NAB deployed more than 2000 Google Pixel smartphones to customer contact teams at the start of the pandemic to cut the amount of time and money it was spending supporting legacy devices.
In a Google blog post this week, the big four bank said the shift to the Android devices had provided the "flexibility and security our teams require" following the work-from-home shift in 2020.
"When recently evaluating our device strategy, we wanted to reduce the time and costs of supporting legacy devices and multiple platforms," NAB mobility manager Simon Thoday said.
"Pixel devices managed with Android Enterprise have been key to this strategic shift, benefiting our customer support teams who spent much of the last year working from home."
With the assistance of Vodafone, the bank deployed the 2000 devices using "zero-touch enrolment", allowing it to "quickly set up devices with the necessary applications and configurations".
Thoday said this approach reduced the setup time for each device by 20 minutes when compared with previous enrolments, saving the NAB “IT team and colleagues over 500 hours”.
"With our communication and collaboration apps available right out of the box, our teams could get to work right away to help customers," he said, adding that the admin console in managed Google Play was used to asign apps.
While all devices are managed with Android Enterprise, the bank can apply different security controls depending on whether the devices are used by contact centre staff and branch managers.
Thoday said contact centre staff use fully-managed devices, allowing the bank to set the security controls and "wipe and re-enrol" the device when it is transferred to a new employee.
Branch managers, on the other hand, use "Pixels with the work profile, separating work and personal applications", which "gives employees the ability to use the devices in a personal capacity".
Managers are also able to "look up customer service records or answer a ping more quickly from their Pixel, instead of returning back to their desk and logging back on to their desktop computer".
"Our IT team has received positive feedback from employees about their experience with the work profile. The simplicity and clear separation between work and personal profiles is a great benefit for those who want to build better balance into their day," he said.
Thoday added that "Android Enterprise has been a catalyst in a more mobile and responsive environment for our various teams" and that it is now a “key component to our mobility strategy”.
“The combination of zero-touch enrolment, consistent security updates and integration with device management tools has been a driving force for our IT team," he said in the blog post.
