By Matt Zilli, CEO, Clarizen

Even before the financial sector felt the full impact of COVID-19, the industry had faced tough challenges in enabling wider workplace collaboration, digital transformation, and long-term business adaptability. In a rapidly changing, digitized business world driven increasingly by advanced work management technologies, many banking and finance firms have failed to keep pace. Indeed, too many are still relying on manual processes and legacy systems comprised of little more than email and spreadsheets.

Still, many players in the sector had been carefully phasing in new ways of working supported by methodical digital transformation. Then the pandemic struck and, overnight, entire workforces were forced to start working remotely and adapt to bigger changes than they had ever faced. Carefully laid plans to incrementally deploy work management solutions and other technologies that enable better efficiency, flexibility, and working methods were suddenly superseded by the need to get workforces up and running from home immediately.

The result is the pandemic has shone a light on exactly where companies are on their digital transformation journeys – and for some, it’s not very far. The new reality is that the COVID crisis has accelerated the pace of change for financial firms and their clients, leaving business leaders in banks and other companies facing critical questions. The most pressing for most has been how to keep a stretched workforce connected, coordinated, informed and on-task with so many employees suddenly forced to work remotely. The answer for most has been to fast-track their digital transformation journey.

Indeed, the seismic change thrust upon most companies by COVID has forced the issue of digital transformation. Finding a means to enable executive visibility, support an effective work culture, maintain productivity, and boost agility for a predominantly remote workforce has been central to surviving the crisis and preparing for a post-COVD world. If mishandled, this transition could hinder employees’ ability to communicate and work together to meet objectives and set the whole organization on a downward trajectory.

The barriers to effective collaboration

Engaging a remote workforce isn’t as simple as having employees working from home equipped with laptops and their emails. Not having the right processes and tools in place can prove detrimental to organizations striving to keep day-to-day operations running while executing strategies that protect their future. But for businesses to make it through the pandemic and set themselves up for post-COVID success, there are a few barriers to effective collaboration that they must overcome.

Often, remote workers may feel isolated and disconnected as a result of a lack of communication, which will affect a team member’s ability to manage workflow effectively, keep projects on track and, in turn, reduce the enterprise’s business agility. This disconnection hampers efficiency and hurts the company’s ability to adapt to competitive pressures and broader business challenges quickly. On the plus side of homeworking, while a digital workspace can make employees feel less connected, it can also offer fewer distractions which can bolster productivity. The key is that organizations need to have the technology in place to enable remote staff to communicate effectively and in context of their tasks, update and check status reports, and keep abreast of priorities and deadlines – all in real-time.

Even as offices open again, social distancing and the need for many to continue working from home means that everyone – wherever they are working from – needs to have equal access to the files, documents, and resources required to function day-to-day. Without the right work management tools, teams waste time chasing and on-site colleagues for the information they need.

Today’s management challenges

For managers, there are obstacles too. As we move into the next phase of the pandemic, most people have been able to adjust to remote working but many – especially younger team members who value an office environment and are now away from direct management oversight – may still need to be managed closely and prompted to complete tasks and meet deadlines. In comparison, others may need extra guidance when it comes to understanding what needs to be accomplished and which tasks need to be prioritized. It is difficult for managers to provide this support without real-time visibility of ongoing and completed work. This lack of visibility also affects senior management’s strategic decision-making.

For organizations to flourish, employees must have the means to stay connected to colleagues and their managers to collaborate effectively. They need to understand not just what their specific assignments and goals are, but that the broader direction and objectives of the organization are – and buy into these. Leaders at every level within the business must be able to provide ongoing updates and share the leadership team’s vision to keep their people motivated and on-track.

Tomorrow’s technologies today

Deploying the right technologies and then making them integral to the business is vital for most banks and financial firms moving forward. JPMorgan Chase & Co’s CEO of Consumer Lending and former CFO, Marianne Lake, has described the company as “more than just a bank”. With a technology budget of $9 billion, a third of which is used to invest in new technologies, JP Morgan and many other financial institutions now consider themselves tech companies. This level of support for digital transformation is critical to ensuring businesses have the adaptability to not just survive and thrive at each new stage of the COVID crisis but to future-proof the organization.

No longer do companies want to be unprepared for the unexpected, and there has never been a time more critical than now to foster the agility and adaptability needed to deal with any unexpected challenges that come their way. That level of business agility depends on whether whole teams across an organization can quickly react and have the flexibility to make adjustments together when faced with unexpected challenges. It requires collaboration and information sharing across the business. The companies that thrive in rapidly changing situations are the ones that put in place technologies that empower teams to work together to recognize changing market dynamics, make quick, insightful decisions, and react effectively.

There are, fortunately, highly configurable cloud-based work management tools available to help forward-thinking enterprises navigate the current climate successfully. Employing tools that keep multiple teams across numerous locations and time zones in sync provides the agility needed for whole organizations to embrace opportunities that come from shifting market dynamics – implanting it deep within the company’s core DNA.

Through the pandemic, it has become increasingly clear it is more important than ever for financial firms to have cloud-based technologies that create a centralized hub for all relevant work information, updated in real-time. This provides visibility of work progress for teams and managers. Work management tools that integrate with applications such as email, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Drive, and Excel can make the task of enabling smooth collaboration of employees no matter where they are even easier.

Teams can collaborate, set processes, and monitor the completion of tasks and deadlines, while management is provided with a unified view of progress. This makes it easy for decision-makers to assess whether overall goals are being met and provides the visibility needed to ensure effective collaboration and make the right decisions fast – which are crucial to maintaining and even boosting efficiency and productivity.

Preparing for the new frontier of digital work

Digital transformation is already playing a key role in enabling financial companies to successfully execute strategies that will see them through the rest of the pandemic and ensure they flourish in the aftermath. While many organizations were methodically implementing new ways of working and adopting technologies to help adapt to the digital future before the coronavirus crisis, most suddenly had to accelerate their timetables and drive complex transformation at scale.

The impact of the pandemic has left little doubt that linking a diverse workforce through technology is no longer an option. It has instantly become a necessity, and those investing in the right tools to help maximize every individual’s time and productivity today will be best placed to handle any unforeseen hurdles and thrive whatever the working world holds for the future.