Financial firms, in particular, are especially worried about data security as the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission focus on unauthorized private communications on popular apps, such as WhatsApp, and via personal email.
While providing employees with a second phone may be viewed as a company perk, “it's also about control” to block applications and secure corporate data, says Lisa Pierce, global managing vice president at Gartner.
Congress and a number of states late last year prohibited China-owned TikTok from government workers’ phones due to national security concerns. This left employers with the choice of either requiring workers to deactivate apps from their personal phones or providing them with a secured phone for the job. “It seems like everyone has two phones now—partly due to the industry we are in and the need for privacy and security,” says Benjamin Bielawski, an analyst with Duff & Phelps Investment Management in Chicago.