Enhancing Client Interactions with Unified Communications for Dallas Financial Institutions

To attract and retain customers, Dallas financial institutions need to distinguish themselves with outstanding customer service in a dynamic, competitive market. But disjointed legacy systems and strict security regulations can hinder access to customer data.

Unified Communications (UC) platforms offer a great solution, but many small and midsize (SMB) financial organizations lack the time, money, and IT staff to tackle these implementations.

Local Managed IT service providers can help. They have the IT expertise, industry experience, and compliance know-how to deploy and manage UC solutions securely for Dallas financial SMBs.

UC, Managed IT Services, and the Dallas Financial Landscape

As a welcoming place for business, Dallas-Fort Worth is fast becoming a national hub for the financial services sector. The area added 17,400 financial jobs in 2023, and is now the second-largest financial services hub in the U.S., following New York City. Growth in “Y’all Street” investment banking and securities employment has jumped 111% over the past 20 years.

Rapid growth also brings challenges. In a highly regulated industry like finance, integrating new systems must be done carefully to maintain service and security. And no matter their size, all financial firms must ensure their data handling practices meet industry regulations, which can be more difficult for smaller firms with limited IT staff.

Financial firms can outsource IT measures like implementing new IT systems to managed services providers (MSPs). These managed IT services companies are experts on many aspects of communications, security, and compliance, to ensure that law firms follow security frameworks when adopting new technology, like UC.

With UC solutions, Dallas law firms can securely and seamlessly connect with clients and partners, for more efficiency and productivity. Connecting voice calls, videoconferencing, instant messaging, and email on a single platform keeps consolidated data and current tasks at financial employees’ fingertips, without the need to change interfaces and log into multiple solutions.

Companies around the country are rapidly adopting the technology, with the U.S. Unified Communication and Collaboration market projected to be worth $90.7 billion by 2032.

Unified Communications: A Key Component of Financial Modernization

After addressing security and compliance, stellar customer service and clear communication are the best ways for Dallas financial firms to differentiate themselves. Inefficient messaging tools can slow processes like loan applications and investment orders, eroding client trust and interfering with productivity.

Many firms are adopting UC solutions to help.

These solutions are AI-powered and connect teams from anywhere with cloud-based telephony, video meetings, messaging, and other collaboration tools. This cross-channel functionality is critical because companies with strong omnichannel engagement strategies retain an average of 89% of their customers, while those with weaker strategies only retain about 33% of their customers.

Benefits of UC solutions for Dallas financial firms include:

• Security features like  fraud detection, Secure Coding, multifactor authentication, data encryption, and third-party certification for security and compliance.
• Integration of calls, messaging, and video for streamlined, secure communications. Convenient features include pop-ups with client information and one-click connections.
• Enhanced client engagement and faster responses, thanks to real-time communication options (calls, texts) and cloud-based services that enable financial employees to work from anywhere.
• Scalability for growing firms. Unlike hardwired communications options, UC solutions are cloud- and subscription-based, to accommodate changes easily.
• Cost-effectiveness. In addition to paying for just the number of subscriptions that Dallas law firms need, the cloud-based nature of UC solutions means not having to worry about on-premises hardware. UC providers take care of infrastructure investments, replacements, and repairs on their end.

Unique Challenges Facing Dallas Financial Institutions

Dallas financial institutions operate in one of the most competitive and regulated markets in the country, and their communication systems must meet both customer expectations and compliance demands.

Regulatory frameworks require institutions to protect sensitive data across all communication channels. These frameworks include:

• The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA)
• Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)
• US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) guidelines 

This regulatory environment makes secure, encrypted communications a legal necessity.

Common challenges that many Dallas-based financial firms deal with:

• Managing multi-branch operations or supporting clients across diverse service lines, making it difficult to maintain consistent, real-time communication without centralized oversight.
• Legacy phone systems or siloed chat/email tools often fail to keep pace.
• In a distributed organization, these systems are also difficult to update, and often they aren’t structured to adapt to change quickly. These systems usually lack access to accurate, timely analytics and reporting.

UC solutions offer scalable communications with unified administration, for a single source for managing licenses, user roles, provisioning, and configuration.

Clients today expect a seamless omnichannel experience, interacting with financial institutions via mobile app, web chat, and traditional calls. Without an integrated solution, Dallas financial firms risk delayed response times, internal miscommunication, and frustrated customers.

Enhancing Client Interaction with Secure Communication Tools

UC solutions bring communication channels together on a single platform, for a unified view of Dallas financial firms’ clients. This enables tracking and analysis of client interactions across email, phone, chat, and social media, for improved customer service. UC solutions help financial firms:

• Provide personalized service by recognizing individual preferences and needs with a single view of client interactions.
• Support digital and voice self-service options with AI for faster customer service.
• Integrate UC solutions with existing customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), accounting, and business intelligence (BI) solutions, to put clients’ information at employees’ fingertips across channels.

Here are two examples of UC solutions in action:

First United Bank & Trust migrated to 8×8 Contact Center, a cloud-based UC and contact center (CC) platform. Outcomes:

• This full-service community bank has almost $2 billion in assets, nearly 30 full-service or drive-up offices, and a customer service center.
• The migration took just over a month.
• Now, without leaving Teams, First United agents can send and receive texts, calls, and multimedia messages securely with customers, colleagues and partners, all while staying compliant.

One of our clients, a leading financial institution, successfully implemented UC and CC solutions. Outcomes:

• The institution integrated multiple customer engagement channels—including voice, chat, SMS, and email—into a single platform.
• This omnichannel approach not only enhanced the overall client experience but also enabled the organization to consolidate performance metrics across all channels into one comprehensive dashboard, providing real-time KPIs and actionable insights for continuous service improvement.

Operational Efficiency Through Managed IT Solutions and UC

Managed IT services proactively detect and resolve issues, whether related to security, compliance, or UC solution functionality, so financial firms can focus on their core business.

Additionally:

• MSPs handle updates, maintenance, and security patches, without interrupting services. This is important considering that unpatched vulnerabilities are directly responsible for 60% of all data breaches.
• UC solutions managed by MSPs eliminate siloed communication. This is significant, as 98% of financial firms report that they have internal data and application silos. UC solutions also reduce the time that finance employees spend switching between apps.
• These solutions support collaboration for remote and hybrid employees securely with cloud-based tools. Features like VoIP, video conferencing, and real-time document collaboration remote advisors and analysts get more done each day.
• Managed IT services integrate UC solutions with AI chatbots, call routing, and automated response systems to optimize customer support. AI-driven insights improve client interactions and speed up response times.
• Financial firms rely on secure, high-quality communication for client interactions. MSPs can safely integrate UC solution with CRM systems for call recording option, and data analytics to personalize client services.
• When it comes to security and compliance, MSPs implement end-to-end encryption, multi-factor authentication (MFA), and monitoring tools to safeguard data.
• A cloud-based UC platform lowers infrastructure costs and enables pay-as-you-go pricing, for cost savings and scalability. Financial firms can scale up or down based on workforce needs without large capital expenditures.
• MSPs provide real-time monitoring, maintenance, and proactive issue resolution for UC solutions. This prevents downtime, dropped calls, and security breaches that could disrupt financial operations.

Why Local Expertise Matters: Partnering with Dallas-Based IT Providers

Financial firms looking to outsource IT services should choose an MSP familiar with their communication, compliance, security, and integration challenges around existing solutions, such as corporate financial, CRM, ERP, accounting, BI, financial modeling, and accounting software. A good MSP will take the time to familiarize themselves with organizations’ IT infrastructures, and they’ll have experience serving the financial services industry.

Other benefits:

• Local partners understand local needs. Dallas-based MSPs understand the Dallas financial ecosystem, and it’s easier to build strong, lasting partnerships when you’re located close to your partner company.
• Incident response times are faster for on-site support in emergencies. And as an integral part of the community, a reliable Dallas-based MSP will have access to a close-knit network of local partners.
• Working with an MSP seamlessly augments your existing IT staff, to help you scale your existing IT capabilities. MSPs can help you plan for growth or take over IT projects as needed.

What BlackPoint IT Services Can Do for You

At BlackPoint IT Services, we help small and midsize financial firms with expertise and resources to integrate new systems while keeping up with compliance and security. Our IT security experts can guide you in implementing a UC solution to streamline client communications. Schedule a consultation today to get started.