Page 239 - Managing the Mobile Workforce

218 � mAnAgIng the moBIle workForCe

` keepIng up wIth the phoneses
wIth uBs FInAnCIAl serVICes

With the recent focus on the financial nerve centers around the globe,
we were interested in interviewing a global company that reaches into
many areas of financial concerns within business and consumer fronts.
We met with Steven Erickson, the global program head of leadership
and management development programs for UBS Financial Services.
The company has over 70,000 employees in over 50 countries repre-
senting wealth management, retail, and commercial banking services.
Steven works in the UBS Business University, which is on track to
become a virtual university across the globe. We met in person at
Steven’s office in Stamford, Connecticut. We also interviewed him by
phone, e-mail, and by Web conferencing using GoToMeeting confer-
encing tools. We were particularly interested in knowing how UBS is
adopting mobile management processes and the policies that drive a
global company.
Steven shared his ideas and concerns about the security of data and
how mobile workers access proprietary content: “Because IT security
is such a huge issue for our firm, we have really tight security poli-
cies. You can’t even access popular video sites like YouTube from your
computer here within our offices; many sites are blocked. Because we
are a financial services firm, we are very careful [about] who and what
we allow into our network.” Steven pointed out that this type of policy
runs at odds with some of the younger people coming into UBS, who
are already used to having information at their fingertips. “We often
have to get those sites cleared so that they can get access to it or put
the video on a site that they can access without having problems. It
does take a little more work. I think we’re not the only ones in our
industry with this challenge.”
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It is clear that UBS is staying ahead of the technology game by
taking careful steps concerning the security and policies that drive its
mobile business component.