Financial Mobility Blog

Its Official... We're Moving.

cwillis — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 21:04:00 GMT

Tomorrow morning, the Financial Mobility Blog will take up new residence at http://blog.pyxismobile.com. If you are an RSS subscriber, please visit the new site and subscribe using the new link. We're excited to be blogging, and are increasing the blogs power to serve our readers better.

See you on the new site.

Welcome to the Financial Mobility Blog

cwillis — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 17:56:00 GMT

Hello!

We are happy to welcome you to the Financial Mobility Blog. This is a place to discuss mobile and wireless technology, trends, and advancements as they apply to the Financial Services and Insurance industries. We will be posting on a regular basis and encourage you to register to "comment." The best blogs are interactive, and your contributions, thoughts and ideas are important to us.

Like most blogs, we are RSS enabled, so feel free to subscribe through the newsreader of your choice.

We've posted several articles already, with many more to come. So take a look and share your thoughts. Together, we can make the Financial Mobility Blog a valuable asset for you, your firm, and the industry.

- Chris Willis, Pyxis Mobile

Managing Mobile Technology Securely and Effectively

anagarajan — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 17:50:00 GMT

Mobile devices provide a tremendous productivity growth to businesses of all sizes. We know of productivity gains of up to 1 to 2 hours per day. Businesses are taking notice. Analysts are forecasting increasing mobile spending in the years to come. And add the hype and the excitement around devices such as the Apple iPhone and BlackBerry Bold, I see steady uptake of mobility by business users as well.

Of course, as with any technology rollout and support, the process has to be managed diligently. The right tools and workflow need to be in place. Worst case scenario questions need to have answers – especially, when you consider some of the security bullets Todd recently blogged about with laptops. Security cannot be an after thought or a “supporting” feature – security and management of the entire mobile solution needs to be the foundation.

RIM is the industry leader in this space. BES can enforce 100s of IT Policy, deliver WiFi and VPN profiles wirelessly, push required business applications and exclude restricted applications. BES has been able to do this for a few years now. RIM even held off on delivering key features such as Bluetooth, Camera, and removable SD Cards, until it could securely enforce the most restrictive policies on these hardware features. Of course, RIM is doing all for this over an efficient, AES-encrypted, globally available BlackBerry network.

Now, contrast that with some of the newly announced Apple iPhone Administrative capabilities. Policies and settings are stored in an XML file on the server. (Oh and the server needs to be a Mac.) There is no role based access – anyone that has access to the administrative UI can change anything and everything. Then, it’s up to the user to connect their iPhone to their workstations and accept the policies. They can even choose not to accept some of the policies. The XML files that are downloaded are unencrypted and any VPN and WiFi passwords are in clear text. eWeek has a more detailed review of the Configuration Utility. The lack of controls over the hardware (such as camera and Bluetooth) and other applications (such as turning of SMS) also leaves a lot to be desired for. I am sure Apple has plans to address some of these gaps, but what Apple needs to realize is that these issues are concern #1 for CTOs in Financial Services. Push Email, a great media player and GPS are nice, but manageability is premier in the enterprise.

If designed and built well, security can be seamless to the end user. Sure - I have to type in a password to unlock my device, but I am used to the same experience on a desktop. This is not something I find especially annoying. However, if my IT admin requires me manually tether and then find and install software and policies myself – either I wont do it or will get it wrong. Apple has done very well with the iPhone. Businesses are taking notice. However, the bar is high. Security and usability are not two diametrically opposed – BlackBerrys prove this.

Mobile Transactions: Driving Business and Increasing Margins

cwillis — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:30:00 GMT

There is a lot of talk about mobile commerce and mobile transactions. Generally, these terms are being applied to banking and consumer applications. However, the current economic climate has made the bed for mobile transactions in other venues as well. Advisors, insurance agents, mortgage brokers, and others who are feeling the crunch of heightened competition and a shrinking client base need to be able to move faster and do more with less.

A “basic” mobile solution provides access to client data, allowing the advisor to increase intelligence prior to a meeting. An “actionable” mobile solution provides access to the systems necessary to empower an advisor to complete transactions while on the go.

The right mobile application has the capability to provide:

· Comprehensive account lookup and direct access to business data

· Trade order entry and real-time account maintenance

· Secure and reliable data maintenance from any location

Enabling mobile transactions allows the advisor to minimize the amount of time spent completing client-related activities. This “done, right now” or “once and done” capability can reduce the amount of time spent servicing a client’s account by up to 30% by eliminating the steps associated with note-taking, calls to assistants, and processing back at the office.

“Once and done” mobile transactions also increase the volume of transactions completed by an advisor, by enabling the transaction at the time of highest client interest. The right information, and the ability to act on it, increases the probability that a decision will be made (today) and a transaction completed (right now). Leveraging the 360 degree view of the client found within the enterprise's data systems also allows the creation and delivery of real-time, targeted offers. Real-time, targeted offers have been shown to give the advisor a higher probability of satisfying the client’s needs in a face-to-face meeting. That sort of “perfect match” product identification results in customer satisfaction, increased transactions, and decreased account attrition.

It seems clear that the ability to complete mobile transactions, for these professionals, is not a trend or a feature, but rather a competitive differentiator that will make them, and their firms, more successful. As always, your comments and thoughts are welcome.

Mobile Devices - More Secure than Laptops

tchristy — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 18:41:00 GMT

In my years of selling mobile applications to enterprise customers one area of concern is universal -- data security. I've received my fair share of security scrutiny via in-depth reviews, worst-case scenario planning, and ethical hacking. My counterparts bring attitudes ranging from blithe indifference to cautious pragmatism to "never in my house." Mobile devices like BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, and iPhone are apparently "risky" -- they're small, powerful, and they connect into your private network. They're personal in nature, easy to lose, and are therefore the bane of Chief Security Officers everywhere.

Such concerns are not unfounded. However, I suggest that they might be mis-prioritized. Corporate data breaches are commonplace. Yet, some basic analysis shows that lost laptops, corporate network attacks, and physical loss represent the vast majority of events. Mobile devices are not immune, but there have been few reports of data being stolen from mobile devices in recent years.

Why is this?

The "always on" connectivity of most mobile devices allows for continuous monitoring and remote "kills" when devices are lost
Market leading mobile management platforms provide over-the-air and on-device data encryption, along with centralized management of IT policies to enforce strict corporate controls
Mobile devices provide an intrinsic form of 2-factor authentication: something you have (device) & something you know (device password)
Well-designed mobile applications offer customers the flexibility to easily configure which data is stored on the device and how much to store, along with the ability to identify data as so sensitive that it should never be stored on-device (real-time only)
Sophisticated mobile application servers offer additional data security including: single sign-on authentication, credential aging, and data "time bombs"
The addictive nature of today's integrated phone/email devices makes them imperative and quite personal to people, meaning they're likely to notify IT quickly when a device is lost or stolen

No one would argue that a robust security policy and proper tools are needed to manage and maintain wireless business applications. BlackBerry in particular provides a well-integrated, security first approach to mobile devices. CIOs should not fear but rather embrace the inherent security advantages offered by smartphones over the data-heavy and difficult-to-manage laptop option.

Tangible Results of Mobility Spending

cwillis — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 17:03:00 GMT

A few weeks ago, I sat down with Bob Mazzarella, our new CEO, and former president of Fidelity Brokerage Services. The following was Bob's view on mobility spending in the advisor space.

The ability to view a composite of market data, portfolio and performance reporting, alerts, and access to customer contact information greatly enhances an advisor’s ability to serve the client. That level of account insight also delivers a message to the client that his account is well cared for at all times, regardless of the whereabouts of his advisor. That level of account insight also allows the advisor to allocate less time to serving more clients, while allocating more time to prospecting. This reallocation of the advisor’s available time results in a larger book of business and reduced client attrition, which, combined, amounts to increased margin and net revenue for the firm.

As firms decide how to spend money, too often the decision is slowed as a result of budget, with statements such as “I don’t have the budget” or “I have to cut costs.” However, in an environment in which there is a need to increase business, firms have to look at how spending relates to revenue growth. A CFO, faced with the opportunity to spend money that will gain a customer and more revenue won’t hesitate to do so. Firms must look at the money spent to acquire customers more as a “cost of goods sold” rather than an expense item on the budget. Mobility has been proven to greatly enhance the ability to increase net revenue, clearly defining the expense as a cost of goods sold, and removing the concern of where it falls in a budget plan.

The implementation of a mobile solution begins with adding more time and ends with adding more revenue. Technology will, as it always has elsewhere, change the way advisors do business.

What do you think about this?