Bring-Your-Own-Device a Reality for Large Financial Institutions

Though Insurance & Technology posited that next year would be the year we really find out how bring-your-own-device will upend the insurance IT environment, a survey from Sunnyvale, Calif.-based mobile device management company Good Technology shows that insurers and other financial institutions are well down the road in terms of allowing employees to use personal devices.

Forty percent of Good's respondents to the State of BYOD Report defined as in the Finance/Insurance vertical currently support bring-your-own-device, the company reports. Of these, most have 10,001 or more employees.

"At first glance, that may seem counterintuitive given these industries’ complex regulatory, security, and compliance requirements," Good says in its survey. "However, these results are ultimately not surprising since it is the very largest, and most informationdriven organizations – such as those in Financial Services/Insurance and Healthcare – that will reap the most productivity gains from broad BYOD deployment."

Good also looked into how personal devices are supported financially by respondent companies. Half of those surveyed do not provide any financial support to end users for personal mobile devices at all. This includes 60% of the finance/insurance segment.

"Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield is representative of those companies who are leveraging BYOD to significantly reduce mobility spending by allowing employees to use their own devices, but only if the user agrees to cover both device and service plan costs," Good notes in the survey.

Nathan Golia is senior editor of Insurance & Technology. He joined the publication in 2010 as associate editor and covers all aspects of the nexus between insurance and information technology, including mobility, distribution, core systems, customer interaction, and risk ... View Full Bio