Sam and Liza are best friends working in two different financial institutions. While in Liza’s organization, entire business operations are handled by financial intranet systems; the traditional work methods are being used in Sam’s organization. Sam and Liza often discuss their work, methods adopted, and the company’s growth levels.
Sam counters the idea of Liza’s organization of using an intranet especially designed for banks and the financial industry, which is prone to several risks and security threats. Liza decides to elaborate on the innumerable benefits of an intranet solution for Banks & Financial institutions. Let’s give an ear to their conversation.
Liza: Sam, the intranet platforms are highly customizable and provide multi-disciplinary features to meet the needs of any industry that deploys them. For an industry like ours, the features & advantages of intranets are:
- Document & Procedure Management: Intranet provides real-time access to all the documents, work procedures & company policies. It allows the users to co-author, co-edit, comment, store, access enabling simultaneous resolving of queries on an urgent basis. The documents & files are securely stored on cloud/online servers saving heaps of money spent on maintaining servers for its security.
- Timely information sharing: As you know, Sam, the most crucial component for our industry is the right information at the right time. It guides the entire decision-making process of both the institution and its clients. With an intranet, you can share/find updated information with your staff regarding rates, interest, changes in office hours, modifications in company policies, etc., on the company intranet’s page/site.
Sam: This talks about individuals; does it amalgamate teams/departments?
Liza: Of course!
- Team or Department specific workspace: With 100% control over privacy and & authorizations, managers can create dynamic & detailed workspaces for their respective teams/departments/groups. It keeps the people updated with the latest financial trends, events, & webinars. You can even invite people from outside the organization, add or remove people from the workspace as per your requirements.
Liza: Moreover, the intranet Streamlines work procedures too.
SharePoint intranet allows automation of regular & manual tasks and workflows, which saves their time for crucial tasks. With automated procedures, monotonous processes like reimbursements filing, leave management, etc., happens at a click of a button. It also allows you to set triggers for alerting the users of either being under/above the set limits.
- Another benefit of using an intranet is Task & Project tracking. It enables individuals & teams to plan, discuss, share useful documents, & track their tasks/projects’ progress. You can even create a distinct page/site for each project to which authorized people can access anytime and from anywhere.
- Improves data security: SharePoint intranet relaxes you of any worries related to the security of your company’s confidential information. With the security of its latest SSL encryption technology, you can freely share documents, images, videos, or data. To add more, the security & permission features gives complete control over user-right settings.
Sam: Work is fine. But can it socially collaborate/ engage employees?
Liza: Why not? The social features of the intranet bring the employees together easily.
- Engages employees: SharePoint software helps to keep the employees motivated by providing means for internal communication, collaborating, excellent work recognition, in turn boosting overall employee morale & job satisfaction. It provides opportunities for diverse training and plays a vital role in developing & promoting a cohesive organizational culture.
Liza: Gaining a competitive edge is another added advantage, which an intranet can deliver with super ease.
All the above-mentioned benefits of the intranet will give a competitive edge to financial institutions over those who don’t have any such system in place. Sharing crucial information timely, form-driven workflows, tracking, online document storing makes it an invaluable resource for financial institutions. It saves financial resources, buys heaps of time to focus on strategic processes, and improves the services rendered to clients, ultimately enhancing the overall business’s performance in the competitive market.
Sam: Wow! I am amazed. Undoubtedly, SharePoint intranet in-a-box is a magical tool with capabilities to transform the complete lookout of working in the financial industry.
Liza: Absolutely! And due to the nature of the banking and finance industry, it is often seen stuck with monolithic systems. The institutions must look forward to ditching the age-old systems and use modern financial intranets. Moreover, it also helps in aligning institutions on a technological scale, broadening organizational transparency & horizon, and portraying modern consumers of our industry.