Considerations for Strong Data Protection
When acquiring a new asset or merging with an existing firm, it’s essential for IT teams to consider the three A’s of effective data protection:
- Access: As noted by PYMNTS, financial M&A represents “uncharted cyber risk” for firms. As newly acquired systems and existing IT infrastructure combine, teams must deploy robust identity and access management solutions that ensure the right users have the right access to the right data.
- Authentication: Robust authentication controls are critical to protect key assets. While two-factor solutions, such as one-time text codes, offer better protection than username/password combinations, multifactor tools that also account for geolocation and user behavior can improve overall protection.
- Authorization: IT teams must also integrate systems that regularly evaluate current user roles and data authorization to ensure staff have access only to combined systems data storage when it serves their specific purpose.
DISCOVER: Learn more about how your organization can be guided through digital transformation.
How to Better Manage IT Contracts and SLAs
Depending the systems and solutions banks choose to keep, existing software licenses and service-level agreements may no longer apply. While this is beneficial in some cases — because fewer contracts mean reduced complexity — there’s also the potential for gaps to emerge in IT service if contracts lapse for specific systems or software.
Here, IT teams must work closely with legal departments to create a comprehensive contract landscape that helps identify where current options can be extended, new agreements are necessary and existing frameworks can be terminated with minimal cost.
As M&A activity picks up, banks have the opportunity to acquire high-value assets at lower cost. But even as stakeholders expect a comprehensive transition framework that articulates both immediate returns and profit over time, there’s a commensurate need for robust IT roadmaps that prepare for new systems integration, predict IT lifecycles, prioritize data protection and define clear plans for IT contract management.