Issue 68 of Businesslife is now available online.
As restrictions resulting from the coronavirus pandemic begin to ease around the world, business leaders are turning their attentions away from the impact of Covid-19 on short-term issues such as daily working patterns to more strategic analysis of what the business world will look like in the ‘new normal’.
To gauge their thinking, in the latest issue of Businesslife, we invited a host of high-profile business leaders to share their views on this new world through our special Future View supplement.
They paint a picture of a world that will have different demands from customers and clients; where technology will be more accepted and play a greater role; and where, despite the upheaval that has been seen in recent months, opportunity will abound – not least in financial centres such as the Channel Islands, which have long shown resilience, adaptability and strength.
Jon Watkins, Editor-in-Chief of Businesslife, said: “What’s clear is that we are seeing a shift in mindset among business leaders, who are desperate to get their business and the wider economy moving again.
"While they remain conscious of the terrible impact of this crisis, the journey towards some sort of normality and towards seizing new opportunities has begun in earnest.”
Better together
In this issue, we also explore whether that new business environment will benefit from greater collaboration between private and public partnerships.
Working together is likely to be key to ensuring businesses and government are able to maximise the opportunities of the new world as quickly as possible.
Guernsey Deputy Lyndon Trott told us: “There’s a fertile environment for ideas and suggestions being fed in. We are not ‘all in this together’ right now [due to restrictions], but in recovery we will be. There’s definitely going to be more opportunity for shared risk and reward."
Strong foundations
In our lead interview for this issue, we speak to Naomi Rive and Martin Hall, who founded private wealth and fund administrator Highvern Group via a management buy-out of Coutts & Co Trustees nearly four years ago.
They tell us how the service offering has changed since becoming owner-managed, where the next growth opportunities lie for wealth businesses – and how coronavirus will affect their markets in the longer term.
“As for the impact of Covid-19 on the financial sector, for years to come lenders are going to be thoroughly focused on getting liquidity back into the market, so that SMEs and larger corporates can adjust and continue or rebuild themselves,” Hall told us.
“And for a long period of time, there won’t be such a huge tax take available for governments to support that either. I think that in our field, we’re going to see wealthy individuals and the dry powder amassed in funds globally over recent years filling that gap.”
Elsewhere in this issue
We also look at:
• The role of virtual leadership amid lockdown
• New ways of working that will stay for the long haul
• Project managers’ value in fast-paced delivery
• Using AI to measure performance
• Managing employees’ newly discovered demand for flexible working
Click here to view our June/July 2020 edition online
The physical version of the magazine will be available from its usual distribution points shortly.