In these days of the pandemic, most of us found ourselves working from home. For some this was nothing new – they already worked from home, had worked from home in the past, or occasionally switched between office and home. For others this was a sudden and change of infrastructure and the work culture.
Moving an entire financial institution to work remotely can be a challenge, even with modern technology at our disposal. Information Security plays an important part in daily activities, and one or more traditional brick and mortar environments can facilitate for an easier way to monitor and control sensitive data. Now, having all your staff working for home means additional locations to secure, VPN access to provide, and all the investment, both time and money, that comes with it.
There is also the human aspect, of course. Lending is a traditional industry, where decisions are usually made from personal interactions, in committees and board meetings, and then documented with ink on paper. You may have been forced to find band-aids and workarounds. These workarounds can be observed in the overuse of spreadsheets, e-mails, and imaging systems, which in general means the misuse of those applications.
As infrastructure and work culture changed, so did the processes. New ways to communicate and interact with colleagues, exchange files, make decisions, and store information came up. More than ever we need to be prepared to access the information electronically and have a way to collaborate remotely. If your bank does not have a solution that allows you to efficiently work and produce from anywhere, it is now time to get one. You want to learn from this experience and be prepared for what comes next.
