In today's heavily regulated business world, small to medium sized businesses are struggling with keeping up with all the requirements of GLBA, HIPAA, etc.    Securing your customers' information is a regulatory burden and an important component of your business to ensure long time relationships with your customers.

Can your business withstand the affect if one of your customer's information was taken from you?   Being in small towns across the Upper Peninsula where word of mouth is one of the key marketing tools, one negative event can cause major reputational damage.
 
Securing your outgoing email by utilizing encryption is one way to protect your data from potential hackers and those looking for a quick new identity.   By implementing a secure email environment in your business you can send an email marked as secure to a customer.  The customer would receive an email telling them that they have a secure email and to retrieve it they must "click" here.  Upon clicking, they are transferred to a secure site where they enter a password (that they set up upon initial use) and open the email.  
 
Quite a few secure email providers are also working on secure email to your business from your customers.  You can have a button on your website that a customer can go to where they can send you an email in an encrypted method.    The advantage is obvious - 1) the ability to receive sensitive customer information quickly 2) the information is secure and 3) the customer does not have to take the time to come directly to your place of business.
 
Along with regulatory requirements are also the legal consequences that could occur.   The ability to defend your business actions and assist customers in doing so by going back and retracing emails from previous months, or even years, can be invaluable.  Secure email providers are now offering email archiving, for any number of years, in different sized storage areas, all per varying user in your company.  End users can access the archived email and utilize the search engine to find old emails.  Management can determine who can search to what depths, allowing management to still maintain control.
 
Whether you are a doctor/dental office trying to meet HIPAA requirements, a law office that maintains confidential information, an insurance company with an individual's personal information or a financial institution that is complying with GLBA, securing your customers' information is an important aspect of your day to day operations.

 

- Melissa Murphy          

Accountant/Risk Mgt.

Lasco                        

 We would like to begin by thanking all who participated or contributed to the walks! Both Marquette and Munising successfully reached their monetary goals and were very pleased with the amount of walkers that participated as well. In all, Munising raised $16,313.52 with 242 participants. Marquette raised $5,207 with 94 participants. We are very pleased with the outcome and hope to see each year progress more and more. One of the goals of the Marquette walk was to raise money for the Great Lakes Recovery Center so they could begin a support group in the area for suicide survivors. As of November, this goal was met when a member of the walk committee in Marquette, Carroll Ann Swanson, chose to begin leading the meetings for area survivors. We are all pleased at the outcome and would like to encourage the rest of the community to find a way to get involved in this cause. If you were unable to contribute or participate, we are gearing up for next year's walk and would like to encourage you to start setting aside calendar space or pocket change to help others that are in need.For more information on how you can donate or volunteer, please contact Dennis VanLandschoot at 906-228-1051.

This year's Annual Meeting held in Traverse City was a great time for Michigan Bankers, and all seemed to enjoy the event. We would like to announce that our own President, Dennis VanLandschoot received a certificate of completion for the Michigan Bank Directors College at the Annual Meeting this year. We would also like to note that some of our close friends are currently serving on this year's board of directors for the MACB, including David Firack, Immediate Past Chairman of the Board (President of Old Mission Bank) and also Bill Stream, Director (President of The Peninsula Bank).

 

Below are some of the recent photos taken with organization members who received donations from Lasco: