Take Our Outsourcing Quiz

For community banks and credit unions, the thought of leveraging third-party vendors can bring anxiety since financial institutions are under tight regulatory scrutiny and are more often the target of criminals. However, there is an increasing need to outsource key IT services to improve efficiencies, meet regulatory requirements, and enable institutions to focus on their core business. Take this quiz to find out if outsourcing is right for you.

Currently, how many full-time IT employees do you have at your institution?

1 or 2

3 or 4

5 or more

How do you monitor and maintain your IT network and infrastructure?

All in-house

Outsourced to a third-party

A mix of in-house and outsourced

How do you monitor your activity/event logs to identify and fix issues?

In-house IT handles this

Third-party monitors, but in-house IT team fixes issues

Third-party monitors and fixes issues

We don't monitor activity/event logs

How does your bank handle troubleshooting of issues?

In-house heldesk

Third-party support services are available upon request

In-house team handles simple issues, 3rd party handles the big stuff

Third-party support service handles everything

When evaluating potential third-party IT firms, which of the following risks are of concern? (Select all that apply)

Reputational Risk - we want to avoid poor service delivery could harm the bank's reputation

Operational Risk - we don't want to be "down" due to tech failure, infrastructure failure or a laps in support/service

Contractual Risk - we want to be sure the terms with the IT vendor align needs and obligations

Legal Risk - we want to avoid inherent risks of non-compliance with regulations

What are your top IT priorities? (Select all that apply)

Security

Uptime/performance

Keeping costs down

Avoiding bad exams, fines or worse

Having "cutting edge" solutions

Need to do it

Wow! You have a lot of worries - hiring the right personnel, proactively monitoring your network, and updating and maintaining servers, workstations, and network devices, and more. You would definitely benefit from leveraging the expertise of an outside network management service.

Partnering with an IT solutions firm that understands and assists with regulatory compliance can relieve some burdens and allow you to get back to focusing on what you do best... banking.

Should consider it

Managing an IT network is a very demanding responsibility. An IT administrator needs to truly understand the increasing complexity of IT operations, continuously changing regulatory requirements, FFIEC compliance guidelines, and evolving security threats. There are many other reasons why institutions like yours should consider buying a managed network service to help you more readily navigate today's technology, security, and compliance requirements.

Wouldn't hurt

You're doing a good job of managing most of your institution's IT, compliance, and security needs. But with higher compliance standards and evolving security threats, you could still be missing hidden issues and costs that are preventing you from maximizing your IT team's effectiveness.

Partnering with an IT solutions firm that understands and assists with regulatory compliance can relieve some burdens and allow you to get back to focusing on what you do best... banking.