JP Morgan embraces BYOD program

Financial giant JP Morgan has adopted a bring-your-own-device model for staff as part of a shift to its new Sydney headquarters.

Linked gallery: Photos: JP Morgan's new Sydney HQ

The offices, taking up half of Westfield Sydney City's office tower, spans 20,000 square metres spread across 13 floors as part of JP Morgan’s bid to create a secure "global community" for its clients and workforce.

Though staff are still given desktop PCs and laptops by the company, the shift to a BYOD program means IT staff now support personal tablets and phones.

Devices are registered with BYOD security software from Good Technology and access corporate systems through Citrix virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI).

"[VDI] has really started to revolutionise the way we work and made people more mobile," said William Fraser, head of eSolutions at the financial services firm.

Fraser said the deployment of VDI meant staff would gain remote access to documents and systems, significantly increasing productivity.

"People working with different teams, units and groups on different floors of the building are now tech-mobile," he said.

"Whether it's [sending] a quick message or reading something on the go, they're able to do it going up the stairs, sitting at somebody else's desk, and so on. They don't have to wait to get back to their own desk."

Lost or stolen devices are remotely wiped via Good Technology.

Apple still on top

According to Fraser, iOS-based devices remain the dominant choice of JP Morgan staff, particularly with tablets.

"Our e-solutions team is always with clients doing demos and roadshows, so we tend to work on the iPad more than Android tablets," Fraser said.

"That said, the Android phones are really starting to gain ground in popularity too. It really just comes down to an individual preference."

Fraser said that there had been very strong demand for mobile solutions from JP Morgan's clients, particularly in the superannuation sector.

"One thing I've noticed with our clients is that a lot of their board of directors or board of trustees are all going paperless and they're all demanding more iPad capability from us at the moment," he said.

"And this has been a very strong trend here locally in Australia. My group is currently revamping all of our [electronic] channels, so we're redoing our web applications, we're bringing out mobile apps, and it's in response to clients wanting more and more.

"I think a lot of it has to do with Australians being quite early in the take-up of technology and we're actually pushing a lot of the global development for our applications on the iPad as well."