Is the next wave of transformation on your agenda, or setting it?

1.  Technology transforms

COVID-19 accelerated digital adoption but also exposed inequalities

Consumer barriers to online adoption have been swept away at a stroke and many businesses have found that even the most crucial aspects of their work can be done virtually. Cognitive psychology suggests that it takes between 12 weeks and 12 months to form new habits. So we can expect this shift to digital to endure, with technology now central to strategy rather than a means to generate efficiencies.

However, this shift has not been equally positive for all. Assumptions that consumers and employees have access to multiple devices at home and on the move need to be challenged. Remote learning for children has highlighted how digital can divide us as well as bring us together – less affluent children, often lacking the technology and space to learn, have fallen further behind.

This illustrates how, in order to embrace the future, we must put humans at the centre of any transformation. The roll out of new technologies needs to be supported by behaviour-based research and an awareness of societal needs rather than solely commercial imperatives.  This will enable the adoption of new technologies at speed and scale without deepening divides. 

3. Value and values

The re-emergence of purpose to define a company’s values

Whilst purpose may previously have seemed a slightly abstract concept, during the pandemic we have more clearly seen what organisations ‘are for’.  Arguably, it was that sense of purpose that saw businesses behave in seemingly atypical ways. For example, teaming up with rivals to produce vital medical equipment at cost price.

But, whilst financial profit and loss is relatively easy to measure, other forms of value creation – which we often associate with a company’s purpose – are more difficult to quantify. To help address this, EY will continue to play a leading role in developing common tools and frameworks to measure non-financials, as we have through our work with the Embankment Project for Inclusive Capitalism (EPIC) and World Economic Forum (WEF).

In the years to come, this ability to look beyond the short-term to invest in employees, deliver value to customers, deal fairly and ethically with suppliers and support communities may increasingly be seen, not as a moral imperative, but as a way to drive performance and generate long-term value for shareholders. 

4. The power of people

The world of work has changed forever, creating new possibilities

The resilience of our own workforce in adapting to remote working was extraordinary, but for many other workers the transition was much more difficult. The UK, like many other advanced economies, saw social inequalities deepen, with skilled white-collar employees adapting more easily to working from home, whilst younger and less skilled workers have suffered disproportionately. Better access to platforms and tools to enable this demographic to work successfully from home should be a priority.

As where we work becomes irrelevant and the hours during which we work become much less important, the role of the office is now up for question, with new possibilities emerging. Older workers who are unable to commute, parents who need to spend some of the working day with their children and people living on the other side of the world, will no longer have the same barriers to work. Cities may be reshaped, and towns become resurgent, offering new opportunities to fulfil the UK government’s levelling-up agenda. A more diverse workforce may be increasingly critical, commercially as well as societally, as change accelerates and traditional approaches must be replaced by new ideas and fresh thinking.