How asset managers can maximise productivity while hybrid working

by | 29th June 2021

An impressive 41 percent of employees say that they get more done working at home than in the office. However, CEOs are less confident in the productivity gains of hybrid working.

Mixed reports like this underscore the inconsistent results firms are having with hybrid working. It’s also a hugely important topic. Why? Because 69 percent of companies in the financial services sector expect their staff to work from home at least one day a week, post-covid.

Luckily, there are some sure-fire tactics you can adopt from those firms that have figured out how to get it right. Let’s explore them now.

Enhance communication and collaboration

With staff working in multiple locations, they need technology that empowers them to work together effectively.

Platforms like Microsoft 365 can help bridge this gap and ensure your staff work with one another in industrious harmony. Take advantage of tools, such as:

  • Teams. Front, mid and back-office staff in your firm can now communicate securely. With online meetings, calls, chat messages, and private channels, everyone is now on the same page.
  • SharePoint. With plenty of highly sensitive financial data, asset managers need a secure place to store and collaborate on documents. SharePoint has plenty of security features, including MFA and IAM controls.

Deploy automation

Eighty percent of staff time in the financial services sector goes to repetitive, manual tasks.

The good news is Microsoft Power Apps and Microsoft Power Automate make it easier than you might think to implement automation in your business.

To help one of our clients improve their trade system, we used Power Apps to introduce secure low-code automation. This meant they could retire an expensive portfolio management system and simplify their trade ingestion into one process.

Support staff development and wellbeing

A worrying 19 percent of staff say that loneliness is the biggest challenge when working from home. There’s also strong evidence that mental health issues are on the rise in the financial services sector.

This not only harms your staff; it also hurts business productivity. Indeed, the World Health Organization estimates mental health issues cost the global economy $1 trillion every year.

This underlines the importance of tools, like Microsoft Viva, making managing and supporting employee well-being more achievable. It’s an employee experience platform that brings together communications, knowledge, learning, resources, and insights all into one place.

Today is the first day of your more productive future

The strategies we’ve covered, such as adopting automation and improving staff wellbeing, will all help level up your asset management firm’s productivity.

However, it can be hard to implement change yourself; after all, there are only so many hours in the day. So, why not rely on those who have helped other businesses to boost their productivity with modern solutions?

If you’d like to learn more about how your firm can level up its productivity, reach out for a chat with one of our team today.

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