Business Transformation Requires Transformational Leaders

Many classic change management models fail to consider the significant dimensions of technology and innovation. This Advisor shares a case study involving a bank that devel­oped key performance indicators to track all dimensions of change, enabling the bank to constantly improve its capability to implement change.

Luke Merriman discusses the accelerated growth of e-commerce, which has been brought about due to COVID-19. Specifically, Merriman focuses on online classified marketplaces and looks to identify the changes required by these marketplaces to capitalize on the growth in e-commerce. He presents detailed results of a survey carried out by Trustap, an Irish startup specializing in escrow-style payments for online marketplaces.

Denis Dennehy examines how AI can power a sustainable recovery for the Irish economy following COVID-19. He addresses common concerns associated with AI and shows that it will not just eliminate jobs through automation, but rather will create many new roles in specialized areas to support AI. Additionally, Dennehy discusses how AI can be used for social good to address several societal issues. In this thought-provoking discussion, he focuses on four strategic areas that he believes AI can support, namely: (1) agriculture, (2) smart manufacturing and supply chains, (3) education, and (4) smarter products and services.

The key research question the authors seek to answer is whether technological advancement facilitates or complicates the banking industry. Their insightful discussion examines a range of changes in banking. However, the benefits of these technological developments also bring challenges, including cultural and infrastructural barriers, as well as information security concerns. While COVID-19 has accentuated the importance of digitalizing our banking systems, the associated challenges must also be given due diligence.

Although the financial services industry has become increasingly digitized with the emergence of new technologies, Bhavik Pathak argues that we have yet to see disruption in financial services parallel to what we have seen with Netflix, Uber, and Airbnb to the entertainment, transportation, and lodgings industry, respectively. The contrast is primarily due to restrictive regulations and infrastructure that favor the incumbents and limit the potential of emerging fintechs to niche product/service offerings. Pathak discusses how COVID-19 has disrupted this constraint by forcing governments to relax certain regulations.

The articles within this issue of CBTJ cover multiple areas of financial services, including e-commerce, banking, and investment management. Additionally, this issue offers a broad geographical scope, taking a global perspective in several articles, while also focusing on specific regions and economies, including the US and Ireland.

A “next normal” is undoubtedly going to emerge once the COVID-19 pandemic slows down or resolves. But while the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted the economy and work routines, it also provides opportunities for organizations to implement continuous learning and make progress toward upskilling and reskilling employees.

DevSecOps is becoming the dominant software engineering culture. It strives to unify software development, security, and operations. Users and businesses alike expect solutions that will be inherently secure by design and expect developers to be more responsive to business needs. This Executive Update explores the role of measurement in the organizational culture changes required for the successful implementation of DevSecOps. (Not a member? For a limited time, read it here.)