HALF of organisations in the financial services industry have suffered a data breach in the past three years, according to a recent report.
The report by Edinburgh-based digital technology company Forrit reveals that the data breaches occurred through the firms’ contenent management systems (CMS).
It explores issues identified by marketers around using a CMS and offers tips to overcome challenges with security, regulation, branding, integration, efficiency and ease of use.
The report also notes that using more than one CMS – as 88% of the organisations surveyed do – could result in an increased security risk.
Peter Proud, CEO of Forrit, said: “Given the highly sensitive nature of information and extensive regulatory requirements in the financial services sector, we know security and compliance are paramount.
“Options like a cloud-based CMS that integrates with the rest of your system and using templates can help marketers be confident they’re reducing security risk while increasing compliance.”
Forrit commissioned Censuswide to survey 254 heads of marketing working in the banking, financial services, insurance, reinsurance and wealth management sectors across the UK in June.
Its subsequent report found that the banking and wealth management sectors were more likely to have suffered a data breach through their CMS in the past three years.
It also notes that three-quarters (75%) of marketers do not consistently use templates, which makes it more difficult to maintain compliance and brand consistency.
Meanwhile, the report also found that over a quarter (27%) of marketers do not localise content for different countries, which could cause compliance issues.
Other issues identified by financial services marketers across the board included ease of use (47%), enforcing brand guidelines (38%) and difficulty integrating with other systems (34%).
Peter Proud continued: “Nearly all the issues senior marketers identified in our research could be mitigated by using a single CMS platform, regardless of the organisation’s size.
“An astonishing 88% of organisations in the financial services sector are using many platforms, which can only be contributing to their challenges.
“A single platform which is secure, flexible, easy to use, and scalable is the simplest way to overcome all the pitfalls marketers identified around their CMSs.
“It’s more secure and can develop alongside your organisation as it grows,” he added.
Founded in 2014, Forrit is an Edinburgh-based digital technology company that has developed enterprise CMS software.
Its full report, titled The Content Management System market in 2023: what marketers in financial services really think, is available to download on the Forrit website.
