You already have consumers’ trust; how are you keeping it?

Despite living in a world where data breaches and identity theft are becoming more commonplace – an unfortunate downside to the convenience of online commerce and communication – consumers love the benefits of mobile technologies.

But that’s not to say the risks are going unnoticed. A May 2014 poll by Ipsos, a market research firm, found that consumers are taking active measures to help prevent fraud and data compromises. More than half regularly change their passwords or PINs, keep close tabs on their bank and credit card statements, and interact only with secured or certified websites.

All good moves, considering 47 percent of those surveyed say they have been notified that their personal information may have been jeopardized through a potential breach. And one in five had suffered negatively as a result.

This greater awareness and change in consumer behavior is welcome news. And for keeping their personal and financial records safe, more consumers trust credit unions and banks to do the job, according to a 2014 global fraud study by ACI Worldwide and Aite Group. Financial institutions ranked higher than traditional retailers and online shopping sites, and even higher than government agencies and law enforcement.

Having that trust is huge! But are you doing all you can to retain this trust and help your members/customers keep their information and data safe?

Today’s safe deposit box

Several credit unions and banks have taken this security role up a notch, going beyond providing member education, credit monitoring, alert notifications and encrypted internet sites. To build and strengthen members’/customers’ trust, these financial institutions are offering certified online storage options, like My Virtual StrongBox.

More than 1.2 million users now have access to My Virtual StrongBox, the answer to safe deposit boxes for our high-tech world. It allows members/customers from institutions of all sizes to upload and keep secure important files – wills, deeds, birth certificates, insurance policies, tax documents, heirloom photos – behind their financial provider’s highly secure and protected online banking system. This provides a much safer alternative to traditional cloud storage solutions.

Products like My Virtual StrongBox protect information that needs to be kept secret or could be compromised if stored locally on a computer, phone or tablet. They offer the ultimate in online document protection (or safekeeping) – and are one of the best ways to cement consumer trust, not to mention provide peace of mind.

Safekeeping record amounts of data

As your members/customers share more data electronically than ever before, they are more aware of the need to protect their personal and identifiable information. This makes the need for online storage options even more important.

It’s been suggested by tech bloggers that we create more data in just two days than we created over two years during the early 2000s. And according to World Back-up Day 2014, 90 percent of consumers consider their digital files valuable – amounting to lots of documents in need of safekeeping. Given that 113 mobile phones are lost each minute and one in 10 computers are infected each month, it’s easy to understand the attraction to online safe deposit boxes. They offer:

• Secure storage and sharing of important documents
• Customization of accounts and storage preferences
• Quick document uploads
• 24/7 availability
• Access to additional storage space, as needed

DigitalMailer is honored to be invited to present My Virtual StrongBox at one of the most respected technology conferences in the industry: FinovateFall 2014. It is a follow up to our Finovate presentation in 2012, and will showcasing the latest enhancements included in My Virtual StrongBox Version 2.0.

Consumers trust their financial institutions to protect their finances. And more than any other organization, they trust them to protect their personal data. It would be a shame if the trust stopped there. With online safe deposit services, it doesn’t have to.

To learn more, visit www.myvirtualstrongbox.com.