Supporting bring-your-own-device is rapidly becoming a standard cost of doing business for insurers, according to a new report from Novarica. Two-thirds of the 86 mid-size and large P&C and life/annuity insurers surveyed plan to expand their use of BYOD for smartphones and tablets in 2013. And, tablets, according to the report—“Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) at US Insurers”—are starting to overtake BYOD for smartphones.
But, just what capabilities are insurers offering on these devices? More than half of the mid-size insurers and more than a third of the large insurers currently make enterprise applications beyond just e-mail/calendaring available to at least some employees on personal tablets. Novarica point out that universal BYOD may never be absolutely necessary from a productivity point of view, but insurers may want to consider employee satisfaction as part of their planning and analysis.
With all of this usage comes plenty of challenges, including that of security, which are noted in the report. And, Novarica strongly recommends that all insurers carefully consider their security provisions for BYOD and consider the benefits of using a mobile device management platform if they are not already doing so. Most of the large insurers surveyed for the report are using mobile device management platforms such as Good Technology, MobileIron or others, while only about a quarter of the mid-size insurers report using mobile device management platforms.
