Why Better Search Means Better Security for Financial Services

Financial services is an umbrella term that applies to many kinds of organizations. Each has its own unique set of challenges around delivering services, managing deep wells of sensitive information, and keeping that information secure.

This includes organizations like your personal bank and all that goes into keeping track of your account information. It also includes financial advisory firms that house experts who need reliable access to constantly changing information around stocks and regulations in order to best serve their clients.

Though financial services organizations vary widely and can be very complex, an extremely important thread that connects all of them is straightforward: they all rely on accessibility and security.

Not all information is for everyone

There is an incredible amount of sensitive information that any given financial organization harbors. When a firm or bank has numerous employees of varying levels dipping into the same pool of information – all with different goals – there’s a lot of opportunity for wires to get crossed and information to be mishandled. Understanding how to manage this requires having a grasp of the most common instances of information retrieval. In financial services, this can include:

• Loans or credit scores
• Bank accounts and financial statements
• Investment portfolios
• Insurance claim documents and records
• Internal experts such as investment advisors or brokers

Alongside security, managing access to information is the next big hurdle that financial services firms face. These needs might seem at odds with each other. If you’re an employee you need easy access to information. At the same time, it needs to be secure in every possible way, with nuanced permissions and accessibility that protects sensitive information without siloing or hamstringing employees’ workflows. How do firms find the middle ground?

Better security starts with prioritization

Financial services firms are contending with a lot of information, but before they think about search they should consider prioritizing security in the following layers:

• Document level security: Methods like security trimming allow for granular control to ensure users don’t see documents they don’t have access to. This makes life easier for both employee and manager, and securely controls the flow of information access without stalling employees along the way.
• Role-based security authorization: This determines which types of users are allowed to read, modify, delete, or create documents and system changes.
• Connectivity to major security technologies: This includes your standard Active Directory, LDAP, Kerberos and SAML or other single sign-on systems. Knowledge management systems can make best practices like the use of these technologies extremely streamlined and less headache-inducing to implement.

Outlining these hurdles makes the challenge of security much more approachable – especially when a viable search solution can directly address each layer.

Enter search and knowledge management systems

Most of the general public likely takes personalized search for granted. We’re used to simply typing in a Google search and near-instantly receiving pages of results catered to us. In the best case scenarios, we’re finding what we were looking for within seconds.

Financial services employees who work with a lot of knowledge and data are looking at these search experiences and thinking “I want some of that.” And they can’t be blamed. Why shouldn’t their employees have the ability to quickly and securely find what they are looking for with the ease that the average consumer experiences regularly?

This is where enterprise search and knowledge management systems can greatly improve the entire financial service employee’s experience. A viable search solution can not only make access to information breezier, but can do so while reinforcing security.

Semantic search goes several steps further

Semantic search is a form of deep learning technology that collects employee and customer signal data to accelerate relevance. The technology is complex, but the results are simple. When deployed effectively, semantic search is capable of:

• Understanding complex data
• Reducing manual effort in data operations
• Fostering loyalty via an easier user experience

All three of these elements are critical to supporting employee experiences in financial services.

Employees of financial firms, banks, and insurance companies are empowered when they have easy, quick access to the information they need. Search has the ability to be that connecting point. If you’re interested in how Lucidworks search solutions can support your firm’s knowledge management dreams and make your employees’ lives easier, get in touch with us today.