DLF is collaborating with Rise, created by Barclays to bring together a collaborative innovation network of pioneering FinTech startups and large enterprise organisations to accelerate collaboration, navigate complex regulatory environments, and unleash disruptive innovation.
What are the key new emerging opportunities for FinTech in the UK and Europe?
Representatives from leading organisations GSK, Hootsuite, BDO, BAE Systems, Iress, BPP, CMS joined this session to explore these ideas plus many more. Attendees heard from Pinsent Masons, MUSE Finance and London Stock Exchange Group to gain tips and insights on ‘Opportunities for FinTech in the UK & Europe’ in collaboration with Rise, created by Barclays.
Hear from Ann Juliano, Founder at MUSE Finance discuss The Challenges Of A New Start-up & How To Innovate Opportunity:
Watch presentation below:
Join the community
Are you looking to connect with innovative digital leaders to get fresh inspiration and insights to drive the transformation of your organisation? We’d love to hear from you!
The Digital Leadership Forum is a membership community of innovative digital leaders from some of the world’s leading organisations including Unilever, Intel, Pfizer, Dell Technologies, BT, GSK and Baker McKenzie.
Take a deep dive to understand what really matters to your business through a programme of cutting-edge insights and engage with industry experts from some of the world’s leading organisations to make the best strategic decisions to innovate, learn and grow in the age of AI.
During this session it was made prominent that getting the data you need is critical to marketing analytics strategy and delivering success.
Hear from Meltwater, HubSpot and Exasol discussing how to identify customer needs, expectations and perceptions.
Watch the presentation below:
Join the community
Are you looking to connect with innovative digital leaders to get fresh inspiration and insights to drive the transformation of your organisation? We’d love to hear from you!
The Digital Leadership Forum is a membership community of innovative digital leaders from some of the world’s leading organisations including Unilever, Intel, Pfizer, Dell Technologies, BT, GSK and Baker McKenzie.
Take a deep dive to understand what really matters to your business through a programme of cutting-edge insights and engage with industry experts from some of the world’s leading organisations to make the best strategic decisions to innovate, learn and grow in the age of AI.
Members of the Digital Leadership Forum met over Zoom to discuss how organisations can unlock growth and innovation through creating a successful digital culture.
For your company to succeed in a fast-changing digital world, it is necessary to think beyond the technological aspects and fully embrace transformation culture.
Hear from Sonal Patel, Managing Director, SEA, Quantcast on how to foster human culture digitally within your organisation.
Members of the Digital Leadership Forum met over Zoom to discuss how organisations can unlock growth and innovation through creating a successful digital culture.
For your company to succeed in a fast-changing digital world, it is necessary to think beyond the technological aspects and fully embrace transformation culture.
Hear from Matilde D’Amelio, Senior Lecturer in Digital Transformation & Change, BPP on how to create digital and innovative cultures.
Members of the Digital Leadership Forum met over Zoom to discuss how organisations can unlock growth and innovation through creating a successful digital culture.
For your company to succeed in a fast-changing digital world, it is necessary to think beyond the technological aspects and fully embrace transformation culture.
Hear from Mira Gajraj Mohan, Practice Director, Talent Management APAC, Willis Towers Watson on culture, talent, and leadership in the digital age.
Pinsent Masons and Intel® are collaborating with the Digital Leadership Forum to develop and provide an online AI Healthcare Academy.
During this session, we explored the exact practical steps that can be taken to embed ethical and business growth-inducing AI practices in organisations. Central to this is first identifying what AI means to each specific organisation and the varying value it can bring.
Hear from Novartis, Pinsent Masons, and Accenture discuss how you can scale AI throughout your organisation:
Watch presentation below:
AI Healthcare Academy
The Digital Leadership Forum is partnering with Pinsent Masons and Intel® to develop and provide an online AI Healthcare Leadership Academy. The purpose is to enable leading organisations to capitalise on the opportunities AI can provide in the healthcare and life sciences sector, in areas such as optimising operations, supporting clinical research, accelerating drug discovery, and improving patient outcomes.
Discover how Zoom is helping provide a frictionless video environment for many of the world’s leading companies. Zoom is committed to changing the way enterprises and the world connect and communicate.
What do you see as the future of work?
I see the future of work to really expand on our experience of the past few decades where technology is clearly given company’s competitive advantage through intelligent use of technology, the desktop and at home. Clearly at the pandemic, a whole series of extra opportunities have been grasped by companies through necessity. I think that all of Zoom’s clients and realise that work is not going to be as it is now, when we’re all at home and forced to be at home. Nor is it going to be as it was, when everyone kind of goes into the office to do email, it’s going to be different. Customers will take the opportunity to be working remotely, your staff will take the opportunity to work remotely. This will create a very different hybrid environment.
What have we learned about work during the pandemic?
I think companies and staff have learned a large number of things during the pandemic, you can be very productive working remotely. When given trust, employees really thrive. The whole pandemic forced colleagues to trust each other more, and do the work that they needed to do from different spaces in non-traditional ways. That led to very significant productivity increases, as people worked when it suited them, around their lives. So they were able to juggle more, they were given more choices, and they use those choices, not only for their own interests, but for the company’s interest. So, I think what many supervisors bosses and managers realised was that the old bias that ‘I have to see people in the office working’ – that bias actually just wasn’t true, your people would work well, and you can trust them. Clearly, there will be situations where it doesn’t work, because there’s never 100% answer to any of these things. But I think in general, give trust and people will thrive. The other thing that I think we learned is that it’s quite difficult when you work remotely to put boundaries around work. As a consequence, people had to learn new ways to make sure that they didn’t become too tired, they didn’t actually throw themselves, you know, into work at inappropriate moments for them. I mean, it’s all very well to have an office up and running in your house. But the last thing you want to do, and you know what, when you get up in the middle of the night, you suddenly see a blinking light and you think that I’ll go do some work, you know, that’s not good for you. Also using calendaring and techniques to make sure that you’re not wearing yourself out during the day and that you’re taking suitable breaks. I think that people learn that they need to manage their remote work environment in a way that’s different from managing it in the workplace. So those are two really important lessons, some of them for employers, and some of them for the people who were at home.
How best do you think companies can combine remote and office working?
So I have many views about combining on site work with remote work, I think that it’s a set of disciplines that we’re all going to learn a lot about over the next few years. Clearly organisations will perfect it for their own cultures and it might be slightly different between organisations. When I when I listen to those that are forging forward the most quickly, many see the offices becoming more of an event space than it is for the place to go and do your email, or to create a document, or to do something that can clearly be done in any location. But events, that might be simply on a Wednesday we have a team meeting, you come in for the team meeting, as a consequence, we also have a lunch together and then there are opportunities to do other things. That is the single day that you are required into the office in order to participate in that event. Or, for example, we have a company event monthly or you know those sorts of things around which a calendar can be based and then you have flexibility. I think there are quite a few items of company culture around trying to ensure that those in an office and those remote, have a similar work experience at meetings for example. A good idea that I heard from one zoom client was that they were insisting that anyone who led a meeting, if there were remote people joining the meeting, what they advocated as a guideline, rather than a strict rule was that the meeting leader joined the meeting remotely, to make sure that those who were remote actually had a great experience, and that there wasn’t a temptation, that the meeting was somehow being run in the room differently to online. I think that’s a really intelligent adaptation of the sorts of business practices that we all kind of grow to learn. I mean, clearly, meetings are great when you know what the meeting intended outcome is, why all the participants are there, and what the agenda is to produce that outcome. Those rules still apply in a virtual meeting, as much as they ever applied in a normal meeting. So, I think that people are going to learn a lot about the combination of culture process and technology to make their hybrid work practices really work for their company. But what’s clear, though, is that you really need the technology in a room situation, to mirror the technology that your employees are used to using at home.
How do you think Zoom is changing how we work?
I think the role that Zoom has played in changing how we work is that finally, people have found a service that just worked for video conferencing, and they’ve discovered Zoom met their needs to continue their work, their social activity, their education during the pandemic. It was a big switch that flicked in people’s heads – there is something that is different, I can operate in a different way. We’ve even seen Prince Charles say that he wants to continue to use Zoom more in what he does. I think that, as a consequence of people realising now, that actually there’s a different way of working, they will continue to use services like Zoom for situations or for their life to make it easier for them to make sure that they can manage work around life rather than life around work. I think that’s the important enabling factor of something like Zoom. Now clearly, the reason people love Zoom is that it’s so innovative, it works on every device, they can use it at home, they can use it at work, they can be on a mobile, or they can be on a desktop or laptop, and they get seamless communication with their colleagues. I think people will expect to see Zoom as the market leader continued to innovate, to support their use cases that they’ll discover, as we start doing hybrid in a clear was. A great one of those is smart galleries where people in a room are detected by AI and are presented in the meeting as the same size as the remote participants rather than having a big wide camera with tiny little specks of people in a room.
Magnus spent nearly 20 years with Credit Suisse in varied roles from project manager to CIO, across many disciplines: technology, derivatives, operations, finance. Magnus is now helping businesses take advantage of the “everything as a service” era.
Discover how Grant Thornton UK LLP are helping clients to transform their digital strategies and solve key business challenges.
What do you see as the top digital challenges that companies are facing now?
I think there are a number of them. In terms of the three main challenges companies are facing at the moment, the first is really to map out their digital eco system in terms of what they want to do and how they’re going to get there. So, their digital road map and digital ecosystem is a big challenge. I think the second big challenge clients are facing is – what is digital? And how do they make sure that customer service and customer experience is integrated with employee interaction and employee service, so that those are connected. There is a disconnect at times in terms of what can be done for the clients and customers and how does that interrelate to a digital experience for employees so they can service those customers. So, I think we’re seeing that quite a bit. I think in terms of the third biggest challenge we’re seeing with our clients is the rapid evolution and acceleration of digitization through technology and the boarding of technology. So, what is best in class and leading today? Within three months there is something else coming on in terms of leading and across the globe in effect. There’s two parts. This first is – how do clients keep abreast of all the changes and all the acceleration in terms of digitalization with competition but also suppliers?’ The second part is the funnel to be able to decide what is good – in terms of these new technologies. Do they embrace it as being a first-mover or do they wait until its more accomplished? And that’s always a challenge for our clients.
Beyond COVID-19: how important is digital transformation to a firm right now?
We’ve all heard the joke that the, the proponent of digitalization is not the Chief Technology Officer, not the CEO, but it’s COVID. And that’s real for some organisations unfortunately, and I think we’re seeing two different types of organisations. Those that are being digital – or have become more digitally enhanced and engaged as a result of COVID – and whatever they’ve done is a tactical approach to meet the here and now and they seem to want to go back to the non-historical digital appreciation. There are then clients who view this as an opportunity to be able to actually digitally transform their end-to-end. If you look at the former vs the latter, the latter is sustainable with a sustainable operating model and a really clear strategy, but then there’s the investments to back that from the CEO downwards. The former are unfortunately putting in some tactical funding, tactical approaches to, to meet the here and now, but there’s no long standing strategy beyond COVID where they will be digitally transformed because they have not put in the right infrastructure or the right funding in place to be able to do that.
How are Grant Thornton helping clients to solve the challenges?
Let’s start with two things, first of all, I would like to say we are issue led not solution led. So, we spend a lot of time with our clients to actually understand the root of the issue in terms of digital and data and making sure that the approached we select are in line with what the client wants. We’re not trying to sell a solution or technology as such, but in effect we help our clients in two ways. The first is, we have a really successful digital maturity assessment that we have launched, and that really gives clients the real finger on the pulse of what do they need to do to be enhanced and engaged and as you know we look at those six different components of what makes digital transformation successful. Starting with the customer, which is really important – what does the customer really look at? Moving onto really thinking about the sustainable operating model, looking at data as a key enabler, the culture in terms of a culture that needs to be embracing in terms of organisations, the wider capabilities that needs to be in place, and then finally, the technology that needs to be in place to make things happen. So, we look at those six lenses and twenty-four sub lenses to really undertake a digital maturity assessment to really help our client do two things. One, give them a clear view of where they are in terms of the digital and what that looks like and where they need to go to be able to be more digitally enhanced. The second is to build a business case for those clients who are lagging behind in their industry and in their competitors to show them where they are against competitors and where do they need to get to? We are seeing a lot of take up in the digital maturity assessment proposition. The second way we help our clients is really those point solutions that they’re looking for in terms of digital. Whether it be data, we’re doing a lot of work in terms of data management, data analytics, data science to help, because data is the engine in terms of digitalisation so we’ve been spending a lot of time on that. The second area we are helping our clients with is actually in their implementation through of digital through various mechanisms. The Cloud or automation aspects. The final way we are helping clients is actually through our FinTech hub and our accelerator model, to actually help our clients find the most exciting and innovative technologies out there. The FinTechs that are out there which can solve their problems and we use our Fintech hub to match our clients problems with the solution of those various technology, data, automations firms out there and we’re really seeing that taking there as well in terms of our FinTech hub proposition.
What should firms focus on to make the most of their digital propositions?
Data comes up again and again as the engine and the life blood of any digital. There are a number of problems around data. Organisations that have a legacy, they have issues in terms of the quality of data they hold, the architecture in terms of how they want to use it and their date model so that comes up quite repetitively. The second part in terms of data that comes up quite a lot is really around monetisation of data, how do organisations use and create instead of use cases instead to take actually I’m going to take analytics and data to solve problems for their customers and keep abreast with customer service, revenue generation or in some cases especially in the financial service industry is to actually solve regulatory problems. So data in terms of those two things comes up again and again. The other element that comes up again and again is actually capabilities, in terms of individuals and aspects where clients are actually suffering from a lack of capabilities in terms of Cloud, automation, data science, etc. So having the resources and capabilities to execute these, comes up quite a lot from our clients. So those are the two things resonate with our clients again and again. The last thing to bear in mind is that digital road map and digital strategy – how does one create that? Because as we all know digital is not a do it once and forget about it. As the pace of innovation grows and the problems become a lot more difficult and the end customers are actually looking for (as we call it) the Amazon experience – being able to be fulfilled in real time and have everything sold for them. Organisations are having to accelerate their digital journey as they move along. As they start to solve one element of a customer journey life cycle, it quickly lends itself another one. And being able to be flexible with that I think those are the three things we see time and time again.
What advice would you give to someone who would like to become a better digital leader?
Be humble and – I don’t have all the answers – but I think everything is moving at such an accelerated space, I think being humble and willing to learn about everything going on and take a practical chance to get involved with some of those execution is really important to learn. Be humble, learn, permission to fail is really important because the things we’re trying some of them will succeed, some of them won’t succeed and having the ability and mindset to have that permission to fail culture is important. All of these things wrap up into one thing, if you think you already have all the answers you’re already on a losing base. I definitely don’t, the first place I start at is be humble, be keen to learn about the new innovation that’s coming and embrace and enhance myself in that.
How is Grant Thornton leading the way with digital best practice?
Grant Thornton is a typical professional services firm which has two parts – one very conservative part of it because it has to be conservative in terms of some of the work it does with our clients. In terms of audit work and tax etc, which needs to be very rigorous and robust. And then it has a very innovative side to it which is really trying to be cutting edge and leading as in all organisations. I don’t think Grant Thornton is unique, it’s trying to bring both the doves and the hawks in terms of digital viewing. To make sure we’re minimising any risk in terms of accelerating quickly but at the same time taking the opportunity to innovate, learn and grow quickly and do that in a very safe manner. I think that is what we’re trying to do at Grant Thornton at the moment.
Where do you stand on the future of work?
Some colleagues that have known me from my previous lives will be surprised at the answer because I used to be one of the firm believers that say ‘everybody has to be in the office and it’s an important part of team bonding and working through solutions’ and that’s what I used the believe, if I’m honest. I think my view has changed dramatically as a result of COVID. I think everything we do in an office space environment can be done from working from home or working from anywhere, and I think we trust our people to work from anywhere and get the job done. So I’m of a view that a hybrid model is probably the best way forward and definitely not advocate going back to the 9-5, back in the office because that’s not going to work and I don’t think it’s necessary. I think people are working a lot harder and a lot more productively working wherever they are working, as opposed to having to put up with a commute and going into an office environment. The hybrid model works when people need to work in workshops in face-to-face interaction where that’s important. I think it’s important to give colleagues the opportunity to do so. Then at the other side where people are quite comfortable working from home or working from wherever we should do that. I think one thing we do need to bear in mind is the mental health items that have propagated over the last eighteen months to two years. Whereas people who have families and friends in an environment, the lack of a place to come together for work is less important, where colleagues live alone that is a problem. We need to make sure we’re always mindful that every aspect of this has many facets and we need to think of all of those facets. Mental health, coming in safely, working safely. I think that a hybrid model should work very well in the future.
Niresh Rajah Managing Director, Head of Data, Regulatory Change/RegTech & Digital Assurance Practice Grant Thornton UK LLP
Niresh is an executive leader in Financial Services and Consulting with 20 years of experience focused on Data, Digital, Regulation, Automation, Innovation and Transformation. Niresh is Managing Director at Grant Thornton and leads the Data, RegTech & Digital Assurance practice at Grant Thornton, and works with exciting fintech and regtech start-up and scale-ups.
Digital Maturity Assessment
The Digital Maturity Assessment (DMA) enables organisations to diagnose their digital maturity and establish a recommended path towards improvement. It evaluates how well clients have incorporated digital into their operating models, and how effective they are at engaging their customers and executing digital initiatives to drive long term business model sustainability and profitability.
Grant Thornton works with its clients to configure their optimal digital maturity state considering customer drivers, legacy, strategic ambition, industry positioning, competitor positioning and regulator direction.
