Building a solid customer base is no small feat, at a time when brands are faced with a competitive market where brands simultaneously vie for visibility and customer attention. This is why it’s important to know how to keep your customers engaged and secure once you have built your network.
With malicious cyber attacks and cyber security breaches becoming more aggressive and creative, MSMEs are faced with the challenge of keeping their devices and confidential customer information safe and secure.
In a study by Deloitte, organizations that do not prioritize customer needs risk worsening cyber breaches一especially as the breach goes public. Aside from the technical ramifications and risks that customers are exposed to breaches, the paper also notes the damages that a cybersecurity breach can have on a company’s reputation and credibility.
Businesses should also have not just an effective response when a breach occurs, but also preventive and post-breach measures. These include pre-breach planning, which would require timely notifications for customers about a potential breach and the possible privacy risks that could occur. Speed and quality of the response are critical in curbing risks even after the breach occurs.
As the pandemic has forced most companies to adopt a work-from-home setup, more people became more aware of their online privacy. In Secure List’s advanced threat predictions (ATP) for 2022, it was foreseen that hackers will continue to exploit the pandemic even as businesses start to re-open and people are returning to the office. This includes the use of social engineering to obtain credentials and brute-force attacks on corporate services, in the hope of finding poorly protected servers. Customers’ data can be used against institutions and the customers themselves, when hackers find weak points that they can use as opportunities (i.e., common password patterns and weak cybersecurity measures).
Mobile devices are ideal targets as they contain plenty of details about users who travel and transact everywhere with their phones. In the Philippines, the pandemic-induced increase in online connectivity has exposed users further to the dangers of hacking. According to Business World, the Philippines ranked fourth in Kaspersky’s 2021 global ranking of countries most targeted by web threats.
With more consumers becoming aware of or having personally experienced cyber attacks, consumers are increasingly becoming more selective about the businesses they transact with. A study by Salesforce showed that only 48% of customers say they generally trust companies, 27% of consumers completely understand how companies use their personal information, and 86% want more transparency. The same study revealed that 61% of consumers feel like they’ve lost control over how their personal information is used, which is a significant increase from the 46% response recorded in 2019.
While businesses are confronted with the fact that they will experience a breach at some point, there are ways to prevent cyber risks. MSMEs in particular can keep their existing customers’ information safe and secure, and at the same time, acquire new customers who also value the safety and security of their personal information.
While the penalties of data breaches can be quite taxing, not to mention costly to companies, not all business owners and employees are aware of the grave consequences it entails. According to the Data Privacy Act of 2012, this includes imprisonment for a minimum of one year and six months, and a fine of not less than P500,000, depending on the type of breach.
With Globe Business Automated Data Privacy Management Solution or ADPRIMAS, businesses will be better prepared to prevent data breaches by equipping their employees with data privacy knowledge. ADPRIMAS, a knowledge-based web app or tool, provides assessments, online training courses, and severity reports. It was specifically designed to guide and assist companies in defining and establishing Data Privacy Practitioners’ compliance with the Data Privacy Law. When employees are aware of the data privacy regulations, which include taking care of confidential company information (both employee and customer data) through proper collecting, processing, management, quality, integrity, availability, and safekeeping of data, then they will be more alert and aware of how to refrain from divulging customer information entrusted to the company.
Globe Business’ holistic suite of Cybersecurity Solutions and services helps MSMEs identify, protect, detect, respond, and recover from cyber threats. Here are some ways to secure your network:
Data Security and Endpoint Security
Network and Cloud Security
With Endpoint, Network, and Cloud protection, you can be assured that your company is safe from cyberattacks. Customers are more likely to transact with your business, knowing that their information is also kept safe.
Globe Business, being a trusted partner of MSMEs, offers personalized assistance, a dedicated team to assist with after-sales support, easy payment methods, and access to financial support with TechLoan in partnership with BPI. It’s an MSME’s one-stop shop for telco, cloud, and other needs with bundled solutions that suit your business needs.
To help partners better prepare and seamlessly adapt to Globe Business ICT solutions, Globe Business also offers training-as-a-service (TRaaS). This provides access to Globe Business Academy and all the insights, tips, and resources found within, and grants exclusive rewards and benefits through the loyalty program Upstart. Globe Business goes the extra mile for its partners by providing full support and assistance through innovative solutions.
Protect, future-proof, and enhance your business operations. Get the right support with Globe Business.
Watch this video or visit our website to learn more. Ready to sign up? Click here to schedule a free consultation with our Account Managers.
‘Shawn’ is the new go-to coach for reliable ICT tools and solutions that will help businesses transform its operations in the digital age. “Solutions from Shawn” produced by Globe Business, is a video series explaining ICT tools in the simplest and most straightforward way.
Check out these episodes of #SolutionsFromShawn:
What are APIs? Which API should you use? How can APIs help make your business operations easier? Shawn from Globe Business has all the answers.
Know which API solution to get for your business?
To learn more about our suite of API solutions, visit: http://www.glbe.co/API
What is Cloud Payroll? How can it help improve your HR processes? Shawn from Globe Business has all the answers.
Ready to make payday easy?
To learn more about Cloud Payroll and GCash for Business, visit: http://www.glbe.co/CloudPayroll
Ready to level up your cybersecurity and get 360 protection from online attacks? Shawn has all tools that you need!
Ready to protect your business?
To learn more about our suite of Cybersecurity Solutions, visit: https://glbe.co/cyber-security
Challenged with team collaboration, data access, business continuity, and disaster recovery? Whether you’re in the BPO, banking, software, or retail industry, Shawn has all the tools that your business needs!
Want to ensure your company’s business continuity?
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The financial service sector is going through a huge shift. Financial technologies or Fintechs have stolen the scene with their advanced services. Rural banks and smaller financial institutions need to adapt if they want to keep up with the competition.
Luckily, financial services technology is now far more accessible to smaller players. There are plenty of solutions in the market that make it possible for you to digitize in the next three years, or even in the next months.
Here are five of the latest technology trends for financial services in 2020 and beyond:
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has gone from a buzzword to just another part of our daily lives. And this is just in the course of a few years. Banks and Fintechs have been using the technology to power intelligent voice assistants or provide customers with personalized experiences. But one of the simplest applications of AI (and with most impact) is its ability to automate tasks, like chatbots.
Chatbots are revolutionizing customer service by making it easier, cheaper, and more accessible to users. Instead of being on hold for who knows how long, users can simply “talk” to a chatbot to get all their questions answered.
Most major banks and financial institutions have e-banking capabilities or a mobile banking application — and with good reason too. 69.2% of the Philippine population uses a mobile phone. They do anything from browsing the internet to shop with it. While mobile banking penetration is still low at 28%, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is positive about the benefits of going cashless. BSP is implementing various services to promote going digital.
BSP also believes that 20% of local transactions will be digital by 2020. This means that banks and financial institutions that have not yet digitized their services need to catch up if they want to stay competitive in the future.
While the costs and time needed to create an app depend on the size and complexity of the project, it’s possible to implement one within the next six months. It can take anywhere from 20 to 30 weeks. This makes it a relatively short-term endeavor with huge future payoffs.
With the rise of mobile banking, more financial institutions have also been investing in identity authentication technologies. This protects sensitive user information. The most popular one is one-time-passwords (OTPs). However, pro fraudsters have quickly found ways to intercept OTPs and scam unknowing customers.
There are banks and financial institutions that have turned to biometric technologies. A real-time face or fingerprint scan is far more secure than a typical username and password setup. This is because it depends on a person’s unique features that can’t be duplicated. Not to mention it saves customers from having to remember complex passwords.
Ensuring the cybersecurity of personal information is important to maintain digital services. Without it, you would quickly lose the trust and loyalty of your customers. So these measures should be implemented alongside any mobile banking or e-banking plans.
Once you go digital, all the information you collect needs to go somewhere. Instead of investing in or customizing data lake stores, more banks are turning to cloud computing.
As the name suggests, cloud computing is a technology for storing and analyzing data. There are a number of service providers in the market that sell it with pay-as-you-go pricing options. That means you only need to pay for the services you actually use. Not only will this give you the flexibility of today’s Fintechs, but it will also help control costs.
Cloud computing solutions should be easy to implement as all the integration is done by the service provider.
Blockchain came into the scene as the digital ledger that made cryptocurrency possible. But its business applications didn’t stop there. Blockchain is also changing the way monetary transactions are recorded.
Instead of the usual excel sheet, manual logging, and verifying processes, all transactions are updated and confirmed in real-time. These are stored in the blockchain in an unchangeable manner. Not only does this reduce paperwork, but it also provides the highest level of transparency and security. It reduces the risk of error and fraud. Plus, it’s far cheaper to maintain as it removes an entire layer of verification.
The downside of blockchain is it needs complete digitalization of operations (both from the bank and its stakeholders) in order to work.
While the financial services sector has generally been slow when it comes to keeping up with the latest technologies, it isn’t too late yet. Things like AI, blockchain, and cloud computing are no longer exclusive to the big guns with deep pockets. There are now more affordable and accessible solutions in the market for everyone. Globe myBusiness, for example, offers cloud-based and mobility solutions to small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
Plus, governing institutions like the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) are also taking steps to give incentives for digitalizing financial services.
According to Rappler, BSP is one of the most progressive regulators when it comes to promoting cashless transactions. So it wouldn’t be difficult for you to be BSP-compliant. These are some of the things that the central bank has allowed:
As the financial sector continues to shift, you can ready your financial business for the evolution by following these trends.
Learn more about Globe myBusiness solutions that will modernize your financial institution. Find out more here.
No one needs to tell you that technology is wonderful. We use it for almost everything. In this age of connectivity, it doesn’t only entertain us, it’s been spoiling us rotten. There are times when we half-expect it to make us coffee!
But tech can also bring dangers into our data, particularly with web security. According to a 2018 study by Ponemon Institute, it doesn’t matter whether you have a small business or a large company. When it comes to web security threats, treat all kinds as high risk. What’s more alarming is this: 47% of businesses admit that they don’t know how to protect themselves from security issues.
Whether you’re a budding entrepreneur or part of a growing organization, it’s important to learn these dangers. Three leaders from the IT industry’s top companies share their security practices and how these can help business owners who deal with information technology.
Voyager Innovations’ BJ Taduran, SITESPHIL’s Benjie Zamora, and Isla Lipana & Co.’s (PwC) Mark Almodovar offer easy-to-remember but valuable tips on how you can plan for your business’s future with strong security.
Most of our data are not stored in our devices. It’s up in this thing called cloud. We just access our data every time we go online. This makes processing faster. Taduran shared that 21% of files stored in the cloud contain sensitive data, and that 50% of enterprises already using the cloud will have an “all-in cloud” strategy by 2021.
As you might have guessed, the security impact of all that presents risks. You need to think like a hacker when you develop solutions in protecting your data.
Thankfully, there are ways to make them secure, such as Globe myBusiness’ Unified Threat Management, or a firewall. This helps you create a secure environment where network access in your office is controlled. Be ready to set aside budget for this, because the best security practices do require a bit of capital.
Pretty sure, your business uses digital technology. You’re likely to have some office documents stored on your phone or computer, are we right?
All that data is a goldmine for hackers because they are exposed to security issues. They can copy or sell your data and you’ll be left with nothing. Once a hacker gets inside your system, all of your device’s content is good as gone!
It’s not enough that you just hire a web designer to set up your website. If you’re willing to pay for that, why not a web security specialist? Coding, and any kind of development, should be done safely, according to Zamora. You can’t simply wait for a breach to happen before you start looking into security programs.
If you check companies with the best security practices, planning to protect every part of your system is a must. Develop a Secure Web Gateway and a Web Application Firewall (available with Globe myBusiness) that will monitor traffic. These can also identify and block threats to your system.
We enjoy free games as much as the next person, and we’re always on the lookout for productivity apps to help us with work. But most mobile applications come with certain dangers.
A quick Google search will show you a list of apps that carry destructive malware. And Almovar shared that new malware are constantly detected on corporate devices each month. All those annoying ads when you play games can also be taking information from your device.
Be careful what you download from the internet. To make sure you and your gadgets are safe wherever you are, you will need Mobile Threat Protection and an Endpoint Security from Globe myBusiness. These will protect you from remote devices affecting your network.
And remember, your employees need to know that they don’t need to click on everything.
So, you’re now convinced that you need to keep your data secure. Your team needs to completely feel the same way too. Taduran said that everyone, even top level management, should be all-in and make security their responsibility.
Imagine if one division in your team doesn’t treat these security issues with the same urgency? And don’t be fooled. About 11% of corporate devices attempt to access adult, illegal, or gambling content everyday. That’s risk right there and a security problem waiting to happen. Remember: a hacker only needs to access one device to get through all your data.
Zamora suggested developing information security policies. Also create an organizational roadmap of the high risk areas. Use that to prioritize what needs to be worked on first.
When investing in your infrastructure, people, and training, top management is always on board. So should it also be when you invest in technology and security, Almodovar mentioned. Zamora added that the best way to get the heads to listen is to speak in numbers. Show them the cost of not being secure through stats and possible losses.
A quick glance at those numbers will change their minds in an instant. An average cost of a breach is $5.5 million. Almodavar also shared that 51% to 59% of organizations have experienced data loss and rising malware issues, and 174 million records were stolen in 855 data breaches – all because of insecure mobile devices.
As mentioned in the beginning, technology has spoiled us. And it’s all because of convenience! How easy is it to log-in to an establishment’s free wi-fi service? But don’t forget that you have responsibilities when using your device.
Hackers know we’re slacking, so remind your team that simple actions like using free wi-fi can create threats to your business.
The best security practice, in this case, is to provide your team with pocket wifi if you want them online all the time. They must know that unencrypted wi-fi hotspots are gateways for hackers, malware, and hidden spyware.
To ward off phishing attacks via email, you will need Globe myBusiness’ Email Security that will proactively detect and block advanced malware.
You should also remind them to protect their devices through using passwords, especially when accessing data through mobile applications. This way, they’re the only ones who can view important files and information. Make sure their passwords aren’t easy to guess, too!
It’s so important to be up-to-date with developments in technology and the dangers lurking within. Make it a habit to apply good security practices in your company because this trickles down to your customers, too.
As Globe Telecom’s Chief Information Security Officer Anton Bonifacio pointed out, “It pays to look at the company values, and their vision-mission. For Globe, customers are at the heart of our business. If we want to serve customers better, data security is part of the customer service. It goes with the logic of why are we putting air conditioner in stores, or why are we serving water?”
Information Technology’s no longer about simply keeping digital systems up and running. Managing and securing it should go hand-in-hand.
Don’t regret investing on ways to protect your data. You’ve worked so hard to grow your business. You’ll regret it more if someone steals your idea, or wipes out your data because you weren’t protected.
This topic is part of the Philippine Software Industry Association Enablement Seminar Series to strengthen the knowledge of IT industry leaders. They make the Philippine IT industry globally competitive by providing holistic education to IT and software talents. Globe myBusiness, a leader in the ICT solutions and telecommunications field, is partnering with PSIA for this enablement seminar series.
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