NCG Banco: 'We will continue supporting BlackBerry as a corporate solution'

Large Spanish bank installs BES 10 and over 1,600 devices, even as C-level BlackBerry staff are shown the door

NCG Banco, one of three state-administered banks in Spain, is loudly and proudly demonstrating a firm commitment to BlackBerry, even as the beleaguered smartphone firm has seen the departure of three more C-level staff in the past week.

Fernando Quintela, mobile solutions manager at NCG Banco, told Computing that the bank will "continue supporting BlackBerry as a corporate solution", after replacing its entire mobile real estate of older BES (BlackBerry Enterprise Server) and BlackBerry devices with BES 10 and its accompanying new handsets. This includes over 1,650 BlackBerry 10 devices across a bank network spanning 680 branches nationwide.

"For NCG Banco, mobility is a strategic investment," said Quintela.
"Within our sales and operational forces a new paradigm called BYOD has emerged. We saw a strong demand from our employees to open the selection process and find a solution to manage this new trend in our organisation."

Quintela described the tendering process as "hard and competitive", with Afaria and Mobile Iron at one point in the running for security infrastructure.

"Our strategic aim was to provide the maximum user experience for our employees, and we judge our solutions against four main pillars: reliability, speed, usability and security. This would enable us to provide all of the user experience benefits of a personal device but in a business environment and at the same time provide maximum security. This was one of the key factors behind our decision to select the BlackBerry platform," said Quintela.

"We have also deployed a new financial application for the BlackBerry 10 internally," said Quintela.

"What we call ‘smart office mobility', which can be accessed by clients from any BB10 terminal anytime, anywhere."

Quintela praised BES 10's abilities as a BYOD solution: "It covers the most commonly used features of MDM in iOS, but with more security and reliability in service provision. Further distinguishing features of BlackBerry 10 are its ability to integrate perfectly with the legacy platform, and offer management capabilities far beyond other market solutions that lacked the same level integration with the installed legacy platform."

Quintela is less enamoured with Android.

NCG Banco: 'We will continue supporting BlackBerry as a corporate solution'

Large Spanish bank installs BES 10 and over 1,600 devices, even as C-level BlackBerry staff are shown the door

"Android has been an area of difficulty since the implementation of MDM," he told Computing.

"High fragmentation of the Android platform means that we do not feel comfortable with these devices, unless they are those made by Google. We have seen reduced penetration among our employees of Android over Apple in tablet devices."

But while Android may lack security, its app store - and that of its rival platform iOS - is still considerably more extensive than BB10's offerings, a point that Quintela was happy to concede.

"The BlackBerry app store is behind iOS and Android in terms of quality, content and versatility. But BlackBerry developers have heard our complaints and suggestions and we have confidence that they are making changes to try to turn this situation around. For us it is a very important part, because it affects the user experience," he said.

And as for BlackBerry's current plight, with plummeting stock value, narrowing focus and staff reshuffles on a weekly basis, Quintela remains resolute, confident BlackBerry can stay in the game for the foreseeable future.

"Of course, I follow closely what is happening with BlackBerry and its current status," he said.

"On this we have close co-operation with them, and stay regularly informed of all the details. We will continue supporting BlackBerry as a corporate solution, that is our current intention."

BlackBerry and NCG's situations are not dissimilar, Quintela said.

One of Spain's three remaining state-controlled banks - taken over last year as a result of the EU bailout - NCG Banco has been a direct victim of the country's troubled economy during the recession.

Put up for sale earlier this month, NCG seems to know how it feels for a company to have its future called into question.

"We better than anyone know what is happening in Spain," said Quintela.

"We suffered a major restructuring of the financial sector that resulted in being judged not for our work and effort, but by other subjective criteria. But in the end, through hard work, dedication and perseverance we have achieved most of our goals. Hopefully that will happen to BlackBerry. In my opinion, it is their professionalism, talent and ability that counts beyond a mere evaluation of patents, trading and treasury."