When software company Class had to make the transition to working from home, CEO and Managing Director Andew Russell wanted to make sure the team felt connected not just on Zoom, but on a human level. While he never imagined himself as a vlogger, Andrew wanted to give a window into his world to help humanise the experience of working remotely for his team. Shortly after the senior leadership team adopted the same method of connection, combining client updates with stories from their personal lives. 

Andrew explains that not only did this method keep his team feeling connected, but it was a means of keeping the team focused. It helped ensure that their transition to remote working conditions was seamless, bringing on the consideration by Andrew that there are elements to this working style that could be adopted permanently. He adds that in the post-COVID world, a hybrid model of work will be required to attract and retain talent. 

When Chris asks Andrew about the impacts COVID-19 have had on the Australian advice industry, Andrew goes on to explain that the adoption of cloud-based technology has been the biggest saviour for some many businesses. “Now we’re 10 or 12 weeks in they’ve adapted their business models, so in the main from what we’re seeing businesses are doing well. Some are doing better than they were before and then some have their struggles but it’s really around how they think about their business model but the most important thing is it’s given them the opportunity to reset their business strategy”.

While Andrew admits that technology is no complete replacement for the human experience, this event has shown us in more ways than one that digital workflows are the key to creating a more flexible and arguably healthier working environment. 

You can watch the full episode here.

Zoom

Zoom came on the scene back in 2011 but shot to prominence around 2015-16 after raising $30m and integrating with key applications such as Salesforce and Slack, giving it substantial global reach. The appeal of Zoom, compared with its main rivals at the time, being Cisco Webex and Skype (acquired by Microsoft in 2011), was that you didn’t need to download a software client to get it working. You just set up a link and attendees click on it and “voila”, your VC session launches and just works. These days, Zoom remains a great platform allowing large numbers of participants (up to 1,000), the ability to share your screen, record video sessions, run webinars and offers seamless integration with Outlook and Gmail. Apart from some well publicised security issues, Zoom is a fantastic and reliable video conferencing platform for both business, and increasingly during COVID-19, consumer audiences. Zoom is free to up to 100 participants provided you don’t go over 40 minutes, and is very well suited to most meeting formats. Over and above that it comes with a price tag starting at $21 per month, per host and with a whole range of other service options for businesses of all sizes. 

Google Hangouts

This one is probably my favourite for general day-to-day video collaboration with other team members. As I am a self-confessed fan of Google and its suite of apps, I like the ability to launch this service from Gmail quickly and easily, as well as its slick integration with Google Calendar. I also find the HD quality of Google Hangouts to be the best on the market and the instant messaging feature is a bonus as well. It’s basically a free service when you have a Google account and very popular amongst small businesses and individuals.

Microsoft Teams

This is perhaps the fastest growing and most popular communications platform that I have observed amongst the advisers that I have spoken with during the myprosperity@home interview series. I do use Microsoft Teams with a number of tech companies and it is particularly attractive for large team meetings where you want to collaborate whilst working remotely. Microsoft has had a checkered history with its various video comms platforms efforts, including Office Communications Server, Lync, then paying a hefty price tag with Skype (US$8.5B) only to find it lagging behind the others. Of recent times however, Microsoft has done an awesome job with Microsoft Teams combining the strength of its other Office 365 features such as email/calendar/contacts integration, file and screen sharing, instant messaging and recording capabilities, all built on a strong security framework. As a result there is no wonder that over 90% of the Fortune 500 companies use Teams, leveraging the familiarity of its very popular Office 365 product suite.

And so the verdict? At the end of the day I really can’t pick a winner, and like me you probably use all three. But whichever your preference the thing we all need to appreciate they’re all seeing rapid up-take. In order of share price increase during COVID-19, Google is up 25%; Microsoft up 45% and Zoom a whopping 93%. In the case of the latter, the growth is made even more crazy by the fact that Zoom’s PE ratio is tracking at an insane 1,213. This makes the tech bubble of the early 2000’s look insignificant and I’d imagine the profit takers are on red alert with this one. 

Valuations aside, each of these vendors have done a great job of making their respective products easy to use and cost effective for the average punter.

It’s a short week after the long weekend but a lot has already been jammed in. Here’s what’s happening in advisory: 

1. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OCED) has warned the Morrison Government not to withdraw its stimulus spending too quickly in September as Australia leads the developed world out of the pandemic-induced recession. The intergovernmental agency has encouraged Australia to continue considering stimulus spending as they fear a reduction could slow Australia’s ability to recover.

2. The HomeBuilder stimulus package laid out by the Morrison Government has received criticism this week as commentators fail to see how the plan will create new jobs in the sector as well as the grant being available to only a small portion of Australians. Some argue that the package could have an adverse impact on the residential property prices and produce a ‘negative wealth effect’.

3. A new global survey has found that two-thirds of banking executives say that technology will continue to drive global banking in the next five years, with 77% saying that artificial intelligence will be the difference between winning and losing banks. 

4. As employers are faced with staff returning to work in offices, the question remains as to how the Australian workplace will progress forward. myprosperity Director Chris Ridd made the case in his recent article that the hierarchy of needs for workers has shifted during this time, and that flexibility in working arrangements has ascended to the top of what workers regard as important. 

5. The ATO has flagged its concern over the growing number of SMSFs purchasing and investing in real estate. While there are no specific prohibitions preventing SMSF investment in property development, the ATO has warned that care needs to be taken to ensure that there are no breaches of regulation. 

My personal belief is that any shift in power towards the employer, real or perceived, will be short-lived as we emerge from the lockdown. Studies into the needs of the millennial workforce, now the most dominant cohort within the workplace, show that core to any value exchange with an employer is the need for employees to find meaning in their work and to perform at their peak. Maslow has that one (what he calls “self-actualisation”) at the very top of the pyramid but more and more it is becoming a core requirement of the modern worker. In a recent article in CEO Magazine, Dr Lindsay McMillan, Managing Director of Australian workplace research firm Reventure, noted that in a review conducted in 2016, they found that 72% of employees were looking for purpose and meaning in their work, with younger respondents, in particular, deeming it a top priority.  

We also know that a greater focus on individual wellbeing is a growing need for employees of this generation. I’m not talking here about gym memberships, bowls of fruit, office slides and endless supplies of Friday beers. Yes, they can all help, but the perks that staff tend to value more are not really perks. It is simply a work environment that affords them more flexibility, increased autonomy and one where they can balance other interests that allow them to live a better life. COVID-19 has served to heighten this core need amongst many employees for flexibility in the workplace. More and more, flexible scheduling and the ability to work from home will play an important role in an employee’s decision to take or leave a job. Those organisations that embrace this and can offer this to their staff will be the ones that continue to attract and retain top talent and deliver great results.

Atlassian’s Scott Farquhar this week said that going forward “9 to 5 doesn’t work in a digital world”. Well guess what, that’s all of us, not just tech companies. We are all now part of a digital world. He goes on to say, “As leaders, we need to fight the idea that the world should go back to the way it was. What it was is a known state, but charting a path back to a known state isn’t leadership.” 

The opportunities as leaders in business is to understand that the world has changed. We were already heading down a path where flexibility in the workplace was on the rise. Now that we have seen that it can actually work, and work well, we need to embrace it and ensure it becomes the new normal.

Written by myprosperity Director Chris Ridd

David Boyar began his career at ChangeGPS having utilised the software as a part of his own business and realised it’s full potential for accountants across Australia. “I called up Tim the Founder, and GPS has been around for a decade; and I just asked mate what’s the vision here, because I can’t believe how much success I’ve had using this, every accountant should be using this. So I flew up to Brisbane and ended up joining a technology company!” The rest as they say his history.

Now David is General Manager of Growth at ChangeGPS and continues to closely watch the Australian financial advice sector as it continues to adapt to changes from the Royal Commission and COVID-19. One of the biggest things he’s seen change amid these tricky times has been the way accountants communicate with their clients, as well as advisers. David explains how accountants are typically viewed as being more reactive with their clients, sometimes having less control of the client relationship than a financial adviser may. What he’s seeing is a widespread adoption of communication platforms like MailChimp which marks a change in the way accountants are approaching their client relations. 

David also commented on the state of the Australian financial advice sector, noting that the market lacks an ability to educate Australians on the variety of advice and professionals they can seek out, leaving people with the perception that their choices are limited. “That’s where the accountants exception becomes really important. For an accountant to be able to say this the tax impact of your super contribution, by the way don’t do it, you need to go spend two-three grand to basically verify it, I mean it’s broken.”

Despite this David goes on to discuss some of the more optimistic developments coming out of the advice sector amid COVID-19. “I’m seeing accountants and advisers all in different buckets right now.” He explains that because of the variety of advice being given, and the circumstances clients are finding themselves in, there’s groups of professionals who will be incorporating this knowledge into their advice business to make their service offering more dynamic and attune to the needs of everyday Australians. “I don’t think we can wait and sit for a legislative instrument to give us the licensing requirements that we need.” David states that this is a clear opportunity for collaboration and partnerships within the industry. 

When asked what technology he’s seeing being widely adopted, David returns to an earlier point around mass communication platforms like MailChimp holding strong value in maintaining strong client relationships. He’s also seeing the wide adoption of digital document signing platforms as a means for businesses to remain efficient in this time. 

Touching on the myprosperity wealth portal, the two discuss how the digital document signing feature has exploded in usage in recent times whilst also mentioning the newest feature soon to be released, Rooms, which will exist as a collaboration tool for professionals to work together on any client goal. Stay tuned! 

You can view Chris and David’s full conversation here.

1. Australia’s 29-year period of economic expansion has ended, with Treasurer Josh Frydenberg announcing that the country has entered a recession as of this quarter. New figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that Australia’s GDP has contracted 0.3%. 

2. The Morrison Government has laid down plans for an economic recovery fueled by the construction industry, unveiling a new stimulus package that will provide $25,000 grants to Australian’s who are “substantially renovating” or building a new home from the 4th June to 31st of December 2020. 

3. Self-funded retirees in self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs) have sounded the alarm for an approaching income crisis with falling returns, lower dividends and interest rates. The latest government figures reveal that SMSF returns have fallen by 10% in the first 3 months of the year. 

4. Now more than ever, Australians are turning to their trusted adviser for guidance on how to navigate these tricky times. myprosperity Director Chris Ridd recently sat down with Jessica Brady of Fox & Hare Financial Advice to discuss how they’ve tailored their services specifically for young Australians. Read more about their conversation here.

5. FPA chief executive Dante De Gori has announced that the association has called for the AFSL system to go through serious reform, moving the focus of licensing to financial products rather than the provision of financial advice.