AUGUST, 20218 IN MYV EWREGTECH SHOULD BECOME A MANDATE AFTER COVID-19BY GABRIEL CHAN, HEAD OF GLOBAL IT, GAW CAPITALThe world has changed dramatically due to the Coronavirus Pandemic since January 2020. No one could have imagined how our world and our lives were impacted in such a tragic way, lots of human lives being lost, and there is substantial uncertainty on the impact of the global economy and people's livelihoods. While on the optimistic side as an "IT guy," Information Technology (IT) was proven to be the key to survive in a pandemic and will be the future for business growth.Digital technology is one of the keys to survive in the pandemicDifferent safeguard and containment strategies have been enforced by the government during the pandemic, such as social distancing measures, school closures, compulsory quarantine for travellers, and temporary lockdown for some countries. All have a different level of negative impact to the business world, and the company needs to instantly come up with a response plan accordingly to protect their people and the business. Many of them make use of technology; for example, "Zoom" has become a buzzword for students and virtual meetings. Many people changed to online shopping when they stay home. In the business world, some company has been splitting the operation in the office or making use of the business continuity site, while most of the company allows their staff to work from home (WFH).. It's especially challenging for those traditional businesses requiring face-to-face interactions or heavily rely on manual operations and paper documents. Those non-digital processes are difficult to operate or react in such a remote and virtual environment.Virtualize business operation will become the normIn the past, many companies, especially in Asia, have a concern about the WFH model from both operational efficiency and risk compliance points of view.. But now, the WFH model was proven to be success with several months of actual experience, haven't said that after six months,we still cannot see the end of the tunnel yet. Some companies are even considering WFH as part of their strategic change to fully virtualize the business operation in order to downsize the office space and lower the rental cost. Additionally,there will be a stronger push for digital transformation from those legacy businesses to enhance their resiliency as a result of this crisis. Some aim to increase their competitiveness for business growth with the virtual eco-system opportunity as a future trend.Prepare for Future BankingSame situation for the financial institutes to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, while remaining alert to new and emerging illicit finance risks. I don't have a crystal ball that can predict the future but from the historical experience of the previous crisis and the changes in customer behaviour. There are some areas we should pay more attention and be prepared. 1) follow the pandemic crisis, very likely there will be a worldwide economic downturn or,even worse, a financial crisis. 2) Change of digital behaviour, customers adapt to a new lifestyle through the digital platform. 3)Increased regulatory concerns from the operational risk due to the pandemic, to the financial riskand the rising global market riskssuch as the high tensions between China and the U.S.
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