Tim Murphy. Image: Strencom
Strencom’s tech supports current wave of M&A activity in the credit union sector.
Cork cloud networking player Strencom has reported a series of cloud deals worth €2m with Ireland’s network of credit unions.
Combined, Ireland’s network of credit unions manage assets worth in excess of €8bn.
‘Smaller credit unions often don’t have the resources to implement the necessary IT infrastructure, regulation and compliance requirements that are now part of Central Bank regulation’
– TIM MURPHY
The company’s connectivity and secure cloud hosting platform, specifically designed for financial organisations, provides a secure, fast and reliable service. It also provides additional security for credit union members.
The cloud platform offers a scalable option for multi-branch credit unions amid a wave of M&A activity in the sector as smaller credit unions continue to amalgamate.
Strencom builds the majority of its credit union networks using fibre gigabit technology, with resilient backup connections from a number of providers, which connect to Strencom’s Intelligent Core and are monitored 24/7 by its network operations centre. The company’s network is also future-proofed to manage speeds of up to 10Gbps, once they become available in the relevant areas.
Credit unions already up and running on the system include Tipperary, Drogheda, Croí Laighean, Mullingar, Tower, Ballygall, Member First, First Choice, Thurles, Health Services Staffs and Mallow.
Cloud tech you can bank on
“Data security is absolutely crucial in the financial services sector, and we are confident that our solution provides Ireland’s credit unions and their customers with the best protection,” said Strencom CEO Tim Murphy. “All of our services are provided over a secure private network with 24/7 monitoring, so members’ information is iron-clad.
“Recently, Eir announced that every town in Ireland with more than 1,000 people will get high-speed fibre broadband. This is good news for our rural credit union customers as the infrastructure that we’ve installed is future-proofed to manage speeds of up to 10Gbps. This means our customers will be able to take advantage of faster access speeds without the need to upgrade their networks.
“There has been a lot of M&A activity in the credit union sector recently. Smaller credit unions often don’t have the resources to implement the necessary IT infrastructure, regulation and compliance requirements that are now part of Central Bank regulation. They need to be part of a bigger entity to survive and this announcement today will support that,” Murphy said.
Danny O’Donoghue, IT manager at Bishopstown Credit Union, said that regulation around business continuity, data security and payment card industry compliance has become more rigorous in the last number of years.
“Credit unions now need a secure, dependable service to enable us to provide an efficient service to members, with the peace of mind that their personal data is protected. The bespoke connectivity and cloud hosting platform provided by Strencom meets all our known regulatory, risk and compliance needs.
“Another benefit of the platform is that it has removed the need for us to make expensive hardware purchases, thus saving operational expenses as well as the associated hardware maintenance charges and separate data centre charges,” O’Donoghue said.
