What if I don’t want to come back?  Do I have to disclose whether I was vaccinated to my employer? What are the impacts of remote operations from a commercial real estate perspective? How does corporate culture survive in a remote or hybrid environment? What is the impact on career mobility? How are new technologies being deployed to revolutionize workflows and the customer experience in the equipment finance industry?

As the country continues to make its comeback after more than a year of fear and uncertainty from COVID-19, we are left with a lot of questions on what this all means about the work world—returning to offices and what the future will look like. In response to this, SFNet will host its first Innovation Conference, focusing on The Future of Work on July 14 and July 21, 2021 from 12:00-3:00 EDT each day. The Conference will focus on what the world of secured finance will look like as we emerge from the crisis. Attendees will walk away with the knowledge of whether their business is leading, adapting or falling behind.

Those responsible for strategy, planning, process and product development, marketing, technology and operations—and anyone interested in the changing landscape of our work environment are strongly encouraged to attend.

The conference agenda will include panel sessions followed by small, interactive roundtable discussions.  The program will kick off with an introduction and “setting the stage” by Lin Chua, co-founder & president, CFOO & head of Capital Markets at InterNex Capital, discussing the major themes that will be covered in the conference and asking: How are innovations in the way we work changing the face of secured lending? What is driving the acceleration of these trends?

Remote Operations–Here to Stay? Panel willexamine the return-to-work outlook. The panel will dive into the questions on everyone’s mind: What are the impacts of remote operations from a commercial real estate perspective? Will space use change? How are safety, convenience and cultural considerations being factored in?

Next up will be the Social and Legal Legacy of the Pandemic–New Rules of the Roadpanel featuring Tim Knight, vice president and senior managing partner, ThinkingAhead Executive Search. This panel will address the following: corporate culture in a remote and hybrid environment, career mobility, how the pandemic has affected Diversity, Equity and Inclusiveness, dealing with proof of vaccination and testing and company and employee rights.

“One of the looming questions coming out of the pandemic will be what will be the aftereffects of remote work to corporate culture,” Knight explained. “Most employees I talk with today are looking to maintain a healthy balance of coming into the office and the continued flexibility to work remotely. It seems most every company will be adopting some form of hybrid environment for its employees as long as productivity and work standards remain high. For many, working remotely has been a very positive experience and recent surveys show that up to 70% want and will demand the flexibility of working remotely and more than one third would accept a salary reduction in return if needed to maintain the same flexibility.”

As people are already returning to work in certain parts of the country, Knight reported hearing that the transition is going well for those companies that are still allowing freedom and flexibility for its employees.

“People are talking about culture today more in terms of how their company values and appreciates them through the flexibility and tools to do their work,” Knight added. “It’s less about the walls, conference room, furniture and perks of their respective offices. Companies that take a hard stance and believe its culture is about its four walls and are more rigid on return-to-work policies will suffer over the long haul.”

Knight also suspects it will become harder to retain the best talent if geographic location isn’t as big of an issue. Prior to the pandemic, most companies tended to cluster employees into a main or regional office set up and many required this arrangement to keep people in key locations due to shared services, day-to-day interaction and job training.

“At the present time, more and more searches awarded to our firm go with the preference of having someone in an office location, but with the openness to hire the right person almost anywhere in the country,” Knight added. “Advancement in technology and a work force that has been thrust into learning and that same technology has only helped. More companies are recognizing that working from anywhere in the world opens great possibilities when it comes to talent. While hiring hubs are here to stay, centered around geographic talent pools, a virtual model opens significant opportunity to recruit the best and most diverse applicant mix for any given role. This will make the competition for talent even greater as the economy rebounds and locations are not an issue in the hiring process.”

Leading labor attorney Brooke Iley, Co-Chair, Labor & Employment Practice Group, Blank Romewill facilitate the Legal Legacy aspect of thispanel, which will discuss what company and employee rights are. Iley will focus on legal considerations with a practical analysis of what employers can and cannot do as they navigate decisions about remote, hybrid and full  return to office plans.

“We will look at the current state of workplaces using results from employer surveys Blank Rome has conducted every quarter during the pandemic to address what works, what doesn’t, and what may when moving your workforces back toward a post-pandemic operational mindset,” Iley said. “We are going to try and take the mystery out of all of the conflicting, rapidly changing, and often unclear updates for businesses evaluating their workplace protocols coming into the Fall 2021.  We will have a real-world business talk about best practices and risk mitigation planning to aid employers as they consider various tools and programs to innovate the modern workspace and workforce.”

The legal perspective aspect of the panel will include a robust discussion on vaccination policy and protocols in the workplace and will include discussion around mask wearing in the office, thinking through the continuing use of daily health screenings, what obligations does an employer have to its returning employees, defining business goals over next few months/year, and how to turn this into legally sound communications and work plans that do not run afoul of government mandates and state and local regulations and understanding the pandemic implications in light of larger social justice and critical Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs.

The Conference’s first day will conclude with the Workplace Innovations – What Works and What Doesn't panel, led by panelists Nancy Lee, CEO, ABLSoft, Paul Cronin, head of ABL, Santander Bank, N.A. and Al Spada, EVP, Newtek Business Services Corp. This panel will address how the evolution of remote technologies and communication tools have impacted operations, if they are effective, and if they are a substitute for in-person interaction. Security and privacy issues will also be addressed.

The Conference’s second part will be held on July 24, from 12:00-3:00 p.m. EDT and the focus will shift to technology and workflow. Digital Disruption–Acceleration of Technology will featurepanelist Bill Verhelle, CEO, QuickFi by Innovation Finance. The panel will be a look into how new technologies being deployed to revolutionize workflows and the customer experience in the equipment finance industry. It will take a look at what the implications are for other forms of secured finance.

Some of these new technologies that may dramatically alter business models in the $1-trillion-per-year U.S. business equipment finance industry include facial recognition and drivers’ license authentication, artificial intelligence, and blockchain. Verhelle believes the adoption of these types of exponentially advancing technologies in mobile and cloud environments will foster a transition to 100% digital, 24/7, borrower self-service business models.

 “As we see in other industries facing disruption, the cost to operate the new, 100% digital model may be as much as 10x cheaper (or 10x more profitable) compared to existing business strategies, Verhelle explained. “This means new business model adoption may not be optional. Perhaps most challenging for existing industry players in disrupted industries, there is often no easy path from existing business models to new, digital models — which often share little in common in terms of employee expertise, workflows, culture, etc.”

Verhelle also noted that the price/performance of many important technologies will continue to double every year or two, creating entirely new ways to do business that may be unimaginable today. Business in all industries is simultaneously becoming more exciting and more perilous. 

The Conference will then move into segments focusing on Workflow Tools.

Part 1 will feature panelist Amos Welder IV, CFA, Senior Relationship Manager, Digital Benchmarking Programs, Greenwich Associates discussing Workflow for Lenders. Panelists will learn about the most impactful workflow tools for financial institutions in the wholesale lending space, where leaders are today, and what’s on the horizon.

Part 2: Workflow for Service Providers will featurepanelist Scott M. Ostroff, Senior Manager, Financial Services, Point Management Group, who will look at how new methods of service delivery are changing the landscape in financial services. The implications for service providers in secured finance will be discussed.

              We hope to see you for #SFNetInnv21. SFNet’s new company-wide pricing gives member organizations unlimited employee registrations for one low fee. Click here to see if your company has registered. For more information and to register, please click here.