Telekom is happy to provide you with the right experts and to answer your questions about planning, implementation, and maintenance for your digitization plans. Get in touch!