COVID-19: A starting point for Operational Resilience
The unprecedented nature and acceleration of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 changed how we live and work and presents an opportunity for the financial services industry to leverage lessons learnt from it in developing new ways to drive even greater resiliency in the future.
The conditions brought about by Covid-19 led financial service organisations to safeguard critical services in maintaining daily operations while also remaining vigilant in defending against growing cyber-attacks and addressing risks around remote working.
Operational resilience is, the ability of an organisation to serve its customers/members and protect itself and its people in the face of crises by preventing, responding to, recovering from and learning from operational disruptions and adapting to such future events.
Operational resilience is more than mere compliance, it should be used as an opportunity to strengthen operating models to ensure that no unnecessary inefficiencies are added to the cost base. Adopting a strategic approach to operational resilience will realise additional benefits, including; effective organisational models, a more reliable level of service delivery to customers/members, better oversight and control of outsourced business activities and prioritisation of strategies in supporting business resilience.
While some firms might feel that Regulatory guidance is not sufficiently granular in building an operational resilience framework, others see it as an opportunity to become operationally resilient in a way that suits them. Operational resilience is not just another ‘tick box’, It should be viewed as an aid in identifying and addressing inefficiencies and blind spots to make the financial services sector stronger and more adaptable to change.
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Michael O’Grady
