HCL Jads collaboration

From the leaders' desk

"For enterprises to build resilience and thrive despite pandemic-sized disruptions, it's crucial to be agile and make quick strategic decisions. The key lies in digitization and developing a sound data architecture that supports data-driven decision-making in real-time."

Sudip Lahiri

Senior Vice President and Head, Financial Services-Europe, HCLTech

“As Covid-19 is accelerating the digital transformation to an unprecedented speed, every company in the professional services domain should get its act together in terms of the completeness of their digital vision and corresponding ability to execute it. Learning from what others do is inevitable in keeping up with the pace.”

Prof. Dr. Emile Aarts

JADS, Tilburg University and XtraAdvice

According to McKinsey, the Eurozone GDP contracted by 3.6% in the first quarter of 2020, and the European Central Bank (ECB) expects a contraction of 13% in the second quarter. Even if the economy slowly recovers with reduced spending and business investments, the ECB predicts an overall contraction of 8.7% for the Eurozone GDP in 2020.
The economies of Germany, France, and the Netherlands have contracted by 10.1%, 13.8%, and 8.5%, respectively, according to the analysts at Rabo Bank — the second largest bank in the Netherlands (in terms of assets).
The IMF predicts a 4.7% growth in Europe's GDP in 2021, that is subject to how the pandemic unfolds.
Even once the world recovers from the aftermath of COVID-19, 'black swan' events such as pandemics and epidemics won't cease to occur. The World Health Organization (WHO) organized a consultation with over 130 global multi-disciplinary experts to discuss setting up mechanisms that anticipate and help prepare for such scenarios due to infectious diseases in the future.
In April 2020, UK's Lloyds Banking Group provided free tablets to around 2,000 customers over the age of 70 — the customers most vulnerable to the pandemic and least likely to be familiar with online banking.

Tackling uncertainties and staying resilient to global disruptions

COVID-19 brought about five years' worth of digital transformation in as many months globally, and quickened the digital journey as a whole. Enterprises that had already invested in data science, data analytics, and digital initiatives were able to digitize fully, and as a result, ensure continuity of business operations despite global lockdowns. As Europe recovers from the crippling effects of the pandemic and recovers from the fallout, the financial services landscape must operate in the face of several uncertainties with the help of new-age technologies such as data analytics and other digital services.

Financial services institutions were equipped to support remote work and digital services to some extent, but they are unsure of the implications of this digital transformation on employee wellbeing. Similarly, since the pandemic crippled some sectors like aviation more than others, financial services institutions must adapt their credit risk models for individuals and sectors, using data analytics, digital services, and other means.

In this white paper, HCLTech collaborates with JADS (Jheronimus Academy of Data Science), a premier research institute for data science in the Netherlands, to explore how COVID-19 has reshaped European financial services institutions by surveying the financial landscape in Europe and interviewing top leadership.

Key Differentiators

Accelerating data and analytics transformation to get granular perspectives on an unfolding crisis

Backed by the HCLTech-JADS collaboration, the whitepaper covers the perspectives of eminent industry leaders, subject matter experts, and senior executives who are witnessing the uncertainties due to COVID-19 in their organizations and the ecosystem around them. Here are some of the key highlights of their views on 4 major areas where the impact of COVID-19 was evident:

Overall
Business

54% believe that the level of planning undertaken by their organizations to address the impact of the pandemic on the overall business wasn't strategic but operational

Productivity

67% feel that the level of planning involved in meeting the impact of productivity was mostly operational, which suggests that their organizations already had specific measures in place in the event of a large-scale disruption to business operations

Workforce

65% believe there's an urgency to address impending social changes as well as shifts in the labor market to find digital-savvy talent and 63% felt it’s highly urgent to develop mechanisms that predict employee wellbeing

Risk and
Cybersecurity

91% believe there's an urgency to establish measures to mitigate the risk of cyber incidents due to remote work

Topic of Discussion

Charting a future course of action to minimize the impact of COVID-19 on business resiliency

The HCLTech-JADS survey discovered that 70% of those polled noticed an acceleration in the adoption of data and analytics within their organizations. Most organizations surveyed had a near-term strategy to ensure business continuity and a mid-to-long-term strategy to turbocharge their digital journeys:

Market Environment and
Consumer Behavior

Workforce Productivity

Digital Transformation

Data Architecture

Risk and Governance

Business Performance

Advisory and Consultancy

92% believe their organizations must quickly determine the impact of COVID-19 on market environments, society, and consumer behavior.

Roughly 60% feel they lack the mechanisms required to assess the effects of COVID-19 on workforce productivity and wellbeing.

44% believe that their organizations lack the skills required to bring about complete digital transformation.

Less than 45% have a well-planned data architecture to support big data technologies such as data streaming, data processing, data lakes, and meshes.

79% don't have a cohesive data management and governance framework in place.

Only 24% used data gathered by their teams to get strategic insights that drove business performance.

55% are willing to partner up with a consulting or advisory agency to plan and implement a sound data platform transformation roadmap.