Finance Monthly April 2020 Edition

(or putting them in place for some), figuring out how we are going to operate over the few next weeks, or even months given the uncertainty that surrounds this pandemic. As we start to settle into this new normal, it is becoming increasingly clear that much of the ‘knowledge’ work doesn’t need to be done face- to-face. Technology like Zoom and Microsoft Teams enables many of us todo thisworkwithout travel, without offices - with just a phone, laptop, and a decent internet connection to hand. But it requires us to adapt, to become more comfortable with the idea of being “remote” – where we can discuss and make decisions without physically being in the same room, or equally as important, accessing day- to-day social and support systems over technology; we’ve seen waves of people hosting virtual happy hours and team-building sessions to break up the working week. This change is happening in real-time and poses some very interesting questions over the future of office-based work. It’s important to remember that a widespread shift to remote working also necessitates investment in technology infrastructure and bandwidth. We’ve all experienced first-hand how technology can get overwhelmed when overloaded. With more people logging on at the same time, pressures are put on infrastructure. We need to put the days of grainy video calls behind us and focus on ensuring our tools and bandwidth can enable this new way of working without unnecessary friction. In today’s world, our new ways of working fall into two ends of a spectrum: • knowledge work that can be done remotely using technology • collaborative “agile” work which is done using cross-functional teams (often co-located) We are only now starting to make this distinction between these two ways of working outside of a traditional office environment, which for financial services, in particular, has long been the norm due to the heavy bands of regulation that envelope the industry and legacy cultures that sit within it. Enabling daily work with technology In these first few weeks of the crisis, many of us have rightly been focusing on the urgent business at hand - making sure our people are safe, activating our contingency plans Technology like Zoom and Microsoft Teams enables many of us to do this work without travel, without offices - with just a phone, laptop, and a decent internet connection to hand. BANKING & FINANCIAL SERVICES - COVID-19 28 www.finance-monthly.com