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It is no secret that technology is significantly changing the banking landscape. In addition to the challenge of low interest rates squeezing the bottom line of Banks, competition within the market is further driven by new entrants who are well placed to offer the agile, quicker and more accessible services which customers are demanding.

Before the pandemic, our office ‘dressed for the diary’, meaning you could dress more casually as the situation dictated.

Reported frauds relating to online sales are 42% higher during the pandemic, compared to the preceding year (i.e. 2019), with the increased demand for online shopping providing fraudsters with greater opportunities to illegally obtain online shoppers’ personal and financial details.

Every business needs to keep moving forward. That includes being responsive to customer needs and adapting to a digital world. As new technology emerges, customer expectation has grown to include digital access to goods and services, on a round-the-clock basis.

For some businesses, the objective has been merely to survive. For others, due to the nature of their business, or perhaps due to an inspired new business idea, trading during the pandemic has been a roaring success. For others, the effects of the pandemic were strangely inconsequential.

Having an abundance of cash on hand may not seem like too much of a problem for most of us, however there are potential downsides for businesses who are reporting excess cash on their balance sheets.

There has been a lot written about the 10x economy in the last few weeks, with the usual mix of cheerleaders and naysayers that any attempt to present a new plan brings. I have written many economic strategies over the past 15 or so years so I know they are not easy to do. There is a constant challenge to try and deliver something unique when, deep down, we all know the economic weak spots are so obvious and ingrained that a rollover would do just as well.

Even before the arrival of Covid-19, forward-thinking charitable organisations had already begun to consider how to diversify their income streams. They were looking to step away from traditional fundraising methods, as the early warning signs indicated a waning public appetite for direct debits and voluntary donations

One of the big topics for business leaders at the moment is how to embrace remote working post the pandemic, whilst at the same time maintaining their competitiveness and productivity. I was therefore delighted to see a publication from the National Competitiveness and Productivity Council (NCPC) in the Republic of Ireland on this very topic, within the past couple of weeks. Many of the points raised are equally applicable to Northern Ireland as well.

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