Evolving for a different world: teamwork, product strength and innovation.

Written by

Rupert Booth

Published on

Insights
The insights and thoughts of our Team gathered  across several themes to illustrate some of
what we have learned and continue to observe from this extended period of upheaval.  
MYRIAD Group Technologies Ltd - Revolutionise your Third‑Party Management

There are lessons being learned from these extraordinary times that are proving useful throughout the world. In our industry, the global nature of the pandemic has produced unique stresses and challenges that have proven the success of remote teams and the value and agility of the products that they both use and offer.
Technology is a tremendous enabler and its increasing utilisation is a necessity in the current climate. The uptake of technology tools to connect with prospects, clients and to continue employee collaboration has only accelerated in 2020 as these tools have replaced physical meetings. The increase in remote working necessitates robust and reliable technology solutions and the global pandemic only further highlights the need for the right suite of products. Our Clients have experienced a seamless service during the transition from working in the office to working at home and they are now examining how our products can be further embedded into their business processes.
But technology is nothing without proper planning, particularly now; the basics of sensible process as a sturdy framework are essential:
During these extended lockdown periods, some are struggling with how to reduce cost, some are doubling down on their sales efforts, others are adopting a hybrid.  Some are still planning whilst others are actively executing. What to do and how to go about doing it, is the conundrum many are struggling with.  What we must remember is that, in general, constants remain even in times of global downturn. Put more clearly, ‘reason and demand’ do not change, but ‘priority and focus’ does. The key then, is smartly to rearrange ‘how we do’ and ‘what we’ve always done’. This should not come as a surprise to many, as it is good practice to constantly reassess, rearm, and redeploy.
Process is indeed vital, but with remote working, security is more important than ever before. Making this transition has been a tough examination of this discipline and produced several interesting observations, some new, some long-established:
Remote working, working from home, occasional ‘rto’ (return to office); call it what you will, lockdown has variously been a boon for some and a burden for others. Fortunately, participants in the gig economy have been able to adapt quite readily, partly because of established working practices and partly because they have been equipped so to do. But for many, the transition has been bumpy, far from a comfortable experience and – on occasions – downright risky from a corporate perspective. Where there has been willingness to accept the need for lockdown and a positive attitude to transitioning, the real challenge has been for committed professionals to continue servicing the ‘workplace’ without the necessary tools in place. Everyone will be aware of due diligence and security testing, but one of the key challenges has been to put in place safe systems and working practices where, perhaps, none existed before; homegrown, inhouse tools rarely survive extra-mural scrutiny, yet working outside the Castle walls has been – and will continue to be – the expected environment for the medium-term. Our guidance would therefore be to stop moving spreadsheets about on email and move to platforms where functionality comes second to security, every time, and where functionality is built upon data integrity, even ahead of remote access.
The effectiveness of individual teams, cohesion of a company and the efficacy of systems all come under extraordinary stresses in extraordinary times, so discovering new ways of collaboration, maintaining them and working more effectively as a result cannot be overvalued:
Collaboration, process integration, compliance and resilient workflows are key areas to check off your list while managing remote teams on working from home or hybrid models. As recently noted on a digital workspace blog, collaborative platforms should do more than help employees talk about their work; they should create new ways for employees to do their work.
It is well known that the process a team goes through during an unforeseen or emergency event promotes collaboration, flexibility and adaptability. Bringing people together with expertise, creativity, and passion is the best path forward for addressing difficult challenges and generating a clear route plan.
A solid and secure platform that allows for total customization of your workflow while keeping all your data and business insights secure, agile and at your remote team’s fingertips plays a pivotal role at any future strategy. It provides unparalleled opportunities, optimised for the digital age, to service your clients and evaluate your providers’ performance from anywhere in the world.
Collaboration technologies are available and ready to shape how work is done, enabling teamwork that leads to better results, greater innovation and higher productivity. After all, collaboration literally means “working together” — co-laboring, not just conversing. Such tools cannot just be about knowledge sharing; they need to improve the speed and effectiveness of people’s efforts.
Now is the time to pursue the greater gains that can come by embedding collaboration into specific processes, encouraging cooperative behaviour and thinking more strategically about this type of technology.
Naturally, while our businesses weather the storm, the future awaits, and it’s good to be confident about how we and our product and/or services are positioned for it. At MGTL we have always been proud of how our platforms prepare our Clients for the future, and in the current environment we find ourselves in our element:
Future-ready fundamentally means two things to us. The first is quickly realised following a successful implementation of MYRIAD as immediate priorities are addressed and remediated. MGTL and its Clients consider themselves future-ready and capable of addressing other pain points and priorities as the Bank’s business and the global industry evolve. Our Clients are able to concentrate on what they do best, safe in the knowledge that their technology is constantly being updated in line with industry developments and Client-led requests, and that adoption of MYRIAD’s extensive functionality can be implemented whenever they require.
The second addresses a BCP-DR perspective. This is the future-ready scenario we all wish never has to be invoked, but has come to pass on a global scale, demonstrating that we all must be ready for the unpredictable. MYRIAD is by its nature a BCP platform and our Clients have moved seamlessly to a major or complete remote working environment without having to worry about their access to the technology. More importantly this means access to the essential data that becomes even more critical in times of global upheaval. This seamless access to data is the same that our Clients usually enjoy at the airport, hotel or overseas office – all of which are off the cards for the foreseeable future.
Distilling our Team-wide pool of insight down to these key areas illustrates how we as a Software Company are dealing with this business climate, and in doing so we hope to stimulate thought, debate and action. Many firms are formulating their development strategies as they steady themselves, finding new ways in which to work together as we emerge from one of the most difficult peacetime periods of global commerce in history.