The Joy of Finance curates and summarizes the best finance and operations content for busy folks.
What’s propelling financial services?
A recent perspective piece from Deloitte details the ways that financial services organizations are being thrust, in some cases against their will, forward at a blistering pace. It’s not about preparing for innovative disruption anymore; that’s already happened, and it will keep happening.
Deloitte outlines how many companies must learn to not only improve performance, but sustain that improvement by sensing, leading, and extending their practices. This means embracing the pressures that are forcing progress by investing in your talent and leveraging relationships to create benefits that surpass the sum of the organizational parts.
Improvement must be continuous
Leaders are looking both inter-organizationally and intra-organizationally for solutions and data sources to remain at least one step ahead of disruption. Ten years ago it was about surviving a market disruption. Now, leaders must expect it and cater their strategies to accordingly.
Strong organizations improve performance by investing back into the workforce. With the rise of the gig economy and non-traditional labor forces, organizations should be developing better leaders. As more lower-level tasks are automated, raise your employees to think strategically. At the same time, look outside your organization to develop strategic partnerships to rapidly implement new capabilities that will help you remain current and agile.
Attract and retain talent
Deloitte characterizes this concept as creating an exceptional employee experience, and irresistible workforce. The employees are ultimately the lifeblood of your company, and with millennials comprising the majority of today’s workforce, it’s critical to placate their professional motivations.
Benefits go beyond a salary. Many employees desire flexible working environments, opportunities to shift roles, and impactful responsibilities that align with both their personal (and ideally) your organizational ethos. In a way, your employees are like another form of customer.
Navigate digitization
On the note of customers, their needs change constantly. With a constantly evolving market, new technologies, and a litany of information sources, it’s more important than ever to be able to recognize their focus, and project what it might be next.
Based on these assessments, describe which aspects of your organization would benefit most from digitization. This should fall in line with your organizational mentality and mission. Once the desired traits and needs have been identified, developing a talent base that is comfortable with technology and can embrace user/customer-centered design come next. Many financial services organizations are now transitioning from tried and true legacy models to more agile operational processes.
As intimidating as the change is to some, technology, digitization, and a shifting workforce are meant to support innovation and augment human performance. It’s important to focus on the benefits, but it’s just as important to realize that not taking the necessary steps to remain ahead of the curve automatically puts you behind it.
Read the full article “The Financial Workplace of the Future” here.
.webp)
