The art of business is looking like a swan above the water while paddling as hard as you can under the surface. No matter the size of your business, that’s what it’s often like.
There’s arguably never been a greater challenge for the IT department of a multi-billion-dollar super fund than the economic effects of COVID-19 and the super early release scheme. And this was particularly challenging for a fund whose member-base prominently features people from heavily-affected industries, such as hospitality, tourism and the arts.
Yet it was with absolute calm and certainty that we saw the CTO of Hostplus, Stuart Wilkinson, reveal exactly how they moved their call centres and IT to a work-from-home environment while dealing with the highest volume of calls and transactions in their history.
Both advisers and super funds have adopted technology and digital practices in a matter of months that otherwise would have taken years. There are definitely some positives out of this that will move us forward, but there are also downsides: security risk, cyber fraud and other such threats are a constant in the tech world.
The CTO holds an increasingly important world in the financial services businesses of the future. For advisers, a knowledge of the technology and security issues of working from home is essential. Boards and CEOs greatly value the vision CTOs have regarding new technology along with the ability to think of everything that can go wrong.
We can all learn a lot from CTOs about where we are going and the safest way to get there.
Until next time,
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