3 Essential IT Services for Businesses in the Financial Services Sector

Data security is important in any business, but it’s a critical pillar of business success in the financial sector. High-quality and real-time support from a managed service provider is a necessity when you’re working with personal and financial information and complex programs. You also need support that provides you with the highest level of cybersecurity and complete optimization for your business using tools and technology. 

Finding the right blend of services that make sense and support that puts you, your clients, and your employees at ease is essential. First, let’s go over which types of financial companies need extra help with their IT solutions. Then, we’ll talk about the specific services to look for in a managed service provider. 
IT Services for Financial and Accounting Firms

Who Needs These Services?

Banks

Unsurprisingly, IT services are vital to ensuring the security and efficiency of banking systems. Your systems always need to be up and running; you can’t risk a server going down, losing any type of data, or even the smallest hiccups in your banking processes. Banking institutions are also one of the most likely sectors to be affected by cybercrime, with 47% of banks reporting an incident in 2017. 

Accountants

Accounting firms have moved almost entirely to online systems and infrastructure, and in 2020, it would be a major challenge to work in accounting without technology. Like banks, you’re dealing with clients’ finances, so you can’t risk any issues arising, or the trust that’s essential to your business could be undermined. One of the most common reasons for cybercrime is financial gain, which makes accounting firms a target for criminals.

 
Financial Planners

Like accountants, financial planners store a lot of private personal and financial information. While not handling finances as directly as an accounting firm or bank, you are still handling potentially sensitive data, so it’s crucial that you have the security in place to protect that data. Plus, you likely deal with many different online systems that need to integrate smoothly for a great user experience. 

Other Finance Service Providers

Overall, the finance sector is one of the primary targets for cybercriminals. If your business is involved in the finance industry, it’s key that you have some form of cybersecurity and other IT services in place to keep information secure, accessible, reliable, and running efficiently at all times.

Why Do You Need IT Services?

Most companies in the financial sector choose to hire outsourced managed service providers to handle their IT needs. A managed service provider (MSP) can provide reliable support for hardware, software, cloud applications, technology infrastructure, and cybersecurity. A great MSP in Edmonton will offer optimization and implementation to improve your systems, plus maintenance and support on an ongoing basis so you can always call on their guidance. 

Which Services Do You Need?

If you’re working in any type of financial capacity, some IT services will be especially important in helping your business prosper. Here are a few to consider:

Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity is a blanket term to describe all the individual actions needed to protect your data and systems from online crime (and even from accidental incidents). Cybercrime attacks and data breaches can have a massive impact on your business. Cybersecurity services typically start with developing infrastructure control and security measures like intrusion detection, as well as CISO (Chief Information Security Officer) services. It may also include employee training, ongoing checks, and full 24/7 network monitoring. 

Backup and Data Recovery

Another must-have service is backup and data recovery. Backups offer a copy of whatever data you save, whether to a cloud service or external device. If you were to lose critical information due to errors or malicious attacks, you could use backups to restore the data and get back on track. You can create backups for many different data storage technologies, whether it’s just for a single desktop or for an entire infrastructure setup. There are also different options for backup with different pros and cons, so it’s important to find the right system to fit with your operations. 

System Monitoring

Monitoring the health of your infrastructure and systems is more important than you might think, and is crucial to keeping your systems running as efficiently as possible. System monitoring services are offered so you don’t have to worry about the daily upkeep of your technology. Monitoring is often offered around-the-clock and checks components like processing, memory, and application performance. If something goes wrong, your managed service provider will let you know and fix it right away (or provide options for solutions if it’s a larger or more complex issue). 

Hire an IT Management Company You Can Trust

At Alt-Tech, we’re dedicated to ensuring your data is protected and your servers are maintained. We work closely with many businesses in the financial services sector, which means we understand how important it is to connect secure and efficient technology with your daily operations. Contact us today to find out how we can help your financial service business prosper and grow!