There are many remote-working organizations that might flow naturally in this current COVID 19 situation when all other companies are learning the new reality. While we are in-bound (locked down) and working, the advantage is that we could still Move Forward and Connect — with yourself and the world around in a very efficient and meaningful way.… Continue reading Empowering Your Team and Yourself While We Work Virtually during COVID-19!
Month: April 2020
COVID-19 has curbed the globe, unexpected and unwanted. Virus outbreak has belted lenders with a ripple effect the size of a perfect storm- record refinancing demand, time-consuming credit checks, fluctuation in credit scores and lots of questions about getting short-term loans until income stabilizes. Lenders should bear in mind that this crisis is likely to reinforce, in direct proportion to its extent and duration and maybe even more, several existing trends.
Lending industry is feeling the heat amidst the transforming dynamics.
- Workplace dynamics and talent management durably changed after an extended period of remote working
- Customer routines and expectations shifted with expectation for proactive communication and care
- Operational resiliency remains critical with mounting risks of pandemics, societal and geopolitical tensions, and climate change
- Rise in cyberattacks and fraud, as businesses and employees adapt to remote working.
The Corona Virus outbreak is, hopefully, a once-in-a-century event. For now, however, it’s too early to think about the lessons we’ll learn. It’s crucial to address client’s concerns and provide services with as little interruption as possible.
Despite the COVID-19 impact in Lending is quite worse, fortunately, there is a brighter side here. Economic uncertainty creates opportunities for new business models powered by emerging technology. For FinTech, the future is Contactless
Contactless Lending, a great boon to face the COVID-19 IMPACT IN LENDING
Amidst this bleak scenario, ‘Contactless Lending’, greater adoption of digital channels, enables firms to cater to the needs of clients globally.
As countries go into lockdown, people are forced to keep social distance and work from home. This crisis highlights how important digital capabilities are and products are, and how important speed and seamless integration are. Contactless payments and branchless lending are widely implemented.
Here is a list of digital initiatives to not only survive pandemic but thrive on the other side of it.
- End-to-end loan digitization
- e-signature workflow solution
- Automated follow-up solution
- Virtual service option
- Data analytics strategies
- Advanced chatbots
Those who invest in advanced analytics, innovation, and digital transformation can leverage their customer experience and digital product advantages more than ever.
Business downturns are not uncommon. Those firms that recognize and adapt to new market conditions have the chance to outperform. For lending firms of any size, the message is clear: Digitize or risk losing customers — or even risk failure.
As the world copes with the corona virus, the outbreak is causing widespread concerns and the biggest danger to the global economy since the 2008 financial crisis. The situation is fast-moving with wide impacts on consumers, businesses, and communities across the globe. Lenders have business continuity plans, but there are no clear contingency plans to face situations like widespread quarantines, extended office closures, and added travel restrictions.
In response to COVID-19, most lenders are developing their contingency plans quickly. Some are adapting existing plans to handle this outbreak, while others are starting from scratch. Confident action today can position your business to thrive tomorrow.
Here we identify five action steps lenders should take to navigate this unprecedented situation.
- Effective crisis management plan: Most lenders already have business continuity plans, but those may not fully address the fast-moving and unknown variables of an outbreak like COVID-19. Lenders must plan and act on a crisis management basis before, not after or if, it becomes a necessity. Create a dedicated crisis management team. This team must conduct a contract risk assessment and identify preventive actions, manage customer-supplier contract disputes due to economic impacts or supply disruptions, and even be prepared to invoke “force majeure” clauses when required.
- Stand up operations to handle increased volumes: Given remote working and sickness-related resource constraints, firms need to establish a more sustainable approach to processing the surge in lending applications. This should include electronic channels to manage COVID-19 related loan applications and the extension of automated credit decision-making to as many applications as possible, allowing manual credit underwriting to be focused on exceptions and higher risk cases.
- Proactive Communication: The immediate priority is communication and assurance. Everyone is facing this crisis together, so be transparent about what your business is going through. Customers can empathize with brands facing a crisis if you communicate with them properly. Clarity and transparency are crucial in sustaining confidence at both a client and a market-wide level.
- Better use of digital capabilities: As businesses move from reacting to mitigating the impact of the outbreak, strategies to emerge stronger may come in focus. Accelerate digital transformations as the shift to remote working reveals gaps in IT infrastructure, workforce planning and digital upskilling.
- Business continuity strategies: As companies move from reacting to mitigating the impact of the outbreak, strategies to emerge stronger may come in focus. Protect growth and profitability through actions such as scenario planning, more frequent financial modeling exercises to improve resiliency, and new models that incorporate economic impacts of past pandemics.
The Path Forward
Eventually, the corona virus pandemic will subside to allow for the ‘new normal’. In the meantime, there is an opportunity to learn from the consumer and employee alike. For many firms, there will be new opportunities spawned by innovations tested, marketing models adjusted, and delivery networks transformed. There will be major winners and some losers that result from this unexpected disruption of business.
What happens if you don’t have Data backup and data security?
Have you ever lost a lot of really important data? When was the last time you had taken a backup of your work or personal data? Is your work or personal data syncing to cloud storage in real-time? If not, your data is at high risk and in many situations, if deleted, it can’t be… Continue reading What happens if you don’t have Data backup and data security?