The dust has finally settled on the new year and as we delve deeper into 2020, new technology trends have already become apparent. So, what are the biggest technology trends set to disrupt the banking and financial industry in 2020? And, what benefits will these technology trends bring? We answer this and more below…

1. AI

AI is a technology trend that is rising in almost every industry, including banking and financial services. Like many industries, banking and financial services are investing in AI to create long-term future savings. For example, one of the most common AI implementations is an AI chatbot. AI chatbots are set to revolutionise customer service by communicating with customers and answering customer queries. This could potentially eliminate the need for a bank to have customer service employees, saving them significant personnel and HR costs.

The popularity of mobile banking has risen in the last few years, as banks have seen the demand from customers to be able to manage their money on-the-go. AI allows 24/7 online banking access for consumers by completing and conducting essential banking operations.

Another of the biggest issues banks and financial businesses face is identifying and preventing fraudulent activity, and fraud detection. AI could disrupt current fraud detection processes by enhancing financial security through its advanced fraud detection capabilities. For all the reasons above, it’s not hard to see why AI is set to disrupt and revolutionise banking and financial services in 2020.

2. Robotic process automation

Robotic process automation, or RPA, similarly to AI, is set to cause disruption to financial and banking services due to its potential to lower operational costs and remove human error. RPA is able to complete repetitive tasks which would previously have to be completed by employees and can be labour intensive. By enabling RPA to complete such tasks, human employees can focus on more skilled work and everyday tasks can be completed much more efficiently without human intervention.

RPA is often more effective as robotic processes do not need to take a break or take holiday days and they can be programmed to complete tasks accurately and efficiently, removing any possibility of error. For example, an insurance company may invest in RPA to speed up its claims process. RPA can screen applications more quickly than a human and then progress or reject claims.

3. Big data

Big data is a large set of data that can be used and analysed to reveal patterns and finance trends, e.g. consumer buying habits. For years, banking and financial services have accumulated big data through monitoring the transactions, transfers and ATM withdrawals of their clients. As they have access to so much data, banking and financial services are investing in business analytics to analyse and safely store their big data. If the financial industry is able to accurately monitor and analyse this data, they could draw actionable insights. For example, with an accurate picture of customer spending habits, fraud will be more easily detectable as anomaly spending can be detected instantly.

Similarly, big data analysis can help identify market and banking trends, allowing financial institutions to make more profitable business decisions, e.g. improved product cross-selling. NMIS (network management information system) can help you handle your data, and ensure you are compliant with data regulations.

4. Cloud computing

Cloud computing is a system that is reliant on shared resources and is an alternative to having local or dedicated servers. Cloud computing technology is used to store data and delivers services such as data analytics, software development and more through an internet connection. Often a business or individual pays for as much cloud storage as they are currently using, as the technology is incredibly scalable. Many banking and financial services are opting for cloud computing in 2020 as it is more cost-effective than using an independent or shared server. As you only pay for the storage you use in cloud computing, controlling outgoing costs is much more easily managed.

Cloud technology is also often more secure than servers, helping banks and other financial companies, such as insurance companies, complete secure online payments and transfers without interference from those with malicious intent. Cloud technology, such as cloud inventory and audit software, can be accessed from anywhere in the world at any time, allowing financial companies to always operate at maximum efficiency.

The above fintech trends are just some of those set to disrupt and improve the workflow of banking and financial services in 2020. If you’re interested in introducing any of these new trends into your business, Opmantek products can integrate and manage new technology with ease, ensuring minimum disruption for your business. If you’d like to learn more about our innovative products, such as our Opmantek Virtual Appliance, a member of our expert team would be happy to get in contact with you.

One of the primary drivers that lead people to Opmantek is their desire to transition their event management to become less reactive and more proactive. Gartner’s IT Service Management Maturity Model stresses the need to become proactive while your business is in its infancy, this will aid in making your IT a valuable asset to your company, not as an expense.

A great way to start this transition is to change your perception of event management, specifically, take control over events earlier and automating your remediation. Two key concepts that will assist in this and talked about in this blog are opEvent’s automated remediation and opConfig’s virtual operator.

Proactive Event Management

The first step in transitioning your event management into a proactive format is by handling your events before the end-users raise them. This is a significant change to prepare thoroughly for, because you may be initially swamped with open events. However, if you are using opEvents as your event management platform, this will be significantly reduced, opEvents uses event correlation and deduplication natively and will combine your related events. (This is further expanded on in this article).

Automated Remediation

Once you start looking at events proactively, you will have more events coming through your system; this is where automation will play an integral role in managing your network. opEvents allows you to add scripts that will run as soon as an event has occurred; this will help with automatic remediation. This can be used to serve a variety of purposes such as using scripts to automatically remediate events with a replicable solution process or providing information at the time of the incident, rather than at a later stage.

Event Status

Inside opEvents, on the events themselves, there is event status that can be used to signify the stage in the event management process that the event is in. This helps the tools that your team is using, while also providing a service desk that gives you usable information.

Virtual Operator

opConfig’s Virtual Operator can be used to help create jobs comprised of command sets that can be used to troubleshoot nodes that have been identified with opEvents. These actions are templates that the virtual operator uses that saves you from having to create commonly run jobs. It also gives operators easy access to run commands on remote systems without giving them full access to the machines. This will help your team troubleshoot any events without compromising any security measures that are in place.

Next Steps:

• Download opEvents and opConfig on our Virtual Machine and start monitoring nodes with a free lifetime license.
• Read more about Deduplication and storm control in opEvents.
• Read more about Event Correlation.
• Watch this webinar series on how to truly optimize opEvents and opConfig for your environment.
• Read our Solution Guide – Event Consolidation Based on Location.

What is Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)?

Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) represents an all-encompassing platform developed by Microsoft, designed to unify the administration of devices and applications within a network environment powered by Windows computing systems. It provides users with valuable information about the status of local or remote computer systems, making it an indispensable tool for administrators managing various Windows operational environments. WMI, a key component of Microsoft’s management infrastructure, comes pre-installed on Microsoft’s newest operating systems and is designed to reduce the maintenance and cost of managing enterprise network components.

WMI provides a consistent model of the Windows operating systems, configuration, and status in enterprise networks, offering a COM API that allows access to management information about the status of local or remote computer systems. Developers and IT administrators can write WMI scripts or applications to automate administrative tasks on remote computers, with management applications or scripts able to perform operations or get data through WMI in a variety of programming languages. Its flexible and extensible architecture provides support for new devices, applications, and other enhancements, making WMI a powerful and flexible tool for managing and monitoring the Microsoft Windows operating system.

Introduction to Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)

Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) is a powerful feature of the Microsoft Windows operating system. It is a part of the infrastructure for management data and operations on Windows-based operating systems. WMI represents a collection of guidelines established by Microsoft, designed to streamline the administration of devices and applications within a network environment that utilizes Windows computing systems. It provides users with information about the status of local or remote systems and computer systems.

Understanding the WMI Architecture

The WMI architecture is a flexible and extensible architecture that is designed to provide a unified way of accessing management information in an enterprise environment. At the heart of the WMI architecture are the WMI providers. WMI providers act as intermediaries between the WMI service and the managed objects in the Windows Driver Model. They supply the WMI service with data from managed objects and handle requests to change the state of managed objects.

The WMI repository is a crucial component of the WMI infrastructure. It stores the static data and the definitions of all WMI classes, which are the templates for the instances of management data. The WMI repository also stores the definitions of all the WMI namespace namespaces, which are logical divisions of the WMI class hierarchy.

WMI vs. Other Management Protocols

Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) is often compared to other management protocols like the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). While both protocols are very fast and highly efficient, they go about their business in very different ways. For managing Windows devices, WMI is probably the better option, while SNMP is widely supported by networking vendors like Cisco, Juniper, Huawei, and Unix/Linux operating systems.

Working with WMI

Working with WMI involves using the WMI command line, WMI Query Language (WQL), and WMI scripts. The WMI command line tool, also known as WMIC, is a command-line interface to the WMI API. It allows administrators to perform various system management tasks from the command prompt. For example, to access WMI from the command prompt, type WMIC and press Enter.

WMI scripts are used to automate administrative tasks and manipulate management data. These scripts can be written in any language that supports Microsoft ActiveX scripting, including:

• VBScript
• Perl
• Windows PowerShell

WQL is a subset of SQL with extensions to support WMI events and other features specific to the WMI system. WMI queries are used to retrieve management data from the WMI repository. There are three types of WMI queries: Data Queries, Event Queries and Schema Queries.

Data Queries

Data queries are the most common type of WMI Query Language (WQL) query. They are used to retrieve data from the WMI repository. Data queries can be used to retrieve instances of a specific class or to retrieve instances that meet certain criteria. For example, a data query might retrieve all instances of the Win32_Process class (which represents processes running on a Windows system), or it might retrieve only those instances where the Name property is “notepad.exe”.

See below for a data query example that requests the event log file named “Application” from all instances of Win32_NTLogEvent.

Event Queries

Event queries are used to subscribe to events in WMI. An event in WMI is a significant occurrence in a managed object that might be of interest to management applications. For example, an event might be generated when a process starts or stops, when a disk drive becomes full, or when a network connection is lost. Event queries can be used to subscribe to these events and be notified when they occur.

There are two types of event queries: intrinsic event queries and extrinsic event queries. Intrinsic event queries subscribe to events that are automatically generated by WMI when instances of a class are created, modified, or deleted. Extrinsic event queries subscribe to events that are explicitly generated by a WMI provider.

See below for an example event query by an event consumer request notification when a new instance of a class derived from Win32_NTLogEvent is created.

Schema Queries

Schema queries are used to retrieve information about the schema of the WMI repository. The schema of the WMI repository is a set of definitions for all the classes, properties, methods, and events that are available in WMI. Schema queries can be used to retrieve information about these definitions.

For example, a schema query might retrieve the definition of the Win32_Process class, including the names and types of its properties and the signatures of its methods. Schema queries can also be used to retrieve information about the relationships between classes, such as the inheritance relationships between classes and the associations between instances of different classes.

The following example schema query shows the syntax.

Advanced WMI Features

WMI provides a higher level of representation of systems, supporting properties, events, and methods on top of the object classes used by SNMP. The WMI system classes providers supply the WMI service with data from managed objects and handle requests to change the state of managed objects. The WMI provider class defines the methods for a provider.

WMI also supports remote management. The WMI service acts as a server component, allowing management applications to connect to it remotely. This feature is particularly useful for managing remote computers in a Windows enterprise network.

WMI in Network Monitoring and Management

WMI plays a crucial role in network monitoring and software management systems. It provides an in-depth analysis of devices, including current configuration parameters, status values, CPU load, memory usage, software and hardware audits, application availability, and operating system failures. WMI can be used to monitor any desktop or server running the Windows operating system in public, private, or hybrid environments.

Security Considerations in WMI

Security is a critical aspect of any management infrastructure. WMI provides several security features to protect the management of data. For example, WMI uses the Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM) for remote access, which provides a robust set of security features. It also allows administrators to set permissions on WMI namespaces and classes, ensuring that only authorized users can access the management data.

WMI Monitoring Tools

There are several WMI administrative tools available that can help manage boot configuration data and monitor the WMI infrastructure. These tools provide a graphical user interface to display and manipulate the data in the WMI repository. Some tools also allow you to build scripts without any coding knowledge. Examples of such tools include WMI Explorer and WMI Event Viewer.

Future of WMI

The future of WMI looks promising. With the continuous development of the Windows operating system, WMI is expected to become even more powerful and versatile. The latest versions of the Windows Server and supported Windows platforms come with enhanced WMI features, making it easier for administrators to manage enterprise network components.

Simplicity vs. flexibility

So which monitoring solution is right for you? The answer will depend on the size and complexity of your network, your management infrastructure standards, the skills of your network administrators, and your available budget.

One of the major advantages of SNMP is that it is easy to deploy and configure even on larger networks. It can also be used to manage all devices on the network regardless of the manufacturer. Many SNMP tools are also free which helps keep costs down. The downside is that standard SNMP features are very basic.

If you require more sophisticated data and configuration options and you operate a large Windows OS environment, then WMI is the way to go. This will provide you with a powerful framework to streamline the monitoring and management of your Windows OS environment. The downside is more complexity and increased operational overhead.

Deep Dive into WMI Providers

WMI providers are a critical component of the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) infrastructure. They act as intermediaries between the WMI service and the managed objects in the Windows operating system. WMI providers supply the WMI service with data from managed objects and handle requests to change the state of managed objects.

Each WMI provider is associated with one or more WMI classes, which are templates for instances of management data. These methods can be used to retrieve data, change the state of a managed object, or trigger an action on a managed object.

WMI providers are implemented as COM objects and are loaded into the WMI service process when needed. They can be written in any language that supports COM, but most are written in C++ for performance reasons.

Understanding the Two Types of WMI Providers

WMI providers are essential components of the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) infrastructure. They act as intermediaries between the WMI service and the managed objects in an enterprise environment. There are two primary types of WMI providers: instance providers and event providers. Each type plays a unique role in the WMI infrastructure.

Instance Providers

Instance providers are responsible for supplying data for instances of WMI classes. They manage the static data that represents the current state of a managed object. For example, an instance provider for a disk drive might supply data about the drive’s current capacity, free space, file system, and other properties.

Instance providers handle requests from the WMI service to retrieve or modify the properties of a managed object. When a management application makes a request to read or write a property of a managed object, the WMI service forwards the request to the appropriate instance provider.

Instance providers are also responsible for implementing the methods of a WMI class. When a management application invokes a method on a managed object, the WMI service calls the corresponding method in the instance provider.

Event Providers

Event providers, on the other hand, notify WMI when events occur. An event can be any significant occurrence in a managed object that might be of interest to management applications. For example, an event provider for a disk drive might generate an event when the drive becomes full.

Event providers are responsible for detecting events and delivering event notifications to the WMI service. When an event occurs, the event provider creates an instance of an event class to represent the event and delivers the instance to the WMI event registration service. The WMI service then forwards the event to any management applications that have registered to receive such events.

Event providers can generate two types of events: extrinsic events and intrinsic events. Extrinsic events represent significant occurrences that are not directly associated with a change in a managed object’s state, such as a user logging on or off. Intrinsic events represent changes in the state of a managed object, such as a change in a property value.

Both instance providers and event providers play crucial roles in the WMI infrastructure. Instance providers manage the static data that represents the current state of managed objects, while event providers notify WMI when significant events occur. Together, they enable WMI to provide a comprehensive and flexible framework for managing and monitoring the Windows operating system.

Microsoft Windows Operating System and WMI

The Microsoft Windows operating system is deeply integrated with WMI. WMI is a part of the infrastructure for management data and operations on Windows-based operating systems. It supplies management data and provides a unified way of accessing management information in an enterprise environment.

WMI comes preinstalled with the Windows operating system and is available on all Windows platforms, including Windows Server and Windows Vista. It provides a way for the operating system to expose management data and operations to management applications.

The operating system interface exposes many of its features through WMI classes. For example, the operating system might expose a WMI class for each logical or physical component of a system, such as a disk drive, a piece of memory, or a network adapter. Management applications can use these classes to manage the corresponding components.

WMI also plays a crucial role in the Windows operating system’s event logging system. The Event Log Provider in WMI provides access to the event logs on a local or remote system. This allows management applications to retrieve event log entries and to be notified when new events are logged.

Conclusion

Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) is a powerful tool for managing and monitoring the Windows operating system. It provides a flexible and extensible architecture for accessing management data and automating administrative tasks. Whether you’re managing a small network of computers or a large enterprise network, WMI tools can help streamline your operations and improve your efficiency.

With the right knowledge and tools, you can leverage WMI to its full potential. Whether you’re using the WMI command line, writing WMI queries, or creating WMI scripts, there’s a wealth of resources available to help you get the most out of WMI. And with the ongoing development of the Windows operating system and WMI, you can expect even more powerful features and capabilities in the future.

The growing role of machines alongside humans has always been a point of discussion in our constantly evolving workforce, so where does automation come in?

Automation can be defined as the process of carrying out tasks through the use of technology, with minimal human supervision. As a result, it can improve overall safety and reduce the margin of human error, leading to an increase in productivity. In fact, an article by Harvard Business Review cites academic research on automation estimating that 47 percent of occupations in the United States could be automated within 20 years. Now that technology is advancing even more rapidly than ever, how can the process of automation help you in your career?

1. It can lead to further job opportunities

Sharon Hunneybell explored how process automation can lead to the creation of new jobs, opening up future roles for automation analysts, integration architects, and data quality analysts. If you’re a part of this field and you’re interested in working with the latest and greatest in technology, it’s a good idea to start figuring out how you can stay ahead of the crowd. In order to make manual and repetitive tasks a thing of the past, try figuring out how automating processes can integrate with your current business practices. Automating your workload can help you free up time to onboard staff with efficiency.

2. It can help source talent

If you’re part of a HR department, automation can help you search for talented staff much more quickly and onboard them with more efficiency. Case in point, Marcus points out that AI can help find in-house talent, which UnitedHealth Group currently uses through an algorithm that can identify leadership qualities among its pool of employees. This information can also be used to identify and nurture early-career employees for leadership roles. Not only will this save time, but it also ensures that your top-performing candidates are adequately recognized. During the onboarding process, automation can also benefit you through the creation of custom onboarding packages such as online forms, key checklists, and welcome e-mails for new hires. This ensures that they’re aware of any important security measures at work and that they’re ready to hit the ground running.

3. It can improve security and operations

IT teams and security operations are vital aspects of any business. Among their most time-consuming tasks involve operations and maintenance. However, an article on IT processes on EnterpriseTalk states that “IT professionals themselves believe that almost 20 percent of their current daily tasks could be automated by AI.” For instance, conditional access can be granted to certain employees so that security screening can be innovated, as well as software installation, batch processing, and server monitoring. Start exploring how robotics process automation (RPA) will work in your organization by downloading the Opmantek Virtual Machine today and activating your free license for up to 20 devices. If you would prefer to have an engineer walk you through the software, you can also request a demo.

Evidently, automation provides countless benefits for the day-to-day aspects of almost every role in your team. You can maximize profits, keep operational costs down, and free up time for your highly-skilled employees to perform more challenging tasks or shift into other roles. Now it’s time to take that step forward and explore how automation can best be integrated into your business practices.

In today’s digital world, businesses are expanding and their digital needs are more complex than ever. For this reason, enterprise network infrastructures have to cope with more demands and have greater functionality. An enterprise network usually has one or more main locations, which branch out and connect to other remote locations. Below we outline our 10 top predictions for enterprise network infrastructures for 2020 and beyond, as well as offer some infrastructure management advice.

1. Application delivery

To manage increasing digital demands in 2020, enterprise application delivery networks need to simplify their infrastructure. An application delivery network provides application security and visibility for applications on enterprise networks, in order to meet increased demands, application delivery must be updated to be cloud-based and replace hardware application servers with simplified, modern public cloud services, as these can be used and scaled much more efficiently.

2. Big data and analytics

As more and more devices and locations are connecting to an enterprise network infrastructure, there are numerous points where the infrastructure could be compromised and hacked. Big data may seem like a network vulnerability, but in 2020 big data could be the solution to cybersecurity issues. As the data center collects more data, the network will more efficiently be able to identify when the enterprise IT environment is under malicious attack or trying to be accessed from an unauthorised user. We predict operations management will also increase in 2020 as more businesses will discover the importance of managing big data.

3. AI (Artificial Intelligence)

For more advanced enterprise network infrastructures, cognitive/artificial intelligence will enable enhanced traffic management, and allow greater automated processes to take place. Compared to traditional data, AI has different networking requirements that indicate if enterprise networks want to streamline their workflow with AI, they must ensure they adapt and alter their networking landscape in 2020.

4. Hybrid clouds

Hybrid clouds began as a mix of applications that existed both in enterprise networks and public clouds, hybrid clouds will become much more advanced in 2020 as the number of cloud services and applications a business uses will increase. Businesses will, therefore, need to adopt a more advanced hybrid cloud strategy by carefully selecting the cloud technology they use and organising that technology to ensure their hybrid cloud is fast and efficient.

5. Networking virtualisation

To help create enterprise network solutions, network virtualisation will increase in popularity and use. Network virtualisation can be used for different requirements such as path, device and service virtualisation. This will be useful to enterprise network architects, who can use virtualisation to determine what technologies and developement techniques will add value to a network.

6. Unified communications and collaboration

As enterprise networks become more complex, combining enterprise communication tools into a single interface or application will be an important trend in 2020. This will allow businesses to collaborate with greater ease, for example, move instant message chat over to conference calls and video calls instantly. This will be particularly important as remote working is set to grow even more in popularity in 2020.

7. WiFi

Businesses expect their enterprise network infrastructure to be faster, sleeker and more intuitive. They will, therefore, expect their wifi to be able to handle their new network demands, without creating any downtime. To support advanced bandwidth requirements, we expect there will be a rise of wireless site surveys conducted in 2020.

8. IoT (internet of things)

The IoT has great potential in 2020 to change how data is collected in an enterprise network. For example, as the IoT of a company grows, more and more data will be created. Not all of this data, however, is relevant to the central functions of a business and needs to be stored centrally. Management applications can be run throughout an IoT network and identify any data that needs to be stored centrally, ensuring a business doesn’t fill its enterprise network with irrelevant data.

9. Wireless LAN infrastructure

As the demand for high-performance networks will grow in 2020, more businesses will require custom wireless LAN infrastructures, to ensure they have the most reliable, robust networks possible. For example, infrastructures must be able to meet high demands (such as frequent video and voice calls) whilst providing security. Although more and more businesses will move towards wireless networks, integrated wired and wireless networks may need to be created as part of the transition process.

10. Infrastructure management

As all of the above-predicted trends suggest, enterprise network infrastructures are going to become more complex and have higher workload demands. For this reason, infrastructure management will be more important than ever. It is recommended that traditional infrastructure and workflow tools are integrated with leading practice such as Opmantek’s NMIS, opEvents, opConfig and Open-AudIT. These are not only going to revolutionise the way you see data but are some of the easiest products to use on the market. Don’t just trust us, see for yourself.

Can you afford to leave your infrastructure management to chance?

Rohit Mehra, vice president of Network Infrastructure at IDC, stated: “Digital transformation has simultaneously created pressure on enterprise networks to evolve to meet the increasing demands of the modern digital business while also creating a flurry of advanced technologies that help solve these challenges…it’s imperative that networking professionals recognize these trends and prepare their networks for the continued changes that will impact their environments moving forward.”

You can read more about Mehra’s thoughts on digital transformation, here.

In 2020, networks will need to be able to handle an increased number of apps and devices without creating any network downtime or harming user experience. It is therefore imperative you entrust your infrastructure monitoring and IT asset management to reliable tools and software. For more information about Opmantek and the services we provide, do not hesitate to get in touch with our team. One of our enterprise network experts will be happy to answer any questions you may have.

By noting the above 2020 predictions, you can ensure your enterprise network infrastructure stays working at optimum functionality and ahead of trends!