Finance and insurance
IT Services for Finance & Insurance
Your clients hand you their whole financial position. That makes your systems worth attacking, and it makes four months of the year the ones where nothing can afford to go wrong.
What we see in investment advisors, insurance agencies, and wealth management practices
Busy season has no slack in it
A day lost in February costs more than a week lost in July, because the deadline does not move to accommodate it. Anything that needs downtime has to be done before the season or after it, and most providers only think of that in January.
The written security plan is no longer optional
Firms that prepare returns are required to keep a written information security plan, and the FTC Safeguards Rule put real weight behind it. Most of the plans we are shown describe a practice the firm stopped being several years ago.
The fraud is aimed at money in motion
Somebody impersonating a client, or impersonating you, to redirect a transfer is the loss that actually happens in this industry. It succeeds through process rather than through software, which is where it has to be stopped.
Client records have a very long tail
Returns, statements, and identity documents are held for years after the work is done. Every year of retention is another year that data has to stay protected, and another year it is worth stealing.
How we approach it
We plan around your calendar rather than ours. Upgrades and migrations happen when a mistake would be survivable, which for an accounting practice is emphatically not February, and for a firm with extension work is not September either.
We write the security plan the Safeguards Rule expects and keep it matched to what you actually run, so it is a document you could hand to somebody rather than one you would rather they did not read.
We put controls around money movement: verification that does not depend on a single email, and training aimed at the specific way this industry gets defrauded rather than at phishing in general.
We handle seasonal staff properly. Accounts created with the right access on the first day and closed on the last one, which is the gap temporary help usually leaves open behind it.
The short version
Busy season uptime, the written security plan the IRS now expects, and the wire fraud aimed at your clients' money.
Common questions
Can you support our tax and portfolio software?
Yes, hosted or running locally, along with the coordination with those vendors when something breaks in the middle of a season. Knowing which of them to call, and how quickly they answer in March, is part of the job.
What is a written information security plan, and do we need one?
It is a document setting out what client data you hold, what protects it, and who is responsible. If your firm prepares returns, you are expected to have one. We write it against your actual systems and keep it current, rather than handing you a template with your name at the top.
Can you do project work during busy season?
We would rather not, and we will tell you so. Anything that can wait until May will wait until May. What we do during the season is keep you running and fix what breaks, which is a different kind of work and the one that matters then.
A client emailed new wire instructions. How do we know they are real?
You call the client on the number you already had, not the one in the message. That single habit stops most of these, and we will help you make it a written procedure rather than something people remember to do when they are not busy.
Where we usually start
The services that matter most here
Managed IT Support
Your staff get help from people who know your systems, and your technology stops being the reason work stops.
Learn more about Managed IT SupportCybersecurity Services
Layered protection that is watched around the clock, so a bad day stays a bad hour.
Learn more about Cybersecurity ServicesBackup & Business Continuity
Backup that somebody has restored from on purpose, so the first real test is not the day you need it.
Learn more about Backup & Business ContinuityCloud & Microsoft 365
Your people reach their work from anywhere, on tenants that are configured, licensed, and backed up properly.
Learn more about Cloud & Microsoft 365CMMC & HIPAA Compliance
Evidence you can hand an auditor, and a plain reading of where you stand before you have to.
Learn more about CMMC & HIPAA Compliance