John Hancock Looks to Employees for iPad App Ideas

A competition to spur mobile app ideas produced 175 submissions from employees; the firm recently launched the winner.

Virtual Water Cooler, October 27, 2011

Carrie Burns

Last year, John Hancock Financial had several business unit-specific mobile apps in development, but SVP and CIO Allan Hackney conceived of and sponsored an employee competition to further spur app ideas.

After reviewing the 175 employee submissions, John Hancock recently launched the winning app—the John Hancock iPad application. "I was thrilled with the engagement of our associates and the great ideas they suggested," Hackney said.

The John Hancock iPad application, available to the public free of charge in the iTunes store, is designed to provide easy access to financial needs solutions, information about the company's products, videos, as well as frequently used forms, tools and calculators.

"We wanted to create a platform for any user with a financial services need—one that was simple and that would display relevant content," said Shawn Smith, who, with Mark Brady, developed the John Hancock iPad app. "But, for me, it was John Hancock's willingness to use our ideas—by holding the competition, they were telling us that they want us to contribute to the company."

The app's view is customizable based on whether the user is an individual, financial adviser or benefit manager. It provides offline access to all content and is automatically updated with an Internet connection.

"No matter if the user is an individual who is interested in finding out about John Hancock's offerings or wanting to apply for a product, or is an adviser on the road and wants quick access to materials to share with a client, this app provides it in an extremely intuitive manner," Hackney said.

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