Banking hours used to be 9 to 5, but like many services today, customers these days expect credit unions to offer 24×7 availability and systems that work reliably and efficiently. Think about it. Unless you work there, when was the last time you actually visited your credit union in person? These days, and especially with our newer generations of consumers, everything is online.

The core infrastructure powering today's banking systems have gotten progressively more complex. While some environments, like cloud computing, have offered greater efficiencies and security, the biggest challenge for most IT executives is multiple projects and priorities competing for increasingly limited IT resources. Systems have become ever ever more dependent on the networks and IT infrastructure that power the banking business, yet internal subject matter expertise (and hours in the day) are limited. As a result, roughly 80% of all credit unions use targeted outsourcing as a key tactic to meet the challenge of keeping customers connected and staying competitive with the big banks.

Some of the most valuable providers of outsourced technical services are SaaS-based Network Operations Centers (NOCs). Through their advanced monitoring capabilities, outsourced NOC providers help credit unions bridge the gap between the demands placed upon IT personnel and the resources available to meet them. The following are some examples of how NOC partnerships go beyond routine network monitoring to help credit unions overcome IT challenges:

Online banking must be up and running 24×7. A NOC partner can monitor your systems around the clock, always on the lookout for failed logins, failed transactions or latency. NOC partners use synthetic transactions to put core credit union applications through their paces, validating not only the Availability of those applications, but also their Operability. NOC Partner notification procedures are also flexible and customizable to suit your needs and accommodate 24/7, on-call and after hours requirements.

NOC providers can also provide protections again ATM skimming. The NOC can integrate with ATM vendors like Diebold, so when skimming alerts are generated, someone is actually listening for them, and expediting the process of notifying those who need to respond. That faster response has tremendous benefits in limiting liability and mitigating further losses.

Nightly closeout process typically run pretty reliably; that is, until they don’t — in which case, someone has to do something. That “something” could be the difference between opening for business the next day or declaring an unwanted credit union holiday. Some credit unions choose to monitor those processes via simple email alerts, or perhaps having an on-call engineer logging in each night. Emails get missed and engineers have better things to do.

NOC partners can go far beyond in-house capabilities and automate that monitoring. It involves an integrated set of polling methodologies, from synthetic transactions to SQL queries and log file monitoring, which monitor the jobs from start to finish. If any segment of the job fails to complete, is delayed, or only partially completed, the NOC can immediately take action and notify you. Many NOCs can also go a step further, logging into those servers and restarting the failed  jobs, to ensure faster remediation and resolutions.

Partner with a NOC that Provides Expertise Beyond Your In-House Assets

At the root of automated banking processes is the application of in-depth IT expertise and technical acumen. Everything discussed above is part of that big picture of skills and experience a customized NOC monitoring partner brings to credit union clients. Our blog post, “8 Benefits of Partnering with a NOC Services Provider,” has eight important criteria you should consider before outsourcing your network monitoring.

Contact us today to learn how iGLASS can help your IT personnel sleep better at night!