Link: Using AI to achieve a Zero Operations Strategy,

Once a high level of automation is central to a firm’s strategy, a key question for the Chief Operating Officer (COO) and other senior managers is how their operations can become more efficient in other ways, taking into account the changing workplace environment as we emerge from the pandemic.

Some of the most significant opportunities involve redefining job roles to make individuals and departments more productive, limiting the amount of time spent on non-value-added or inefficient activities. For example, the pandemic has meant rethinking the nature of meetings – who has ideas to contribute, who really needs to attend, where should a meeting take place, should it be in-person or online or a combination of the two?

The pandemic has tested the value of full-time remote working, which has led to its judicious use at present, with many employees adopting more flexible hybrid work arrangements. In our recent report The Great Reset, 40 per cent of bank executive respondents said that a hybrid workforce model will be required in the next two years.  Offices are being used less for routine work and more as a place for collaboration, to bring clients or employees together, and – if used carefully – this is cutting operating costs.

A recent EY Future Workplace Survey found that “according to 57 per cent of business leaders, productivity is better today than it was pre-pandemic”. SMEs, especially those in the technology and banking sectors, are more able to adapt and thrive in a hybrid workplace. The overall company culture of EY’s survey respondents has also improved with hybrid work, with around 80 per cent of respondents saying their current setup is as, or more, effective than before Covid-19, with the four most improved areas being “productivity, culture, wellbeing, and operations and processes”.

Firms are also looking at more opportunities for co-sourcing those activities that fall outside the organisation’s own specialisms – within the context of a more supportive company culture. COOs need to find better and more cost-effective ways of running important functions like IT, sales, and marketing, and in choosing external providers for business support functions.

This kind of co-sourcing can be especially helpful in reducing the workload of junior staff, who have been under great pressure during the pandemic. For example, administrative tasks or preliminary economic research can be sourced externally to support younger financial analysts. They will then be better placed to focus on the core aspects of their role, becoming more productive and enjoying a better work/life balance as a result.

To make such changes, firms need to form mutually beneficial relationships with third-party suppliers. And in this way, many specialised functions can be automated within a firm’s digital transformation strategy, without the costs associated with in-house development

Such relationships now need to satisfy the requirements of the Prudential Regulation Authority’s Supervisory Statement SS2/21: Outsourcing and third party risk management, which took effect in March. Regulated firms and their suppliers who comply constructively with this statement can turn it to a competitive advantage, realising an opportunity to develop long-lasting business relationships with co-sourcing organisations. 

At Confirmation we have built many close and long-lasting relationships with our customers, supplying our specialist knowledge and a secure online platform to solve their requirement for electronic confirmations and related resources. Our new open banking portal is the latest addition to our portfolio.

By developing a more inclusive company culture and a more flexible workplace, alongside creative relationship-building with third parties, banks can become more operationally efficient, making substantial cost-savings, enhancing their overall quality and productivity, and ultimately increasing revenue.

Confirmation discusses the partnership types firms are adopting in its latest report The Great Reset.