We’ve had a fantastic holiday break, and we’re well-rested and unabashedly excited for one of the most significant months in the history of BlackBerry. This month we launch BlackBerry 10 and BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10, pushing forward the mobile computing landscape with innovations on the handheld and enterprise mobility management.

It can be easy to mistaken BlackBerry 10 as simply another new smartphone that will get some space on the shelves. But for those of us who work in the industry, and particularly at Research In Motion, we see it quite differently. BlackBerry 10 is a whole new platform that has unparalleled multitasking capabilities, gesture-based interactions, and is rich with features that can serve your personal and work lives 24/7. Every feature, every gesture, and every detail is designed to keep you moving.

The BlackBerry infrastructure is strong, connecting over 79 million subscribers worldwide for crucial business communications, as well as friends and loved ones alike. Fortune 500 companies trust our solutions with deep partnerships and customer relationships, and small businesses are being empowered every day to stay connected and move their work forward. BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 represents a decade of evolving enterprise mobility management solutions that have brought us to this point – a cross-platform management solution that provides administrators with a single web-based console for handling BlackBerry, iOS, and Android smartphones and tablets.

RIM is a new company. The transition that we’ve undergone over the past year is dramatic – and I have the before-and-after perspective with my nearly six years at the company. We’re leaner, laser-focused, and absolutely intent on changing the mobile computing landscape.

On the road to launching BlackBerry 10, we’ve re-designed, re-engineered and re-invented BlackBerry to create a new unique mobile experience. We’ve had countless meetings with customers, carriers, developers, analysts, and journalists, and come away from those meetings with incredibly positive reactions to the new platform. BlackBerry 10 is nearly ready, and we can’t wait.

Welcome to 2013!

In this featured BlackBerry® Customer Success story, international financial services company Sun Life Financial Inc. (“Sun Life”) has developed a BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet app that is designed to increase group retirement enrolment. Not only is this an example of how the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet can transform business, it also reveals a deeper story behind how users interact with tasks, opportunities, and workflow processes.

The Scenario

In this particular case, Sun Life trained employees of large corporations on a regular basis to help them become knowledgeable about the Group Retirement and Group Benefits programs that were being offered to them. At the end of the training, employees would be sent off with paper forms or a web address to enroll at a later point.

How Tablet-Based Technology Can Increase Conversion

Here’s where it becomes an interesting study of knowledge and action. Even though interest was high during the training itself, findings showed that only 10 percent of employees would actually fill out the forms once they had left the education session. Clearly an actionable, hands-on and simplified method of closing the loop was necessary to increase the likelihood of follow-up. The bottom line is that tablet-based technology is available today that can streamline such a wide variety of tasks, steps, or workflow engagements required by employees or customers.

Sun Life’s Solution

SunLife developed a custom BlackBerry PlayBook tablet application so that their clients’ employees could complete the group retirement plan enrolment forms during the education sessions.

“We chose the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet because it meets all of our business and technology needs. Company VPs like the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet because it’s compact enough to be truly handheld.”
- Jim Skipper, Chief Architect, Sun Life Financial Inc.

Along with the included security features, Adobe® Flash® support also made the BlackBerry solution a particularly robust selling point. The finished product is intuitive and easy-to-use and allows for instant action, considerably increasing the signup conversion rate and saving time. Sun Life projects that group retirement enrolment will jump from 10 to approximately 75 percent.

“It sounds crazy, but we’re looking at the possibility of a 300 percent return on investment as we roll out our BlackBerry PlayBook tablet solution.”

Check out the full case study to explore the full story of SunLife’s BlackBerry PlayBook tablet solution, and how it addressed their particular issues of group enrolment and benefit signups:

Summing Up

Many organizations rely on paper or web-based workflow systems to complete a variety of processes, from training employees to completing sales. Clearly, a tablet-based solution that provides virtually instant opportunity for action on an engaging platform can provide a leap forward in technology – and a leap upward in conversion and return on investment.

It’s Your Turn

In what other areas can you see an increase in mobile technology use benefiting an organization?