The worlds of finance and environmental sustainability are seldom seen to be connected. The environment is indeed a topic of worry for many people, and is cited as the third greatest concern in our world today. But making a conscious effort to become more eco-friendly does not feature as highly on the priority list for many financial companies. Over 5.3 billion of us have a bank account today, and by law, we as customers must be informed of changes to contracts, or any key information on a “durable medium” that cannot be altered. The most common durable medium is paper – banks post billions of letters every year. Finding a digital solution for this would have a huge benefit for the environment.
With the swift increase in digital solutions across the globe in every single industry, it is of paramount importance that the financial sector keeps up with the rest of the world. Mobile banking is swiftly growing, and for example in the UK it is estimated that by 2021, more people will use their phone to manage their finances than visiting a physical branch.
With the help of Hitachi’s Durable Medium solution, financial customers and clients alike are fully prepared to go 100% digital.
Hitachi’s Durable Medium is a combination of WORM (Write Once, Read Many) storage and a web application for customers developed by Hitachi in 2016. It enables each and every customer document, from the first version to the latest, to be stored in a safe and secure way and to be accessible at any time from anywhere. It is impossible to modify these documents once they have been issued, so it keeps a record of every customer’s file from its original version.
This technology has proved to be vital, with Santander Bank in Poland rolling it out less than three months after partnering with Hitachi, and Bank Pekao S.A. reducing paper letters to customers by more than 1.5 million in its first year of use.
Other high-profile customers, such as Poland’s clearing house KIR and the cooperative banking group service provider CRUZ, have also adopted this technology, which is a clear testament to its quality, functionality and security.
Hitachi’s Durable Medium has benefits well beyond the financial sector. It can be applied anywhere that a secure record of information is required. From insurance to power and energy providers, to media companies as well as government institutions, there is no end to the positive potential that the durable medium will have on industries and businesses across the globe.
The world now has a tried and tested blueprint for document storage that is not only failsafe, but will also dramatically reduce paper use, making our planet a better place for all.
