March 28, 2014 - A new MobileIron study conducted by Ponemon Institute shows that mobility has introduced disruptive business and employee demands that are causing CIOs to shift to a new model of enterprise IT. The study, called "The Changing Mobile Landscape in Financial Services," was released today and surveyed over 400 IT professionals in the financial services industry about the future of BlackBerry, mobile apps, BYOD, mobile strategy, and the new IT capabilities required to succeed with enterprise mobility.

2014 is the Year of the Mobile Majority

Mobile is booming in financial services:

• 50 percent of respondents expect that the majority of their employees will be using email and apps on mobile devices in the next 12 months.
• Adoption of BYOD will also grow, with the percentage of personally owned smartphones and tablets in the organisation expected to increase from 40 percent to 49 percent in the same time period.

Mobile is Replacing the Desktop

CIOs expect, though are not fully prepared for, a migration from traditional desktop and laptop devices to the new generation of mobile smartphones and tablets:

• 69 percent of respondents say their CIO believes smartphones and tablets will replace most desktops and laptops.
• Only 38 percent of CIOs are confident that they can address the risks posed by these new mobile platforms.

Employee Productivity is Driving BlackBerry Migration

Employees are pushing their IT departments to rapidly move from BlackBerry to a multi-OS environment:

• 44 percent of devices currently in use at financial services organisations are BlackBerry. This is expected to decrease nearly one-third to 30 percent in the next 12 months.
• 49 percent of those surveyed expect to have zero BlackBerry devices in their organisations 12 months from now.
• 52 percent of respondents have a team in place dedicated to migration from BlackBerry to a multi-OS mobile environment.
• The top three motivations for migration from BlackBerry are employee productivity, employee demands, and availability of applications. Concern about BlackBerry’s financial stability may have increased the urgency of migration, but it is not the primary motivation for most respondents.

IT and Business Priorities are Misaligned

Although financial services organisations are rapidly expanding their mobile investments, there is a substantial disconnect between IT and the lines-of-business on mobile strategy:

• Strategy gap: 50 percent of respondents say their company does not have a mobile strategy. Of those companies with a mobile strategy, 45 percent say it is not aligned with IT objectives and 36 percent say it is not aligned with business objectives.
• Urgency gap: The line-of-business believes BlackBerry migration is a much higher priority than does IT. On a 10-point scale, 55 percent of respondents rate the level of urgency from the line-of-business as a 9 or 10, while only 15 percent rate the level of urgency from IT as highly.
• Accountability gap: 48 percent say the line-of-business is most responsible for their organisation’s mobile strategy, while only 16 percent say that responsibility sits with the CIO. 19 percent believe it is a shared responsibility.

Agility is the New Security

Respondents believe that IT will need to add new skills, change existing processes, revise traditional mindsets, and shift to an agile model in order to succeed with enterprise mobility:

• “Agility and preparedness for change” was the #1 factor that respondents felt would most contribute to an organisation’s ability to maintain an effective mobile strategy over time.
• “A strong mobile security posture” was #7, indicating that financial services organisations believe that security cannot be the centerpiece of a successful mobile strategy, though it is a baseline competence expected of all Mobile IT professionals.

“Mobility is now a strategic initiative for many financial services CIOs,” said Ojas Rege, Vice President of Strategy at MobileIron. “However, mobility also catalyses a fundamental re-think of existing IT skills and approaches, and it creates an opportunity for the CIO to lead the development of a new model of partnership between the business, IT, and end users.”

Survey Methodology

The study was conducted by Ponemon Institute on behalf of MobileIron and included an online survey of over 400 IT and IT security practitioners in financial services organisations such as banking, insurance and brokerage in the United States.