How companies and industries have reacted to the covid-19 crisis?

The Coronavirus pandemic has tested the readiness of companies to manage crises. While the level of readiness has differed significantly across businesses and industries, financial services and technology companies have led in response effectiveness.

In this article, Homaira Akbari (President and CEO of Aknowledge Partners and independent director at Banco Santander) and Derek Vadala (CEO of Cyber Assessments) explain why these two sectors have been able to respond with greatest speed and resilience. They also share their thoughts on where companies should focus IT investment going forward “to ensure that when the unforeseen occurs, they are ready to respond with resilience and agility”.

• In the case of financial services, the effectiveness of their response is due to years of heavy investment and to the new risk culture emerged after the financial crisis in 2008. 
• In the case of Technology they argue that “Being “born in the cloud” has given a huge advantage, creating greater agility in their technology platform, processes and workforce”, allowing them to be more resilient, agile and scalable.