In March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus disease 2019 a global health pandemic. Over the past two years, the disease, commonly known as covid -19 has spread worldwide, and countries have responded differently to the threat of the pandemic. The most common response (though at different degrees) has been the concept of ‘lockdown.’ A lock-down is a government-issued emergency protocol that prevents people from leaving a given space. These lockdowns had an economic and financial impact on the running of businesses.
We are living in a truly extraordinary and challenging time were the virus has broken through barriers that prevented remote work in the past, activating a structural shift on how and where work takes place. To keep businesses going, organizations have had to become innovative, quickly adopt digital platforms and quickly shift their operations virtually. In the workforce, though there is little or no opportunity for remote work because some jobs require collaborating with others whilst others must be done on location, businesses have taken advantage of technologies that enable employees to collaborate on work remotely and provide customer care. Consumers have also moved towards online channels of having services delivered to them without physical contact.
These technologies have helped businesses both big and small to stay afloat during the pandemic and has seen many businesses experience a reduction in revenue of which Klapton Re is no exception. As an organisation, we have adopted technologies that enable us to communicate with stakeholders virtually as well as allowing employees to work remotely from anywhere.
Teleworking myths have now been debunked not just with Klapton Re but across the globe, thereby significantly increasing productivity in organizations with agility at the centre of ensuring business survival.
Several key elements of organisational agility involve striking a balance between flexibility and stability as technology is implemented to support business goals. Klapton Re places great importance on digital infrastructure and a cloud first approach to deployment and It is because of this, platforms such as Microsoft 365 that have formed the backbone of our communications network. Furthermore, applications such as SharePoint, OneDrive, and Google Drive, we have been able to transform how we share documents internally and externally ensuring that business operations are not impacted by the pandemic. Video communications tools such as Zoom, and Microsoft Teams are among other tools that have helped Klapton Re continue “business as usual.”
Klapton Re has invested a lot of resources into implementing core reinsurance systems in a way that ensures that we are available to serve our clients remotely. While we recognize that some future needs may be ambiguous, digital transformation remains critical in providing a foundation where data is the bedrock of driving decisions. These uncertain times call for more intelligent enterprises to broaden insights for decision making, and it is the cloud infrastructure and systems that help Klapton Re seize opportunities in the new age. ICT is no longer a support function as traditionally known. ICT at Klapton Re is now at the forefront in helping the core business provide not just quality customer experience but value as well.
We continue to hope that the pandemic will end at some point, however, the lessons learnt during this time will live on, helping organizations across the globe plan for a different future. Key to note is that security and compliance will remain a key component of this future and as we turn digitization into an advantage, as is shown by the increased rate in Cybersecurity risks since the beginning of Teleworking.