62% of financial services organisations predict a rise in email threats within the next year. With the pandemic driving services online, it is unsurprising that cybercrime has also increased. With financial services businesses becoming increasingly concerned over cyber threats, Fortyhill Financial Solutions leveraged Beyond Encryption’s Mailock platform to secure its email communications.

Fortyhill Financial Solutions is an independent advisory business based in Norwich, offering clients financial assistance with pensions, protections, savings, and investments.

Run by Managing Director, Mark Day, the company gives clients access to his 30 years of financial services experience, alongside ongoing strategic and jargon-free support.

A new work environment

The remote working and living routines established by the pandemic have highlighted the danger of cybercrime to many businesses – and Fortyhill Financial Solutions is no exception. As the ‘new normal’ made it clear that digital communication was here to stay, Mark Day, Managing Director, understood the necessity of ramping up cybersecurity.

“I was looking for something to use as a way of providing a secure connection between us and our clients, especially as we were doing a lot more work remotely, exacerbated by last year’s events,” Day explains.

The solution everyone is talking about

When considering options, Fortyhill Financial Solutions used its service provider, Simblybiz, as a source of guidance in which software would be best for the firm, discovering Mailock in the process. On further investigation, the organisation found its industry acquaintances were also using Mailock to secure their business communications. This gave Fortyhill Financial Solutions the assurance it needed to start a Mailock trial, soon discovering that it was ‘just the ticket’ for the level of security the company had in mind, signing up in June 2020.

“We were introduced to Mailock by Simplybiz, who do their own due diligence on anything that they refer to us to use, so that gave it a tick in the box already,” revealed Day, discussing the decision to try Mailock.

Perfect for financial services

As a financial services advisor, Fortyhill Financial Services regularly sends and receives sensitive documents over email. This includes client funds and values, investment reviews and pension plans. With the increase of pandemic-fuelled cybercrime across the country, this information was at risk from email interception, an incident that can cause great harm to an advisor’s reputation.

Now, with Mailock’s encryption and authentication capabilities, Fortyhill Financial Solutions ensures that unwanted third parties cannot access or use any of the information included in its communications.

Day said: “When doing the sort of work that we do, everything you speak to a client about is going to be personal or confidential, and it’s important that no one else is reading it. Mailock gives you that peace of mind that only the client will receive what you’ve sent.”

The complete package

Since implementing Mailock, Fortyhill Financial Solutions has seen a significant uplift in engagement over its email communications. Overall, 74% of the organisation’s outbound secure emails have been opened, with 68% of these being opened on the same day that they are sent, and 90% being opened within the first week.

From the initial onboarding phase, the business has found implementing Mailock into its business to be incredibly simple. The setup process was referred to as ‘straightforward’, leaving no breaks in service and no need to contact customer services or seek further support.

When considering how Mailock integrates with Fortyhill Financial Solutions’ existing workflows and systems, Mark describes it as working ‘seamlessly’ with Microsoft Outlook, enabling the easy attachment of documents to send to his clients.