SAN ANTONIO—How can financial institutions offer easy accessibility, especially in online payments, while still maintaining the most effective security possible?
It’s a tough balancing act, with security of paramount importance, yet solutions that aren’t easy to use are also easy to abandon for consumers for whom ease of use is critical.
Too many log-in requests to access various applications, having to go outside the online tool for authentication—such as to access an e-mail or text message—only frustrates consumers and drives a negative experience of the online tool, SWBC noted.
What can a credit union do?
Evaluate Current Tools
Jason O’Brien, SVP of Payments at SWBC, said the company has been testing an online payments innovation that is currently in testing, and in the process has gained important insights into what consumers want when it comes to both security and convenience when it comes to online and mobile banking, and how CUs can evaluate their own banking tools.
“Credit unions can maintain maximum security while still offering convenience to their members,” said O’Brien.
In evaluating the credit union’s current online and mobile banking tools, and then making adjustments if they are needed, O’Brien emphasized that all invested parties must be present.
“That means bringing together marketing, IT and security into one room,” said O’Brien. “They have to all work together to make this effort successful. Decisions regarding the security and use of e-channels cannot simply be made by one department.”
Story Board
To improve users’ experience, O’Brien said the best method is to go through a story board process.
“Get a white board and sticky notes. Then walk your way carefully through your mobile and online channels and ask, what does the member have to do each step along the way,” said O’Brien. “That includes asking what does a member have to do to become a user of an online channel. Do they have to fill out a form? Does someone inside the credit union have to sign off on the request? Go through each and every step.”
That process clearly shows the credit union the “current state” of the online and mobile user experience.
“And then the team can begin to decide what are the best and worst elements of these processes,” said O’Brien.
O’Brien emphasized that the credit union can’t bite off too much too soon, and should steadily tackle each area in which it sees improvement is needed, one at a time. He said to target the lowest-hanging fruit first, as those changes are the easiest to make.
He said, too, it’s a good process to ensure the effort remains organized, builds confidence in the group that it is making progress, and stops “scope creep.” “Just whittle away at this,” he said.
Jason O'Brien
O’Brien said that one of the biggest frustrations users experience with mobile and online offerings is being forced to go outside the banking tool for authentication, such as to retrieve an e-mail or text message with a temporary passcode.
“This step is often a good place to begin,” said O’Brien. “The credit union needs to try to find a solution that eliminates the hassle for members, but also meets security requirements.”
Pay Attention To Legacy Apps
He said sometimes that can mean replacing sending a temporary passcode if the member has already authenticated with a smartphone’s fingerprint biometrics.
In conducting the story board exercise, O’Brien suggested that the credit union be aware of security steps instituted as a requirement from a vendor that is supporting an application. He said those steps may have been instituted as the result of cost decisions by the credit union and that there may be more user-friendly solutions available today.
O’Brien said credit unions must place themselves in the shoes of their mobile and online users to determine whether their tools, while protecting members’ sensitive data, is also discouraging usage.
“Managing your finances can be a very nerve- wracking experience for consumers,” said O’Brien. “And when you start interrupting their mobile or online banking experience with too many, or too cumbersome, security protocols you often push people over the edge. They then decide they either don’t want to deal with the financial matter, or they begin to look elsewhere for a better solution.”