Nemertes Impact Analysis:

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) issued new guidelines this week designed to help financial services firms balance the productivity benefits of social media with the privacy, retention and appropriate use demands of the industry. Security professionals in the financial services industry are trying to stem the tide of IMs, Facebook messages and Tweets emanating from their companies. Without clear guidelines and the necessary tools, many companies have simply banned the use of these technologies. Our research shows that compliance is a significant barrier to adoption of collaboration technologies. However, a younger workforce, on average, and the information-swapping culture make it very hard to enforce an outright ban. The new guidelines will bring clarity, but will also create more pressure to adopt due-diligence processes, tools and enforcement mechanisms.

Impacts:

Enterprise: New guidelines bring clarity but remove excuses for delay. Review and implement controls for social media, just as you have for IM and email.

Vendors: Plan to converge or add social media features and capabilities with security solutions for communications media like email and IM.

Investors: Privately held Facetime Communications and startups offering social media security will benefit from clearer guidelines and accelerated adoption in financial services.

Andreas M. Antonopoulos, Senior Vice President & Founding Partner

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