The effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the major economic downturn that followed, were unprecedented in scale. Within days businesses had closed their offices, forcing staff to work remotely, while business forecasts and strategies were severely disrupted.

Three months into the crisis, we look back at how financial services firms responded to operational disruptions.

• For some months prior to this, banks and other financial services firms had been planning for a recession. However, no-one could have predicted the recession would be fast-tracked by Covid-19 triggering a wave of dramatic change, including a transition to remote working.
• Most business continuity plans were designed to cope with regional impacts and were never tested to a global scale.
• Firms had to install necessary technology within short timeframes to support workers providing core services, such as trading and market making, while adhering to privacy and cyber security protocols.
• Firms didn't have the bandwidth to lay out a well-defined process and monitor productivity for some back office and support staff, such as secretaries, administrative assistants, mailroom and reprographics employees ?who don't provide revenue-generating services but are nonetheless critical to operations.

Looking forward: Post-Covid-19 and beyond

As the world emerges from this crisis, there are lessons we can learn and apply to rebuild a more risk-resilient infrastructure.

• Stress test operational capabilities: In the new world, firms must proactively re-examine and test new risk and operational impact measures to withstand potential future global crises.
• Upgrade disaster recovery models: The results from stress tests should be factored into new business continuity plans to tackle issues such as operational challenges, gaps in infrastructure and remote access capability.
• Restructure the workforce: The Covid-19 crisis accelerated remote working adoption and changed workforce dynamics. Firms should develop new policies and streamline business processes to boost operational resilience in this new landscape.

The new workforce dynamics

There is no doubt that the future of the workplace will be more digital than ever before. The sooner businesses can embrace a virtual workforce, the better they will be at mitigating future crises. The pandemic served as a baptism under fire for the processes and technologies used in remote working, forcing firm leaders to recognise the benefits of embracing a remote working culture.

To read more of Griffin's views and follow Williams Lea's thought leadership articles, visit the Williams Lea website.