HC1041 IT for Business: Analyzing NAB Bank's Data Sharing Incident

This report examines the ethical issues arising from Australia's NAB bank's data sharing practices. The case involves NAB sending messages to consumers regarding their loan applications with rival institutions, raising privacy concerns. The report discusses the necessity of IT in modern banking for data management and security, highlighting how advanced IT systems could have prevented the data breach. It explores the importance of IT for business survival, the requirements for implementing effective IT systems, and the ways in which NAB bank utilizes IT. The report also outlines the advantages and risks associated with IT systems, including privacy, confidentiality, and security breaches, and suggests ways for NAB to maintain and monitor its IT infrastructure using automation technology. The conclusion emphasizes the need for ethical data management and the role of technology in safeguarding consumer privacy.

IT for Business

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Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................1
About the case.......................................................................................................................................1
Requirement of IT.................................................................................................................................1
Importance of IT for business survival..................................................................................................2
Requirements to apply IT......................................................................................................................2
Ways in which NAB bank is using IT...................................................................................................3
Advantages and benefits of using IT.....................................................................................................3
Types of risks........................................................................................................................................4
Way in which NAB can maintain and monitor IT.................................................................................4
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES......................................................................................................................................6

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Introduction
In today’s time IT has become the major reason to success for many firms but it has also
enhanced many issues in the organisations. IT has helped the companies in collecting and
managing data and at the same time, it has enhanced the issues related to privacy and security
of data. Banking sector where data plays a most essential role in the management of business,
the use of IT can be helpful (Aliyu and Tasmin, 2012). This report will discuss the ethical
issue that arise in Australia’s NAB bank which was found accused of “Violating” consumers
through data sharing.
About the case
This case was about NAB crossing their lines by sending the message to their consumers
about their efforts to secure loans from a rival institution-something it knew about due to data
sharing deals with credit bureau Veda. In this data breach incident customers received an
email from the bank when the applied their loan from somewhere else. It stated that NAB’s
“smarter ” systems has alerted the bank to her actions and also it would like to provide
alternative loan products. Consumers got annoyed by the perceived privacy invasion (Head,
2016).
Requirement of IT
Modern day banking has totally shifted on banking. This is because it makes the processes
such as transactions, management of data and other banking processes to be simpler. Since
the business units are spread throughout the world hence they need to ensure that functions
are properly managed. In banking even the smallest of mistakes could threaten the whole
operations of the firm hence use of IT is essential (Joshi, et al. 2013). At the same time
centralised data centres are required that is capable of collecting data from different
operational units of Australian NAB bank for which IT technologies are the best solution.
Advanced IT systems such as automation could have helped them in securing the data which
went to their rival institutions and would have protected the company against the privacy
breach that took place.
Importance of IT for business survival
Banks like NAB which has its operations in different parts of the world needs to implement
IT so as to remain successful. IT is not only necessary for doing the business in an

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appropriate manner but it is also essential for survivals. For instance if the bank is not able to
manage all the data that is being generated in different units then they will not be able to
make effective decisions which is very much necessary in the modern day business (Joshi,
Cahill and Sidhu, 2010). Better strategies always contribute in giving edge over the rivals
hence survival depends on the use of IT. At the same time, the amount of transactions that is
done by the organisation is huge hence it is again crucial for the survival of the company to
take use of IT. Since the privacy issue that is reflected in the case could have been resolved
with the help of advanced IT systems hence would have ensured that company do not lose
their reputation in the market. It would have built a better relationship with the consumers.
Requirements to apply IT
For implementing the IT system that could have protected such kind of breach are:
 Cost: Not very high amount of cost is required for this kind of implementation.
 Planning: There must be planning about the way in which it will be implemented and
the types of resources that will be used for this implementation. Planning must also be
done in regards to the training of the employees so that they can effectively utilise this
new system (Talukder, Quazi and Sathye, 2014).
 Designing: It can be purchased by the bank rather than designing it.
 Equipment: Some of the equipment that will be required in this process is IT systems,
network infrastructure, powerful tools etc.
 Installation: In this process, it needs to be ensured that the installation process remains
simple and does not enhance the complexity of the whole system (Shaikh and
Karjaluoto, 2015).
 Training: Training needs to be given at all the levels of the organisational structure so
that people do not face challenges in using this new system and training must also be
given in such a manner that employees remain aware about the leak points in IT
system.
Ways in which NAB bank is using IT
The stakeholders of NAB bank use IT in different ways:
 Employees: The most important use of the IT by the NAB bank’s employees is for
marinating the data related to their business operations. Employees also use it for

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communicating with their customers which is very much crucial in the modern day
business. Employees also utilises IT systems for improving their flexibility in terms
of the way in which they do their business. NAB bank also utilises IT for managing
the privacy of the customers and for providing financial solutions to their customers
(Yee-Loong Chong, et al. 2010). If there would have been proper utilisation of IT
systems, it would have been possible that they would have had protected their
organisation from such incidents. IT systems are also utilised by the employees for
handling the customer queries. IT systems allow NAB to improve their relationship
with the consumers which is necessary in the modern day business.
 Customers: Customers of NAB utilises IT for the purpose of doing internet banking,
doing transactions such as transfer of money, searching for any queries, applying for
loans, credit cards, accounts and insurances. All these processes can be done while
sitting at home or anywhere hence the term is also used mobile banking (Alsajjan and
Dennis, 2010).
 Suppliers: Suppliers of NAB can utilise IT for delivering the products on time.
Suppliers can also use it for regularly communicating with the NAB as it is essential
for making healthy relations with their suppliers.
Advantages and benefits of using IT
In the banking sector use of IT provides many kinds of benefits and advantages to the firms
like NAB:
 IT systems reduce the complexity of the business and make the business process
easier. It also allows the firm to ensure that performance and productivity of firm
remains on the higher side which is necessary in today’s time for doing business
successfully.
 It also reduces the cost of operations when compared with traditional methods of
doing business. This can be understood by the fact that in traditional methods large
numbers of people gets involved in it, larger numbers of use of systems and other
kinds of resources (Auta, 2010). By automation there is considerable decrease in the
numbers of resources that is being used in any organisation in doing their activities.
 It helps in enhancing the revenue. This is due to the fact that numbers of consumers
that can be handled in a given time-frame is large. The use of IT systems enhances the
quality of the service hence higher revenue can be generated by the company.

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 IT systems are capable of giving multiple solutions for any problems hence they can
easily enhance the flexibility of doing work within an organisation. The flexibility
also gets enhanced due to the fact that it makes the processes easier (Ula, Ismail and
Sidek, 2011).
Types of risks
IT systems produce different kinds of risks especially when it comes to extensive use of IT
systems for the purpose of data management. As it can be seen in the case of NAB also that
there were different types of risks that were linked when the company shared data with their
rival institutions so as to do marketing. Since it was a case when the business data was used
for marketing, this becomes a major issue.
 Privacy: In this case if the data gets into some other hands then the challenges related
to privacy would have arisen. Privacy issue was also illustrated from the fact that the
data which was given for a particular purpose was given to some other third party.
 Confidentiality: This case also showed that due to improper management of data,
there must be significant chance of breach of confidentiality (Yap, et al. 2010). Since
the data provided by the users was for a specific purpose hence the confidentiality
related concerns was breached by the company in this case as they provided data to
someone else.
 Security: Mails are the sources of very crucial information hence by giving it to any
third party enhances the problems related to security of data.
Way in which NAB can maintain and monitor IT
There are various ways in which NAB can maintain and monitor IT system. The best way to
do this is the use of automation technology. This automation technology allows a firm to
maintain and monitor the operations of the firm (Nab, 2019). Since by implementing
automation technology, the system do not get dependent on the human intervention hence
NAB can easily use it for the purpose of maintaining and monitoring IT that too 24*7.
Conclusion
A conclusion can be drawn from the report that NAB crossed the line by taking use of the
data of consumers for the purpose of their marketing. Since there was use of data for

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marketing hence there was breach of privacy, security and confidentiality. This could have
been protected by the use of automation technology for data management.

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REFERENCES
Aliyu, A.A. and Tasmin, R.B.H.J., 2012. The impact of information and communication
technology on banks’ performance and customer service delivery in the banking
industry. International Journal of Latest Trends Finance and Economy, 2(1), pp.80-90.
Alsajjan, B. and Dennis, C., 2010. Internet banking acceptance model: Cross-market
examination. Journal of business research, 63(9-10), pp.957-963.
Auta, E.M., 2010. E-Banking in developing economy: empirical evidence from
Nigeria. Journal of applied quantitative methods, 5(2).
Head, B. 2016. Australia’s NAB bank accused of “violating” customer through data sharing.
[Online] Available at: https://www.computerweekly.com/news/450299144/Australias-NAB-
bank-accused-of-violating-customer-through-data-sharing. [Accessed on 29th May 2019]
Joshi, M., Cahill, D. and Sidhu, J., 2010. Intellectual capital performance in the banking
sector: An assessment of Australian owned banks. Journal of Human Resource Costing &
Accounting, 14(2), pp.151-170.
Joshi, M., Cahill, D., Sidhu, J. and Kansal, M., 2013. Intellectual capital and financial
performance: an evaluation of the Australian financial sector. Journal of intellectual
capital, 14(2), pp.264-285.
Nab, 2019. Managing Cyber Security as a Business Risk. [Online] Available at:
https://www.nab.com.au/about-us/security/cyber-safety-tips-for-your-business/managing-
cyber-security-as-a-business-risk. [Accessed on 29th May 2019]
Shaikh, A.A. and Karjaluoto, H., 2015. Mobile banking adoption: A literature
review. Telematics and informatics, 32(1), pp.129-142.
Talukder, M., Quazi, A. and Sathye, M., 2014. Mobile phone banking usage behaviour: an
Australian perspective. Australasian Accounting, Business and Finance Journal, 8(4), pp.83-
104.
Ula, M., Ismail, Z. and Sidek, Z.M., 2011. A Framework for the governance of information
security in banking system. Journal of Information Assurance & Cyber Security, 2011, pp.1-
12.

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Yap, K.B., Wong, D.H., Loh, C. and Bak, R., 2010. Offline and online banking–where to
draw the line when building trust in e-banking?. International Journal of Bank
Marketing, 28(1), pp.27-46.
Yee-Loong Chong, A., Ooi, K.B., Lin, B. and Tan, B.I., 2010. Online banking adoption: an
empirical analysis. International Journal of bank marketing, 28(4), pp.267-287.