Employees across investment banks have become accustomed to using instant messaging as an everyday channel of communication, but their IT departments often limit the usage of these systems on the grounds that there is a lack of robust auditing of conversations in many cases. This raises compliance issues and security concerns around what information might be traded outside of the organisation.
But in the longer term, failure to resolve this issue will see banks fall behind the progress in communications applications and potentially lose their competitive edge.
For example, BT has developed iBridge for Microsoft Communicator 2005, which makes voice telephony ‘presence-aware’. This means that a user can see in their Communicator window when their colleagues across the organisation are tied-up on phone calls. Knowing this, the user can make effective use of his own time, perhaps starting a conversation using an instant message, and then upgrading the communication to a voice call, email or conference session at the click of a button, depending how a situation pans out.
Secure instant messaging
For the trading floor, BT is also developing similar messaging capabilities as part of its ITS Myriad middleware platform, which would see secure instant messaging between turrets and even out to wireless devices such as PDAs or BlackBerry. These services would include full centralised audit trails to ensure regulatory compliance.
Cost of ownership
Another obstacle to more widespread use of instant messaging is that investment banks and other financial institutions struggle with the cost and burden of compliant message management. According to a survey conducted by MORI on behalf of BT, 77% of IT directors questioned at companies in the US, continental Europe and the UK do not know, or cannot calculate, the total cost of ownership (TCO) for their current message management infrastructure. This is despite the growing reliance on electronic communication channels.
The survey also shows that IT directors throughout the industry are willing or planning to continue increasing their budgets for secure messaging.
However, firms that currently outsource their messaging infrastructure expect the message management costs to decrease compared with those who keep the solution in-house. The one in five respondents who currently outsource, or would consider outsourcing, are also more confident they will meet regulatory requests to provide a three-year audit trail within 48 hours.
Clear warning
“As financial services organisations open up their networks to clients and partners, they need to take the threat of spam, virus and denial-of-service attacks seriously to avoid any disruption to their business, and to ensure compliance with corporate governance regulations,” warns Ray Stanton, head of BT’s global security practice. “But they need to manage these challenges based on a clear understanding of the cost of their current infrastructure.
“BT’s own Message Management Platform enables firms to meet the challenges identified in the survey by providing a complete range of anti-spam, anti-virus, content control, archiving, compliance and mailbox management tools, all accessed via a common management interface,” he adds. “It simplifies management and control across existing email systems, directories and messaging products, and protects investments already made in message management software and services, thus reducing the total cost of ownership.”
