November 2022 Summaries

The financial services and financial technology industries have undergone significant changes due to digital innovation. Mobile banking, peer-to-peer payments, and online trading are now commonplace. However, these innovations also present challenges such as building for the total experience, ensuring privacy, security, and compliance, mitigating fraud, reaching and engaging a digital audience, managing competition and customer experience, and implementing successful digital transformations. Financial leaders must address these issues to enhance their relationship with customers and drive profitability.

Genesys CEO Tony Bates announced plans to sunset MultiCloud CX and focus solely on their Pure Cloud and On-Premises solutions. The company is retiring MultiCloud CX to make a strategic pivot as a company, focusing on accelerating the development and adoption of Genesys Cloud CX. This move reflects digital transformation on a micro-scale: to go all-in with the cloud. By 2026, Gartner estimates that CCaaS licenses will represent over 49% of installed contact center agents. Enterprises are choosing the Bring Your Own Carrier (BYOC) model to power telephony and leverage carrier-level integrations to build a best-of-breed CX stack.

Genesys CEO Tony Bates announced plans to sunset MultiCloud CX and focus solely on their Pure Cloud and On-Premises solutions. This strategic pivot is aimed at accelerating the development and adoption of Genesys Cloud CX, as well as establishing a stronger market position as a cloud leader. The company's on-prem solution, Engage On-Premises, will still be available for customers who cannot migrate to the cloud due to vertical, market, or regional restrictions. This move reflects the growing trend of digital transformation and adoption of cloud delivery across industries.

The financial industry faces significant security challenges, including ransomware, fraudulent calls/spoofing, botnets & DoS, and employee vulnerability to phishing or smishing attempts. To combat these threats, a three-step security framework is recommended: Prevention, Detection, and Response. This involves finding the right measures to protect various aspects of platforms, continuously validating users' identities, partnering with vendors specializing in industry-specific threats, and having an incident response plan. Cloud migration can also improve security by outsourcing non-core competencies to specialized providers. To maintain a balance between customer experience and security, businesses should focus on consistent user experiences, robust cybersecurity monitoring, tailored authentication methods, regionally appropriate data storage practices, and privacy-forward processes and policies.

The financial technology industry faces significant challenges in maintaining data security and privacy while providing seamless customer experiences. Key risks include ransomware attacks, fraudulent calls, botnets, and employee vulnerabilities to phishing attempts. To address these issues, a three-step security framework is recommended: Prevention through measures like Zero Trust security approach; Detection by partnering with industry specialists for threat detection; and Response by having an incident response plan in place. Cloud migration can also improve security and reliability during the process. Balancing customer needs for convenience, security, and privacy is crucial to building a best-in-class brand experience.

The French regulator, ARCEP, is changing number allocation laws to promote efficient use of numbering resources and combat robocalling. From 2023, sub-allocation on geographic numbers will be prohibited. Bandwidth offers a Global Number Hosting product that enables customers to host their own French numbers and continue offering services in France. To benefit from this product, customers must have their own numbering ranges from ARCEP and follow a process of applying for an operator code and number ranges.