SAN ANTONIO – Credit unions outsourcing functions such as insurance and mortgage lending want assurance that vendors are handling their member data efficiently and with every conceivable security precaution. To that end, Southwest Business Corporation has taken steps to bolster the security and reliability of its technology systems.
SWBC provides a wide range of insurance, mortgage, and investment services. The majority of SWBC's services are focused toward reducing risk, enhancing products, and improving profitability for credit unions.
SWBC recently received the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants' SAS 70 (Statement of Auditing Standards No. 70) Level II certification, following a high-level audit of the company's Information Technology department and its collateral protection and mortgage insurance products. SAS 70 certified data centers have to maintain prescribed levels of information security and redundancy, as well as personnel controls. Requirements include reporting on database access, data transmissions, data backup and recovery, application security and product development.
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"The difference between Level I and [the higher] Level II certification is testing," said SWBC Senior Vice President Gregory Lawler. "In a Level I audit, you must provide auditors your control objectives and all the things that are done to operate the business. A positive auditor's report says the company conforms to best practices, but no testing is involved. In a Level II audit, they come in and say, `You have this? Prove it.' SWBC had 300 tests of its control activities over a 4-5 week period.
"Third-party certification saves time and money by eliminating a credit union's need to send in their own IT people to document our processes," Lawler said.
Responding to disaster scenarios of recent years, SWBC has established a new disaster "hot site" in Austin, Texas, which ensures important system components are operational within 15 minutes should a disaster strike SWBC's corporate headquarters in San Antonio.
Keystroke-for-keystroke, data from SWBC's primary computer systems is saved at the Austin site. Windows-based servers are implemented at both locations to ensure uninterrupted customer access to information over the Internet.
"The real question that should be asked," Lawler said, "is `If a disaster occurs that destroys the building, where are employees going to come back to work?'"
Should a complete relocation of critical business operations become necessary, SWBC has partnered with Atlanta-based Agility Recovery Solutions to provide a mobile office. Agility has trailers located around the country, preconfigured with computers, generators, telephones and desks, which are brought to the location of choice in an emergency situation.
To address short-term unexpected power outages, such as those experienced in rolling brown-outs, SWBC recently implemented a back-up generator in its corporate headquarters that provides ongoing power to phone systems, computers, telephones, and data processing center equipment.
SWBC maintains a 59-member in-house information technology team, including 40 programmers. Their goal is to stay abreast of industry standards, laws and regulations that will help them protect credit union member data and efficiently serve their customers.
According to Lawler, the company vigilantly safeguards remote communication with the SWBC Windows Network-identifying, authenticating, and monitoring incoming traffic. SWBC has implemented a CISCO 4215 Intrusion Detection/Intrusion Prevention System (IDS/IPS) to monitor, detect, alert and block any connection that triggers an alert.
In addition to technology, customer service is the other key differentiator for a vendor in a regulated industry, Lawler explained. To improve the company's efficiency and customer service profile, SWBC has partnered with WebSitePulse to monitor performance and availability of swbc.com and the company's other Internet applications. This service provides round-the-clock end-user monitoring and performance measurement of SWBC Web sites from 16 locations. Real-time alerts are generated when page errors occur, performance thresholds are exceeded, or connectivity problems are detected. When alerted to a potential problem, SWBC can respond immediately to avoid customer inconvenience.
Realizing the importance of top-notch customer contact, SWBC call center facilities are being upgraded. With the installation of a redundant, enterprise survivable phone system, incoming calls, faxes, and emails will be distributed to people according to their availability and skills. The system includes quality monitoring that enables a supervisor to "coach" an employee through a call, unheard by the caller, or to join the call for assistance.
An exciting innovation in the area of document management in recent months is SWBC's implementation of the Cognasys automated document processing system. Cognasys, which boasts a track record of productivity gains of 700-1000% and reader accuracy of 99-100%, uses advanced imaging and OCR capabilities to process, for example, insurance forms, freeing employees for more valuable tasks.
SWBC continues to upgrade its flagship product, Focus Send, a closed-community secure Internet delivery service that has been evolving over the past 10 years.
"This system stores every touchpoint SWBC has with a member-every phone call is recorded, every letter sent or received is on file," said Lawler. "It is the credit union's window to member information. We don't have to tell them we're taking care of their members; credit unions can see for themselves, and it can all be accessed online." [email protected]
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