At a Glance
This bank is one of the largest, most successful financial services organizations in the world. With over 80,000 users on BlackBerry® UEM and BlackBerry® Work, it is also one of BlackBerry’s largest clients. The bank makes extensive use of the BlackBerry® Dynamics™ SDK, and has deployed more than 46 custom applications to its staff.
The Organization
As one of the largest financial organizations in the world, this major bank manages trillions of dollars in wealth for both consumer and corporate clients. It also offers a wide range of financial services such as wealth management and retirement planning. It is one of the most respected companies in the world and has spent decades building a strong reputation for itself – a reputation that is reflected in how it approaches its infrastructure.
The Challenge
For this bank, security and productivity must go hand in hand. Staff such as risk management analysts and financial advisors require quick, to-the-minute access to information such as stock prices and credit data. Workers across the organization require access to the bank’s proprietary databases and to messaging and email.
The availability of this key data cannot be limited to a desk or an office – workers must be able take action on the go, with the freedom to work wherever and whenever they are needed.
Secure Mobility: Smartphones and tablets provided the answer to these needs, but they brought with them further issues. The financial services industry is highly-regulated, and frequently targeted by criminals. If the bank could not ensure ironclad security, it didn’t matter how productive it could become with mobile – it couldn’t use the technology.
But it also couldn’t stop employees from using it on their own devices for work. Instead, what the bank sought to do was enable workers to leverage mobile as effectively as possible. It sought to create custom applications that could be securely used on corporate and personal devices to open the possibility of new workflows.
Protected Communications: Mobility aside, the bank’s users also communicated extensively over Skype. Decision-makers knew they needed a way to protect these communications, lest they become a security and compliance risk. But whatever method they used could not interfere with usability or connectivity.
Consolidated Infrastructure: Finally, the bank wished to meet the above needs through a single solution, cutting down on both cost and complexity. It sought a solution which could seamlessly provide custom apps, secure messaging, mobile device management, mobile application management, and remote desktop tools. This proved to be its greatest challenge of all – but it’s a challenge the bank is meeting with the use of BlackBerry solutions.
The Solution
Originally, the bank met its mobility needs through Good for Enterprise® and BlackBerry® Enterprise Server. For desktop infrastructure, it relied on Citrix® Zen Desktop, and Skype®, both secured through CellTrust. Following BlackBerry’s acquisition of Good Technology, however, decision-makers at the bank saw an opportunity to simplify infrastructure while also improving security.
They began a consolidation effort that saw Good for Enterprise phased out in favor of the BlackBerry® Enterprise Mobility Suite – Application Edition. Today, the bank has approximately 91,000 users on BlackBerry UEM, an endpoint management and policy control solution. It also makes extensive use of BlackBerry Work, an email, collaboration, and PIM platform.
Within the next several months, more users will be migrated over to UEM, for a total of 91,000 licenses.
“We are now the sole EMM platform for this bank,” explains the bank’s BlackBerry Account Manager. “Primarily, they’re an iOS® shop. In addition to BlackBerry Work, bank employees use both Docs To Go® and iAnnotate®.”
“Currently,” the Account Manager continues, “they are evaluating Samsung KNOX™ for around 7,000 users. We’re also working with them on Samsung DeX®, which is capable of running BlackBerry® Dynamics™ apps.”
The bank is also deeply involved in the development and deployment of custom mobile apps to its employees via the BlackBerry Dynamics SDK, a development platform tied to a secure container. That container – which has its basis in BlackBerry Dynamics – ensures that each application has a secure foundation, and helps eliminate the risk of data leakage or theft.
The Results
Unified Infrastructure: By unifying its mobility and security infrastructure through BlackBerry, the bank not only reduces its operating cost, but cuts down on infrastructure complexity. BlackBerry UEM has been greatly successful in that regard. Currently, the bank is even considering further consolidation via BlackBerry’s solutions portfolio.
User Satisfaction: The key concept behind BlackBerry’s products is secure productivity. That is exemplified by the bank’s deployment of the BlackBerry Enterprise Mobility Suite – Application Edition. Security is seamless and painless for the bank’s end-users, and internal development teams can quickly and efficiently push out applications that make each worker’s job significantly easier.
A Close Vendor Relationship: BlackBerry has always taken the needs of its clients seriously, and this bank is no exception. BlackBerry’s support professionals have worked tirelessly with the bank to help it realize its cybersecurity needs, and to help it determine the best path towards consolidation and mobile productivity. More importantly, they have made themselves constantly and consistently available to assist with any technical issues the bank has encountered.
Future Plans: Moving forward, the bank’s decision-makers are evaluating a deployment of ISEC7’s EMM Suite to optimize monitoring of its network infrastructure. They are also considering an on-premises installation of BlackBerry® Analytics, which could be combined with ISEC7 to vastly enhance their security posture. The bank is also examining the possibility of implementing Microsoft® Office 365® through the BlackBerry® Enterprise BRIDGE, which provides a secure and seamless connection between BlackBerry Work and Microsoft’s suite of native mobile apps.
“Currently, the bank uses Exchange on-premises,” explains the Account Manager. “We definitely see them using Office 365, and they have expressed interest in BlackBerry Enterprise BRIDGE. This will allow UEM to apply MAM controls through Intune policies. With BRIDGE, the banks employees will be able to seamlessly use native Microsoft mobile apps from within BlackBerry Dynamics apps.”
Finally, the bank is working on an initiative known as “Branch of the Future,” which will offer a greatly-enhanced client experience while reducing the cost and complexity of application delivery, mobility services, ongoing maintenance, and security. To further this initiative, the bank will leverage the BlackBerry solutions it has already deployed alongside other systems such as advanced threat detection and location-based authentication. By partnering with BlackBerry, LOOKOUT, Swyft Technology, Salesforce.com, and Microsoft, the bank plans to ultimately detach software from hardware, allowing it to securely support both corporate and BYOD devices within branch environments.
The bank will also leverage this initiative to serve client-facing applications at branch locations.
Organization Profile
Industry Financial Services