Mental Health in the workplace under COVID-19
Coronavirus is inevitably something which has affected us all. It has affected how we feel, how we work, and how we live. We want you to know that no matter how you are feeling during this time, you are 100% not alone. You are completely normal. You are acting like a fully functional human being reacting to threat, and we are all hardwired to do this.
So what is the hardwiring of humans that makes us feel anxious, irritable, and unmotivated during this worldwide pandemic? We explore what roles various parts of the brain have to play in our reactions to this threat. We are hopeful that by gaining an understanding of these functions, we can recognise and respond in ways that will work more effectively for us.
None of us really have any control over the coronavirus spread, or the economic situation. But we can act to help ourselves. We believe that through having structure and routine; acknowledging our thoughts and feelings; practicing mindfulness; becoming aware of our breathing; taking care of our physical needs; and considering our personal values, that we all might be able to take some steps towards improving our mental health during these times.
Below you can find our blog around Mental Health and how OK Positive can help with supporting you individually and your company.
Coronavirus, Autism and Fintech
The Coronavirus crisis has led to the largest move to remote working that anyone has ever seen, with many companies switching to homeworking almost overnight. I have witnessed some surprising lessons on the power of neurodiversity in a crisis like this.
Autism and the fintech opportunity
When we founded auticon in 2011 we believed that diversity is a strength that enhances problem-solving ability. Neurodiverse people often excel at business intelligence, quality-assurance, test automation and complex software development projects. They have unique cognitive strengths: attention to detail, a systematic way of working, logical analysis, pattern recognition, error detection and sustainable concentration for routine activities.
Autistic individuals are equally capable of excelling in STEM subjects and many achieve degrees or advanced qualifications. However, in a recent survey of more than 3,000 technology leaders, IT outsourcer Harvey Nash and auditing firm KPMG found that 67% reported that a skills shortage was preventing their organisation from keeping up with the pace of change. Autistic people are often overlooked or not considered as a source of talent, with some studies showing that up to 90% are either unemployed or underemployed.
The fintech sector is one that could benefit massively from onboarding neurodiverse people with STEM related skills and above average attention to details.
Autism and homeworking
Prior to the coronavirus crisis, most consultants at auticon worked from client sites or from our offices. That seemed to be the best way to make sure everyone performed at their best. Autistic workers like consistency in their office environment and routines. We employ Job Coaches to work closely with our consultants. They suggest adaptations to work environment, smooth out any bumps and ensure that our consultants are set up for success. They are also on hand to support our clients.
We had to change all of this when the coronavirus struck and on 23rd March, we matched our clients and transitioned all of our team to homeworking. Fortunately, everyone already had laptops and mobile devices, so we didn’t have to worry about the technology part of the equation. Our main concern was whether we could maintain productivity.
Overall, this has gone better than we hoped. Traditional managers at many organisations may worry that team members who work from home may not put in the same level of focus or be able to meet deadlines. We never have to worry about this. Autistic people tend to be very direct and honest. If you ask them if they are being productive working from home, they will tell you the truth. (If they were watching Netflix, they will tell you that, too.)
auticon consultant, Kyle Walker says he actually prefers working remotely as for him, the most stressful part of his day was the bus journey to his client’s office. With that out of the equation, Kyle is very happy and probably a little more productive on his client’s project.
The tech tools we used for remote communication, such as Slack, Zoom and Microsoft Teams, also work very well for us. Autistic people often prefer to interface via a precise text or email. Verbal or face-to-face conversations, which involve body language and emotional expression, can be more subjective and challenging. Some of our consultants who aren’t comfortable making eye contact in person found that they were able to do so on Zoom calls, giving them a new way to connect.
The Coronavirus challenge and opportunities
We have seen additional business opportunity during the coronavirus crisis. Going virtual has meant our global operation is working together more closely, leveraging a much deeper resource pool with specific technical capabilities in near real time. We are working across multiple time zones to assist clients with rapid deployment in a very cost-effective way. This global virtualisation may have taken us months or years to realise prior to the crisis.
Having a team capable of working very effectively from home is powerful. Beyond the current coronavirus lockdown, many organisations will rely much more on remote working and need to have a workforce that’s capable of doing this effectively. In auticon’s experience, hiring more autistic people is an answer. Not only does it bring more diverse thinking to a team but it is also an ideal way to make sure that you are staffed up with people who naturally excel at remote work.
Written by Emma Walker, Regional Manager ”“ auticon Scotland
Auticon provides a neurodiverse and agile workforce to improve clients information technology projects predominantly in areas such as Data Science, Quality Assurance and Cyber Security.
Photo by Polina Zimmerman from Pexels
Time to secure our emails
In February I wrote about the growing awareness of cybercrime targeting the financial services and the industry’s need ”“ and I would say duty ”“ to help protect consumers and businesses against this invidious problem which has been growing year-on-year. Little did we know at that point what was coming down the line.
The current crisis in which we find ourselves ”“ with the public fearful of the pandemic and businesses having to enable staff to work from home ”“ have made both even more vulnerable to cybercrime. Cybercriminals are playing on not only people’s fears around the Covid-19 pandemic but also the unprecedented need for staff to work from home, stretching companies’ communications channels and security systems.
Regulators, including the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and The Pensions Regulator (TPR), have issued warning statements on cybercrime and scams, a clear indicator of the seriousness with which they take this issue and the extent to which it is a problem ”“ see FCA: https://www.fca.org.uk/news/news-stories/avoid-coronavirus-scams/.
Incidences of scams, like phishing and smishing’ ”“ i.e. when criminals use emails or text messages to impersonate individuals or organisations to trick people into giving away their personal and financial information or money ”“ are reported to have increased notably over the past few weeks as the Coronavirus has taken hold.
At the same time, the need for data and information, including that of a personal and confidential nature, to move outside of companies’ security systems, has increased the risks for businesses, including that their communications will be intercepted.
For the financial services industry, this risk has been exacerbated by the end of the tax year and the need to meet tax and investment planning deadlines, which has meant advice firms have needed to get client requests and information to platforms and providers in the most expedient way.
As you might expect, most communications are by email, particularly between adviser and client, because that is the most familiar, fastest and easiest channel to use.
As mentioned in my article in February, working with leading cyber security specialist Beyond Encryption, we have developed and launched a new encrypted email solution for the financial services industry, in particular aimed at protecting the communications between product providers, platforms, advisers and end clients.
So, to help financial advisers secure their email communications during the crisis, we’re providing two months free use of the Unipass Mailock premium service for our Unipass identity service users in advice firms. To take advantage of this, users simply enter a voucher code (2monthsfree’ via www.unipassmailock.com/) to get access and there is no automatic renewal and no payment information required to get started.
It is our way of helping the industry to tackle this particular issue which has been magnified by the current unprecedented crisis we are all experiencing.
I would add that in an industry where transmission of data is key, and emails are the primary communication channel and will remain so for the foreseeable future, now, more than ever, it is time to secure our emails.
Research – Why 4 in 10 businesses abandon banking applications?
200 companies took part in this survey which tool place after the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a £330bn rescue package to help UK companies through the Coronavirus situation.The results also show that companies plan to prioritise spending on cybersecurity over anti-financial crime compliance. Indeed, over 80% of firms said they were confident in their understanding of exposure to financial crime with the appropriate processes being implemented.
However, when looking at the data, just over 40% of them said they did not regularly put customers and suppliers through formal KYC processes and 60% of them hadn’t trained their collaborators on how to be compliant with the Fifth Money Laundering Directive (5MLD)
You can read the full research and more here.
How Fintech Will Shape The Future Of The Forex Market
Among mainstream investing opportunities that exist outside of the stock markets, forex trading has long been a popular option. Today, this market is the most liquid in the world, and handles a massive amount of trading activity. But it’s also a market that has evolved over the years with some thanks to technology ”” which makes it one to watch as we observe how fintech continues to develop.
The earliest sign of technology helping to expand the forex market, aside from the actual beginning of the internet age, was perhaps the emergence of smartphones and the accompanying apps. Home Business wrote a piece just two years ago covering mobile tech’s effect on the world of investing. Basically, the idea is that the connectivity phones now provide give investors unceasing access to financial markets, which in turn leads to greater liquidity and volatility. This is absolutely the case in the forex market, which traders tap into from all over the world at all hours of the day.
Alongside the involvement of mobile devices, investment markets have also seen the rise of a growing number of accessible tools and analysis that can simplify the trading process (and in some cases even make it easier to generate gains). For instance, the same article from Home Business pointed out that mobile algorithms and applications are now available, and can often provide automated glimpses of the best trading strategies. And regarding forex specifically, FXCM shows how readily available profit calculators can now provide near-instantaneous clarification of the profit and loss potential of any given trade. This enables investors to make mathematically strategic decisions far more efficiently than in the past.
These are all examples of tech’s increasingly large role in investments, and in the forex market in particular. And while they don’t necessarily fit into what we now think of as fintech, they helped to pave the way for some of the fintech-related changes we’re beginning to see in how the modern forex market actually functions.
For an existing example, we can turn to our overview of Fexco, which is currently one of the world’s most established fintech companies. Fexco includes foreign exchange sectors among the areas it provides services to, and specifically helps to facilitate cheaper and more reliable transactions. It does so, as we noted in the overview, via the PayDirect portal, which is certified for information security. In simple terms, this is an example of tech-based secure transfer enhancing the appeal of forex transactions.
In the near future, we may see more examples like this, including some that take advantage of newer and more innovative pay transfer technologies. Specifically, it’s become increasingly likely that banks and private companies facilitating forex trades are going to take advantage of the blockchain. Business Insider spoke about this last year, making a note that HSBC had already “settled $250 billion in FX trades” using the blockchain in 2018. That’s an almost shockingly large number that would seem to indicate that this method of transfer is well on its way to widespread use. And the blockchain, some would argue, is the very definition of modern fintech.
As we look forward, there’s no reason to suspect anything but a deepening relationship between fintech and the forex market. Traders will continue to use the devices, tools, applications, and algorithms made available to them to make smarter and more informed decisions. And the investments themselves will continue to be carried out via the most secure and efficient technological methods.
Getting the Banking Balance Right
When we hear about the work that FinTech Scotland facilitates, it excites us at Verimatrix. It wasn’t long ago that our Scottish operation was a start-up called Metaforic, trying to find its way into the ”“ then emerging ”“ world of Fintech. The community that FinTech Scotland is building would have been valuable to us then ”“ just as it is highly valuable now.
Of course, the Fintech community in Scotland isn’t just start-ups. We have a proud and established financial industry – the Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI) ranks Edinburgh 7th in Europe and the top 30 globally.
It’s this mix, coupled with building the right community, that gives Scotland the right balance to build a strong and sustainable Fintech industry. Start-ups can learn from the experience and industry-reach of more established players. The established players ”“ now increasingly competing with the tech giants ”“ can benefit from the agility and fresh ideas developed on their doorsteps.
For Fintechs, another area to get the banking balance right is security. There’s no getting away from the need to secure your products and solutions.
When Fintech emerged as a sector in its own right, it had the luxury of playing on the edge of the financial space. That meant, in most cases, Fintechs were out of the scope of financial regulation. Over time, this has changed for two reasons:
- Fintechs are increasingly seen as partners of established players;
- Regulation has caught up with the evolving finance market.
So, what does working in partnership with banks and other established players mean for your security needs?
First, it means raised expectation levels. Services that are sold or resold by banks come with an implied trust associated with them. That trust has been hard won over centuries and is easily lost. As a partner of a bank, you gain some of that trust, but you are also expected to maintain it.
Second, it means being able to demonstrate that you’ve meet your new partners’ security “check boxes”. Through any procurement or partnership discussion with a bank or large financial institute, there will be security hoops to jump through. Being ready for these hoops not only makes the process easier, it also demonstrates to your new partner that you are a credible organisation.
What has changed with regulations and legislation?
The biggest changes are the new open banking regulations ”“ requiring banks to open up their platforms to third parties. We see this in Europe through PSD2, and similar changes are happening around the globe. These changes can be seen as legitimising Fintech.
Of course, with legitimacy comes responsibility and Fintechs increasingly come under the scope of financial services’ regulation. Though this can be seen as adding short-term burdens to Fintechs, these regulations also offer mid and long-term opportunities. The regulations aren’t in place just for fun, they exist to protect consumers. For Fintechs to become long-term sustainable and credible companies, this is something they need to be doing anyway.
The open banking regulations have emerged in parallel to tougher consumer privacy legislation. In Europe, GDPR is certainly the buzzword; and just as with open banking, we see similar trends around the world.
Open banking regulations aren’t something to be feared, and neither is consumer privacy legislation. These changes in regulation are all about doing the right thing. We’d argue that rather than be a burden, the legislation actually gives Fintechs a framework to guide their security thinking.
Read more on Verimatrix’s thoughts on GDRP and PSD2
Where should you focus?
Balance is key. The security required by Fintechs shouldn’t become an overloading burden. It’s about taking sensible steps while allowing your organisation to focus on the fun stuff”” building exciting products.
Our first recommendation is to build a “security as usual” culture from day one. It’s hard to make the change later, so make it everyone’s responsibility from the start to consider security as you build your products and services. This makes it a low level, non-disruptive activity rather than something forced upon the organisation down the road.
The second recommendation is to choose the right security. Take the time to understand what your valuable assets are and then choose Friendly Security solutions to protect them. Friendly Security means security that is trustworthy, mature and proven; but is also low impact to implement.
This is where Verimatrix can help. Our Software Shielding products are designed to protect the code, data and services in any mobile app you develop, all the while being easy and straightforward for your development teams to apply. We take this to extremes with our recently launched ProtectMyApp service.
These are exciting times for the Scottish Fintech industry; and it is critical that the community Fintech Scotland is building up establishes the right balance for long-term success.
Scotland’s recruiters working with fintechs
Scotland’s fintech scene is getting more and more exciting. The local fintech startups have been growing and multiplying at a fast pace, increasing the number of fintech businesses by 60% in numbers. Scotland is becoming a leader in the fintech industry, based not only on the number of fintech startups but their success rate and demand from the public for more fintech services. There is still a lot that can be done to help boost the industry across the nation and it seems like Scotland fintech scene’s big break is just around the corner.
The U. K’s fintech scene has been developing at the fastest across Europe, and now there are many prominent examples of highly successful fintech startups that are operating from the U.K. Just to cite an example, recently InsideTrade.co reported that Revolut has become the most valued fintech out there.
Core-Asset Consulting is now looking to expand its fintech offering, and it plans to do so by joining forces with the tech recruiters across the nation. Core-Asset Consulting is a firm that operates in Scotland’s finance, accountancy, asset management, and legal industries and has an impressive portfolio of clients. Over the last year, the company has become more proactive towards its approach to the fintech scene and has set out a goal to incorporate the industry as much as possible into its day-to-day activities.
Exploring the potential of fintech for Scotland
This is an important move for all fintech startups and those thinking of getting into this industry because this means that the well-established companies are now seeing the potential that the fintech industry holds and want to become a part of it as soon as possible. It will not only help to create more opportunities for the new startups but it will also help with establishing the industry as a legit source of growth and income that holds real potential for the future of finance.
Every major company in Scotland is either building a team of tech professionals or already has one up and going. Hundreds of new jobs might be appearing across Scotland, as the nation aims to become a tech hub.
Core-Asset’s move was no coincidence either. When speaking with the media, founder and managing director of the company, Betsy William pointed out that the recent changes to contracting law made the company a great fit for smaller recruiters. The changes will directly affect the areas where small specialist tech recruiters do the most work. Because of this update, the demand for companies like Core-Asset will be increasing, hence the requirement to take advantage of the opportunity to make the collaboration between Core-Asset and fintech much easier.
Another important development that made this decision easier for Core-Assets was the recently signed partnership between FinTech Alliance and Fintech Scotland, which will make making connections between different fintech across countries and within the U.K much easier.
It looks like Scotland is creating an environment where fintech can develop at a much faster pace and well-established companies are trying to help out newer ones along the way.
There is a lot of potential in this industry and it could become one of the main sources of income from Scotland.
Designing your Employee Experience
Photo by Startup Stock Photos from Pexels
Blog written by Puneet Sachdev, Human Capital Expert from Singularity Labs
These days everything needs to have an X’ in it, isn’t it, especially in the tech world! Not too long ago, you would have struggled to find too many words starting with the letter X’.Today, we see X pinned to any number of products and expressions as a sign of some undefined cachet!
EX in one word – Empathy
EX in one sentence – It is wider than employee engagement, it covers a wide range of activities that influence your employee’s perceptions of your company”“good or bad.
Airbnb
As the ex-Head of Employee Experience for Airbnb, it is Mark Levy who defined the expression ’employee experience’ and gave currency to the way we tend to emulate it today. He questioned “If Airbnb had a Customer Experience Group, why not create an Employee Experience Group?” And the rest is history! Mark has a background in Service Design that posits empathy and experimentation to arrive at innovative solutions. This was one of the key lenses that drove the employee experience philosophy. The internal experience of the employee will have a direct knock-on effect on the customer experience.
The context today
The Millennial mindset is permeating the entire workforce. As this latest generation has established itself in the workforce, its expectations for workforce flexibility, use of mobile tools and enhanced performance feedback have spread to other generations.
Employees are approaching the workplace as consumers. Individuals want the same experiences in the workplace that they have as consumers, such as having the use of simple, intuitive technology, the ability to rate and share opinions about products and services, and direct access to decision makers.
Today, the research has found that a number of factors shape employee experience, including: the formation and development of work-based connections and relationships, the design and ongoing use of employees’ physical work environments, and the tools and social platforms employees use to accomplish work-related activities
The components of an employee’s experience
- Physical – the interaction employees have with their physical environment. The workspace they find themselves in and how inspiring that is. The design of the workplace can impact mental states.
- Emotional – the interaction that employees have in the workplace setting and social settings with their colleagues, their line managers and the leadership. Feeling a sense of belonging within a community, being taken care of and respected are all important factors.
- Mental – the quality of work, the mental stimulation, the flexibility to create and the caliber of peers makes up the mental component.
Eventually it will all have an emotional impact, we are talking about an experience’ after all. The actions you as an organization will take (or not take) will vote for one or the other – we value and respect you or we do not.
The aspects to consider in developing the employee experience
Employer Value Proposition (EVP) – Let’s start from the very beginning, a very good place to start, when you sing you begin with Do Re Mi and when you EX you begin with EVP!
The first expressions of employee experience begin when you define your Culture DNA – the vision / purpose, mission and values, values in particular as they set the tone for internal interactions. The employer value proposition is your people’ promise, and this shapes the employee experience your organization will deliver to your people. It is a key reason why you will attract the right people into your organization in the first place and will be the standard by which your employees and prospects will evaluate you as a leadership team and as an organization. You can read articles I have written about EVP here
On-Boarding – On-boarding is a high leverage opportunity to culturally integrate employees and set the standard for the employee experience new joiners will have. Making the new hires feel welcome and prepared for their jobs will create a lasting impression in their hearts and minds and setting them and the organization up for success. Organization’s with a robust onboarding process experience 62% greater new hire productivity, along with 50% greater new hire retention.
Nature and Quality of Work – a major component of employee experience is the extent to which individuals feel they can influence their work, build mastery and understand their work’s overall purpose. The sense of self-determination and autonomy. Employees want to know how the work they do fits into the team goals and how they contribute to the organization’s larger mission.
Possession of relevant knowledge or expertise, access to additional information or experts as needed, and availability of timely feedback ”“ either from managers or automated systems””can significantly shape the employee experience. Role specifications, performance management, career development, feedback loops, leadership communication all become key processes here.
Tools and Social Platforms – the design of the physical equipment that houses the software is key. Is it easy to access and use under daily work conditions? Software design can also have a lasting impact on satisfaction and productivity. Is there single sign-on? How may clicks does it take to get to the right screen? Employees expect intuitive and easy to use systems be it for booking leave or collaborating on a project.
Increasingly, companies are using social platforms internally to support organizational innovation, expertise location and knowledge sharing, and to help employees connect to others across in different time zones. These social platforms provide a common environment where employees can find relevant insights and identify hidden pockets of expertise or emerging employee issues. E.g. Slack, Jira etc.
The Environment – experts assert that configuration and design of individual and team workspaces are a critical component of employee experience. Physical workspace design can also impact employee wellness, as properly designed ergonomics can reduce employee stress and limit physical injury.
Social Impact – this is almost becoming a must have’ driven by the Millennial generation, and is a growing factor in considering and continuing work with employers. Not one to be overlooked. Installing ethical business practices and projects to impact the community organizations are a part and providing opportunities for employees to make a contribution impact this aspect. It enhances their sense of purpose and contribution adding to the employee experience they have.
Business Strategy and Culture – an organization must consider each of these facets of employee experience in light of overall business goals and culture. The business goals and objectives of a start-up may be quite different from a multi-national, from a hotel chain. For a hospitality company, the need to provide high-quality guest services may serve as a guiding principle in the design of employee experience; for an oil company, the emphasis may be on occupational safety. Clearly defining these underlying tenets is necessary to designing experiences that not only match the needs of the individual, but are aligned with organizational priorities.
Here is the thing, if you want to deliver world class to your customers, have your employees experience world class internally so they know what it feels like. Then delivering world-class will be the standard.
Your Purpose Partners’ in the delivery of Employee Experience in your organizations
The HR team of course. In addition, enter Line Managers or the people managers as they are being called in many of the growing tech companies we consult with. They have the keys to the organization i.e. manage the workforce, budgets and various other organizational resources. Three key things to bear in mind here:
1) Managers in your organization have an understanding of your employer value proposition, your employee experience philosophy and are empowered for it’s fulfilment.
2) Managers have complete clarity on their role and the expectations and especially in their responsibilities towards their team members. For example how do they best on-board new team members, how do they performance manage, how do they recognize their team etc.
3) Being educated and up-skilled on the different kinds of conversations they will be expected to have with their team and peers e.g. day one conversation, week one conversation, performance conversations etc. Manager conversations and behaviours are a critical factor that creates the experience of the rest of the workforce.
How can you design your Employee Experience:
Use Analytics – tune into the voice of customer’. The customers being your employees. You can turn to traditional HR surveys or any other semi-structured processes you have in place to gather and analyze data.
Create employee personas and map the journey – an employee persona is essentially a semi-fictional representation of a group of employees with similar traits, experiences and behaviors. They’re based on the data and insights you have into the individuals that make up your workforce and brings them to life by building a narrative around them.
Invest in key touch points where employee experience has the greatest impact – you have now created the personas and mapped the journey. Identify the moments that matter most to them through their lifecycle which will cover pre-joining, on-boarding, working as a part of a team, performance, career development, exit. Making changes to employee experience often requires investment. Use the data you have generated to prioritize and guide your decisions. Ask your employees, they will tell you.
Here is a good article by Qualtrics that covers employee personas and journey mapping.
Cross functional EX group – some organizations we have consulted for have used cross-functional employee groups very effectively to stay engaged with employees, to continue to generate insights via face to face conversations and other processes.
The employee experience is holistic. It covers a wide range of activities that influence your employee’s perceptions of your company”“good or bad. Mapping the experience of employees is a challenging task and requires a lot of effort. But the prize is too tempting for you not to care.
Ready or not? Questions worth asking yourself:
- How does your current employee experience affect the attraction and retention of critical job roles within your organization?
- How could improving your employee experience increase productivity within your organization?
- To what extent does your employee experience influence your customer experience?
- Who has primary responsibility for designing employee experience within your organization? How does a person or team bring others together to address employee experience issues?
- What types of analytics are you using to evaluate the effectiveness of your employee experience?
This article has been an output based on my own experience, conversations and online research. IBM, Qualtrics and Deloitte have been very useful sources.
Me and my colleagues at Singularity Labs specialise in designing interventions that solve People and Culture challenges and help creating engaging and High Performing Environments. We have worked across multiple industries and geographies and more recently with growing tech companies such as Nucleus Financial (Fintech) and Craneware (Healthcare Tech).
Resources:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jacobmorgan/2016/02/01/global-head-employee-experience-airbnb-rid-of-human-resources/#118986f77c4e – Mark Levy, Airbnb employee personas and journey mapping. – employee personas and journey mapping, Qualtrics
The Importance of Innovative Fintech in Smart Cities
Photo by Kostiantyn Stupak from Pexels
According to statistics from the UN, 55% of the world’s population lives within an urban environment. This is expected to spike to 68% by 2050 and most of these metropolitan residents will be under the age of 29.
It’s no secret that today’s population, youth or otherwise, live fast-paced, digital lives with a sense of urgency about their day-to-day, which is only expected to heighten in time.
The only way to tackle modern-day challenges such as ageing infrastructures and to keep up with the expected trajectory of our hurried digital lives is to develop these urban territories into Smart Cities.
What is a Smart City?
Smart Cities were once a hot topic in the media, but despite the need for them becoming more prevalent, the media buzz and conversation has died down.
A Smart City utilises the latest innovations in IT and technology to enhance the efficiency and performance of modern metropolises, and improve the ease and quality of life for the inhabitants of the city.
The focus is on combatting the obstacles or downfalls that exist in modern society and urban environments as we know them. This includes using technological advances to better transportation, energy, utilities, waste management, resource consumption, public services, overall costs and much more.
The cost of implementing and enabling Smart Cities is expected to almost double within a four-year window. The International Data Corporation estimated Smart City costs in 2018 at US$81 billion, and this is set to drastically rise to US$158 billion by 2022.
What is the Vital Role of Fintech in Smart Cities?
Some of the best Fintech innovations were purposely designed to simplify procedures that have become unnecessarily complex over time – such as banking – or services that no longer satisfy consumer demands or needs; online shopping and international money transfers, for example.
Fintech start-ups always have the same end goal in mind. That is to provide consumers with a product or service that allows them to achieve the same outcome, but in less time, with fewer steps, for cheaper and with more transparency than previous solutions.
Whilst there are many benefits of Fintech in a Smart City, two standouts are quicker and simpler payments make for happier residents, and better international transfers and banking broadens the city’s access to a global market.
How Some Cities are Using Fintech
London
The most glaringly obvious entry route into Fintech for the city of London is with their transport systems.
Transport for London (TFL) had a full digital shift across all transport systems in July 2014, and the organisation has been a cashless operation ever since. Since the switch to contactless payments only, TFL has become more efficient with far fewer delays, cheaper journeys and made the process of boarding much faster for passengers.
Singapore
Fintech is central to Singapore’s ambitions to become a Smart Nation with a “Smart Financial Centre” at its heart. Part of the country’s continued efforts to achieve a Smart Financial Centre includes using innovative technology to create new opportunities, increase efficiency and better manage the country’s financial risks. Singapore also strives to eventually become a cashless nation.
Estonia
Estonia is possibly the most forward-thinking in their approach to becoming a Smart City thus far. They have abandoned traditional methods of identification and they now offer government-supported digital identities. The E-Estonia movement has been linked to many of the country’s financial institutions and companies to provide easy and convenient banking services to residents.
While we still might be some years away from our first fully Smart City, many are definitely making waves and on the right path to becoming truly smart.
A common thread between each advanced city that is leading the way for others is their use of Fintech. Incorporating innovative Fintech is a must in order to become a Smart City, it enables easy international business, makes daily life more convenient for residents and encourages the efficient, economical and eco-friendly operation of a nation.
About The Organisation
ESA Space Solutions offers investment in space research and satellite-based technologies for worldwide benefit. Fundraising opportunities and guidance tips are available to commercialise your space-connected business ideas with a two-year incubation programme. For more information on how to apply, head over to the application page.
Cybercrime ”“ protecting the weakest links
Blog written by Anthony Rafferty, Managing Director at Origo
“The FBI say that cyber criminals are deliberately targeting financial services firms. They reckon that has increased by over 100% in the last year. Given that these criminals are operating all over the world, if you think they are only going to target the US, then you need to think again.”
This was the opening statement from Ian McKenna, Managing Director of the Financial Technology & Research Centre (FT&RC) for a session on cybercrime at the centre’s recent Empowering Advice Through Technology 2020 event in London.
The size of people’s pension pots and investment portfolios make pension providers, savings and investment companies and platforms, and financial advice firms ”“ amongst others ”“ prime targets for criminals’ tactics, such as Identity Substitution Theft.
Ian pointed out that over 60% of the FCA’s business plan for 2020 was focussed on cybercrime. Likewise, the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) is focussing on firms where “significant risk” exists, “which is going to be within financial services firms.”
Ian was introducing a panel session including myself and Paul Holland, CEO and founder of Beyond Encryption, to talk about the dangers of cybercrime for the financial services sector, in particular, that section of the sector relating to provision of financial advice and planning.
Cybercrime has been raised as one of the top concerns for financial advice businesses in 2020. Keeping client data safe within a firm is not the problem. It is the passing of information, invariably personal and confidential in nature, between client, adviser, platforms and providers, i.e. where the information moves outside of a company’s security systems, which invariably is the weak point that cyber criminals exploit.
Emails are a case in point. Quite often sensitive information is emailed within the body of an email or in an attachment. Yet sending an email is like sending a postcard through the post ”“ it can be easily read and altered. We hear too many stories about emails being intercepted and data stolen and then used to commit cybercrime. Personal data accessed in this way can be used to scam payments and commit identity fraud, sending of false invoices, requests for passwords and carrying out malware attacks being just a few examples.
Paul Holland flagged the example where conveyancing solicitors’ emails asking clients for final payment on property sales have been intercepted and the bank account details changed. The client’s money is sent but never received because it has been syphoned off by the criminals.
The risks to businesses can be huge. Not only could they be subject to public censure, fines and costs but it can be highly damaging to consumer trust in the business.
We recognise that financial services companies are becoming more aware of their regulatory and compliance obligations, particularly under GDPR, MIFID II and the recently introduced Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SM&CR) legislation, which make the individual accountable for decisions in the firm. In this regulatory environment, deploying email security into any organisation is vital to reduce business and senior management risk as well as to build and maintain trust with clients.
The same applies for B2B companies. Would you prefer to do business with a company where its emails are secured or one with non-secured emails? Which would give you more confidence that they are handling your data and that of your clients’ in a secure and responsible manner?
With firms able to be fined heavily for data breaches, and as cybercriminals become ever more sophisticated in their methods, we believe protecting client data will be an even greater focus for financial services companies in 2020, with businesses of all sizes looking to greater protect their email communications.
Origo has worked with Beyond Encryption to launch a new secure email messaging system, Unipass Mailock, for financial advisers, investment and savings platforms, providers and consumers. It enables users to securely communicate sensitive personal, financial, medical or policy information to their clients efficiently and securely ”“ using military-grade encryption and unique identity authentication capabilities ”“ safe in the knowledge that only the intended recipient can read and reply to the message.
We are making the solution available to over 45,000 financial advisers already using the Unipass Identity service, as well as millions of consumers. By de-risking the industry’s communications our aim is to help protect consumer data as well as business reputations.I’m also delighted to say that Unipass Mailock picked up the Best in Class’ award at the FT&RC technology conference.