Study Reveals that Aunalytics Banking and Credit Union Clients Achieve Nearly 400% ROI Opportunity in One Year
Study Reveals that Aunalytics Banking and Credit Union Clients Achieve Nearly 400% ROI Opportunity in One Year
The Aunalytics Daybreak™ for Financial Services data analytics solution provides customer intelligence to financial institutions. It delivers insights-as-a-service, including AI-powered predictive analytics models that can be applied to transactional data for fresh insights delivered daily. Early study results reveal that using Daybreak, Aunalytics’ clients achieved nearly 400% ROI in one year to grow new business from existing customers.
Investment in Artificial Intelligence is Vital for Banks and Credit Unions
Has your bank or credit union made investments in artificial intelligence yet?
Advances in artificial intelligence (AI), and the promise it holds for the future, have been making news all year. And it’s no wonder that financial institutions are taking notice—a recent survey from the Economist Intelligence Unit found that 77% of bankers believe that unlocking value from AI will be the differentiator between winning and losing banks. Yet, many institutions are falling behind in AI maturity.
Despite its promise, making a large investment in artificial intelligence may seem risky to many midsized financial institutions. Hiring talent, developing a data management and analytics strategy, building a data platform, and creating AI models can be both time- and resource-intensive. Banks and credit unions want to ensure that the efforts spent to get an AI program off the ground will yield a high ROI, especially in times of economic uncertainty. Yet, failure to innovate and make progress toward digital transformation is not always an option in the highly competitive landscape.
Financial institutions find many uses for AI technologies
Thankfully, an investment in artificial intelligence can improve many processes across an institution. AI can optimize both time- and resource-intensive tasks, decrease risk, and increase revenue by improving the customer experience. For instance, by applying AI and machine learning algorithms to transactional data, banks and credit unions can gain insights into customers or members’ habits and preferences. Some use cases include:
- Detecting and preventing fraud
- Identifying loan default risk at the time of application
- Predicting customer churn
- Winning back business by discovering customer payments going to competitors, and subsequently making a more attractive offer
- Predicting the next best product for each customer then targeting them with the right product at the right time
- Calculating customer value scores in order to better allocate resources to target more valuable customers
Don’t get left behind
Large banks are already utilizing artificial intelligence use cases at scale. In a recent letter to shareholders, Jamie Dimon, Chief Executive Officer of JPMorgan Chase wrote, “Artificial intelligence (AI) is an extraordinary and groundbreaking technology. AI and the raw material that feeds it, data, will be critical to our company’s future success—the importance of implementing new technologies simply cannot be overstated.”
Because of this focus, his company has made tremendous investments in AI. They currently have over 300 AI use cases in production, and employ almost 3,000 people in data management, data science, and AI-research-related roles. This underscores how vital these new technologies are to success in the future.
Unfortunately, not every institution has access to talent and technology at the scale of JPMorgan Chase. That’s why Aunaytics has developed a cloud-based data and analytics platform to provide data management, advanced reporting, and predictive AI and machine learning solutions for midsized community banks and credit unions.
Daybreak for Financial Services allows institutions to learn more about their customers and members in order to provide a better overall experience—which in turn reduces risk, increases wallet share, and reduces expenses.
Microsoft will be ending patch support for Windows 10—what does that mean for you?
Preparations to end patch support for Windows 10, and eventually end of support entirely, have been in process for quite some time on Microsoft’s part. As far back as 2021, in an article by The Verge which talks about the then upcoming Windows 11, the author commented on the end of support date for Windows 10. The current version of Windows 10, 22H2, will be the final version of Windows 10, and all editions will continue to receive monthly security update releases through the end of support on October 14, 2025. This information applies to all of the following editions of Windows 10: Home, Pro, Pro Education, and Pro for Workstations
With the end of patch support for Windows 10, vulnerabilities will begin to appear, leaving your network more exposed than ever. The number of bad actors encrypting and stealing data can be overwhelming on the best of days and can cause massive issues and downtime for your company. Any hole in your cyber security could spell disaster for your company.
While it may seem like you have plenty of time to prepare, deadlines can quietly slip by, leaving your network and machines suddenly vulnerable because they are no longer receiving support or security patches. The rate of ransomware attacks remains high, with 66% of respondents across all industries indicating they had been hacked within the last year, says Sophos in their State of Ransomware 2023 report.
With a total of 36% respondents, Sophos also reported exploited vulnerabilities as the number one root cause of ransomware attacks within the last year. Knowing that 66% of companies surveyed in the last year were attacked by malicious actors, the number of ransomware attacks with the root cause of exploited vulnerabilities is quite large.
It’s hard to admit that your network may become unsafe at any point in time, but it’s necessary if you want to be prepared for when your Windows 10 network will no longer be supported. If you can keep track of those important dates, your cyber security should be on the right track. However, it can be a huge undertaking to efficiently manage patching or replace workstations in a timely manner.
With the right partner, you can stop worrying about missing important updates, especially as the end of patch support for Windows 10 is nearing. Aunalytics has a team of security experts, as well as technical support, with the ability to act as your Network Operations Center (NOC). Aunalytics also offers Co-Managed Patching-as-a-Service and many other ways to support the technology that keeps your business up and running. With the support of an experienced Managed IT Services partner, you can rest easy knowing that your cyber security is working hard to keep your data and network safe.
2023 IBA/OBL Annual Convention
2023 IBA/OBL Annual Convention
Fairmont Chicago - Millennium Park, Chicago, IL
Ryan Wilson of Aunalytics Speaking at 2023 IBA/OBL Annual Convention
Aunalytics is pleased to announce that Ryan Wilson, VP, Client Relationships at Aunalytics, was chosen to present at the 2023 IBA/OBL Annual Convention in Chicago, IL. His presentation is entitled, “How to Win Wallet Share while Cutting Costs in Operations”. This presentation will examine how financial institutions can use AI-driven insights to improve customer engagement and increase wallet share. He will also share how Aunalytics empowers banks through our Daybreak™ for Financial Services solution, which enables community banks to more effectively identify and deliver new services and solutions so they can better compete with large national banks.
Why You Should Include an Analytics Platform in your Banking Software Arsenal
Banking software is vital to the success of all financial institutions. With an increasing focus on digital transformation, banks and credit unions amass a collection of platforms and software systems. Financial institutions not only rely on their banking core, but also CRM systems, online and mobile banking applications, loan management software, payment processing systems, and wealth management, risk, and compliance software, to name a few. Not only do these systems make banking more efficient, but they are collecting data that can be used to improve the business itself.
How can financial institutions best utilize their existing data? Thanks to their existing banking software, every institution holds valuable information about each customer or member that can be used to increase their lifetime value. PWC estimates that banks can generate a 70% return on initiatives targeting existing customers versus 10% when targeting new customers. Therefore, one of the best ways to use data to achieve better returns and higher margins is to focus on improving the customer or member experience.
Having access to an abundance of data points across various systems presents a tremendous opportunity to strengthen existing relationships—but it also poses a challenge. While each banking software system includes valuable information, it does not give the whole story. The problem for many institutions is that they have no way of getting a complete, 360-degree view of each individual from disparate software systems.
The Importance of an Analytics Platform
That is why a data and analytics platform is essential. An analytics platform can aggregate data from multiple systems, cleanse and organize that data into a 360-degree customer view, then apply artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning algorithms to gain data-driven insights.
Once an analytics platform has been implemented, there are many customer intelligence use cases that can help banks and credit unions target the right customers, with the right offer, at the right time, including:
- Gaining transaction insights – Gaining access to transaction data, paired with AI and machine learning, gives great insights into consumer spending habits and preferences.
- Identifying competitor payments – By mining transactional data, financial institutions can discover customer payments going to competitors, then use that information to reach out to customers or members and win back business with a more attractive offer.
- Generating product recommendations – With access to data points from several software systems, machine learning and AI models can make predictions such as the next best product to offer for each customer.
- Predicting churn – AI algorithms identify trends in transactional data, and determine which customers are most likely to churn—so financial institutions can take actions to prevent it.
- Calculating Customer Lifetime Value – An analytics platform can calculate customer value scores based on a large number of relevant data points using AI and machine learning. Banks and credit unions can use this information to allocate resources toward targeting customers with higher customer lifetime value scores.
These are just a few of the ways banks and credit unions can implement insights from a data and analytics platform that mines data from across their organization’s many software systems. Once the platform is implemented, any number of use cases can be developed using AI and machine learning—getting the data collected, aggregated, updated, cleansed, and organized for analytics is one of the largest obstacles for organizations.
Thankfully, Aunalytics has developed a robust data and analytics platform called Daybreak for Financial Services. Daybreak provides all of these services and more to make sure your bank or credit union is making the most of its banking software data to reduce risk, optimize processes, increase revenue, and most importantly, improve the customer or member experience.
A Managed IT Services Partner Gives In-House IT Teams Much-Needed Support
Managing IT environments is a little bit like a box of chocolates—you never know what you’re going to be faced with on any given day. Regardless of the size of your business, your company still has a unique IT infrastructure that can be difficult to manage easily and efficiently. Those variabilities are where a beneficial relationship with an experienced managed IT services partner comes into play.
Partnering with a managed services provider gives you many advantages, including support and improvement for your security initiatives, increased efficiency in your everyday technology environment, and a happy partnership can lead to cost savings in the long run.
Let’s dive a little deeper into the advantages mentioned above:
- Improved security initiatives and better support – Business organizations are often targeted by bad actors due to not only the amount, but also due to the value of the data that can be gained from stealing your important information. By providing security services, an experienced partner can better protect and insulate your company from cyberthreats. Those security services could include constant vulnerability scanning, manning a Security Operations Center (SOC) when your team is too small or too spread out to do so, and even work with you on patch management.
- Increased efficiency – By reducing downtime in case of attack and bringing productivity back online as quickly as possible, a managed IT services partner helps keep your company up and running efficiently. In addition to keeping your company up and running from a security standpoint, a managed services partner can also help keep your data safe in case of disaster, system wipe, and more, allowing you to get back to doing what you do best as quickly as possible.
- Cost savings – By giving your company access to advanced cloud-based technology and a drove of experts right at their fingertips, you can reduce large capital expenditures and avoid hiring more expensive full-time employees (FTEs). Let the experts do the work for you, giving your team the ability to focus on your internal initiatives instead of attempting to defend your network while shorthanded.
Regardless of your needs, enlisting the help of a managed IT services partner can help ease the burden on your business in both the short- and long-term, allowing your team to focus on working toward the future of your company with experts at their sides, helping them every step of the way. Not only is it a burden off of your team’s shoulders, but it’s also a burden off of your shoulders. Knowing that your company is secured by both your team and a trusted managed services partner gives you the peace of mind that, no matter what happens, your company is safe from serious cyber threats.
From Backup & Disaster Recovery to Cloud Storage and Advanced Security, Aunalytics offers a wide variety of managed services products, all backed by our certified and talented technology experts. We are here to work with you through both your everyday needs and those moments when disaster strikes.
Indiana Bankers Association Mega Conference 2023
Indiana Bankers Association Mega Conference 2023
Indiana Convention Center, Indianapolis, IN
Aunalytics is excited to attend the 2023 IBA Mega Conference
Aunalytics is pleased to attend the 2023 Indiana Bankers Association Mega Conference. Aunalytics will be meeting with attendees and giving demos at booth #107. Representatives from Aunalytics will be educating attendees on how financial institutions can use AI-driven insights to improve customer engagement and increase wallet share. Event attendees can also learn more about the Daybreak™ for Financial Services solution which enables community banks to more effectively identify and deliver new services and solutions so they can better compete with large national banks.
2023 MBA Perry Schools of Banking
MBA Perry Schools of Banking
Kellogg Center, East Lansing, MI
Drew Conley of Aunalytics Speaking at 2023 MBA Perry School of Banking
Aunalytics is pleased to announce that Drew Conley, Daybreak Relationship Manager at Aunalytics, was chosen to present at Michigan Bankers Association’s Perry Schools of Banking. His presentation is entitled, “How to Win Wallet Share while Cutting Costs in Operations”. This presentation will examine how financial institutions can use AI-driven insights to improve customer engagement and increase wallet share. He will also share how Aunalytics empowers banks through our Daybreak™ for Financial Services solution, which enables community banks and credit unions to more effectively identify and deliver new services and solutions so they can better compete with large national banks.
2023 Wisconsin Credit Union League Convention & Expo
2023 Wisconsin Credit Union League Convention & Expo
Kalahari Resort & Convention Center, Wisconsin Dells, WI
Aunalytics to attend the 2023 Wisconsin Credit Union League Convention & Expo
Aunalytics is pleased to attend 2023 Wisconsin Credit Union League Convention & Expo. Aunalytics will be meeting with attendees and giving demos at booth #320. Representatives from Aunalytics will be educating attendees on how financial institutions can use AI-driven insights to improve customer and member engagement and increase wallet share. Event attendees can also learn more about the Daybreak™ for Financial Services solution which enables credit unions to more effectively identify and deliver new services and solutions so they can better compete with large national banks.
Defense Manufacturers Face Huge Risks from Malware
Manufacturers that work with the Department of Defense (DoD) are immune to attacks of any kind, right? Wrong. Like any industry, the companies that produce equipment and military systems are just as vulnerable to malware.
Malware is a blanket term used for any kind of software that is designed to cause harm to a digital environment like your office or factory spaces. It can damage devices, computer systems, and networks while bad actors ensure all business functions come to a screeching halt—frozen in place while your files are accessed, stolen, and possibly even sold. With such valuable, and often proprietary, information, defense manufacturers may be an even bigger target than others and can lead to a national security incident. What are some ways that malware can cause serious issues for defense manufacturers?
Disrupted Operations and Processes
The first issue is the most obvious—by using malware, hackers can access your network and put a halt to your internal processes.
Shutting down operations is a big deal for anyone, but when you work with the DoD, the delays and backups during equipment production and delivery of goods can lead to significant delays that impact military readiness.
Theft of Intellectual Property
In addition to being used to disrupt operations, malware can also be used to steal and encrypt or sell sensitive information connected to the development and production of equipment made for the DoD.
Bad actors can disrupt or shut down vital systems, encrypt your data, and openly steal your proprietary information in hopes you will pay them to restore it. It is exceptionally rare that a company receives all its data back after a ransomware attack and there is no way to guarantee the data wasn’t copied before being returned. Additionally, once you’ve paid the first ransom, it has become increasingly common for bad actors to charge additional ransoms before returning your data.
Due to the sensitive nature of the information, it can be used to sell competing products, sell counterfeits, and more, potentially giving an unfair advantage.
Compromised Security
You may have seen this coming. Theft of intellectual property often leads to every DoD manufacturer’s nightmare—especially where drones or other vital systems concerned—compromised security.
Since malware can be used to attack and enter the compromised security of a manufacturing company, including its networks, it allows attackers direct access to sensitive, and sometimes dangerous, equipment. You don’t want to give away your company’s ‘nuclear football’.
What now?
Thankfully you can make this an ‘if’ not a ‘when’ situation—there are ways that such attacks can be avoided and guarded against. In addition to the advanced security measures that are recommended, employee cybersecurity training must be implemented. It’s not enough to have good security—everyone with access to your company’s data must be able to recognize a bad actor when they see one.
Partnering with a Managed IT Services company that specializes in protecting against cybersecurity threats means you can focus on what you do best—helping the DoD protect our country. As one of the only FedRAMP certified companies in the Midwest, you can depend on Aunalytics to keep your sensitive data safe. Don’t settle for an out-of-the-box antivirus and nothing else. Ensure that your location and data are not only secure, but that they will remain that way—no matter what the threat landscape looks like.
