Many member firms of the Investment Industry Association of Canada (IIAC) found the execution of their BCP (business continuity and/or conversion to work-from-home arrangements to be rapidly functional, yet obstacles still had to be overcome, according to a recent survey by the IIAC.
Difficulties arose in regards to the speed in which their firm and others had to transition; bandwidth and platform providers struggled under the sudden deluge of use, and some employees were not properly equipped at home with hardware and tools such as monitors when the lockdown was swiftly put into place. The other issue that arose was cultural adaptation to the work from home arrangements, and again the rapidity and totality of the conversion appears to be a significant factor in causing difficulties. Small tweaks like eliminating background noise on conference calls seem to make a considerable difference.
The choice of technology and platforms for various business functions is diverse, with functionality and security of the technology being prioritized.