5 Jun 2014
What happens once the Tiger is out of the cage?
Deloitte has one of the most social media active workforces in the region. Using Yammer, the firm responded to ANZ insight 5“Caged Tiger: The Transformation of the Asian Financial System”. BlueNotes has distilled some fascinating – and quite out there – forecasts of what will happen when the world’s financial axis tilts towards Asia...
Deloitte asked staff to channel Futurama, Bladerunner and tell us what they thought would happen to culture, art, tourism, design and food in the Asian Century. How will work patterns change? Will traders in New York and London set their alarms for Chinese and Indonesian business hours? Will green tea replace coffee? Will Chinese New Year dominate our holiday schedules? Will Mandarin or Bahasa become the lingua franca?
Here’s what a socially switched on workforce thinks:
Technology will change the way businesses operate: some predict this will reduce the roles required for people; others feel reputation and trust – human attributes - will become even more crucial:
“Technology will more easily facilitate the trading of units for unlisted managed funds without the need for a broker.”
“Relationship banking and various flavours of community/segment banking should not be forgotten… Whilst data and tech will automate many things - customer service will continue to be a differentiator - particularly in cultures where the value of the relationship has a premium.”
“The ability to differentiate becomes more difficult and bank selection becomes more about the brand association and what the company stands for.”
Globalisation will inevitably lead to greater competition between businesses, producing better outcomes for customers:
“The ease of banking with any bank globally will mean the perks offered for joining will increase.”
“Lottery based mortgages - one lucky customer a month could have their mortgage repaid.”
And the models for lending will change:
“Customers will be able to go online, place a money transfer and obtain a code then send it to a recipient overseas who can go to any ATM and receive those funds.”
“Peer-to-peer lending will emerge as a force, enabled by software innovation, availability of credit and accessibility of internet-connected devices. It's already starting to take off in Europe and the US but is arguably a more natural cultural fit in Asia.”
“Ebay/Kickstarter style global marketplace set-up for infrastructure investment bonds melding US-style government bond market and crowd-based funding models ... so citizens can fund the infrastructure they want to build instead of waiting for governments.”
Knowledge of language and culture in doing business will become even more crucial to success:
“Terms like Takaful (Sharia compliant insurance) and re-Takaful (re-insurance) will be universal.”
“Besides Mandarin, you will probably also need to learn Shanghainese for ‘extra points’.”
“The concept of 'face' and how we save it, give it, build it and lose it, will be taught in school.”
As a result, some of our recruitment and training will have to change:
“Singing lessons for all execs so that they can dominate karaoke sessions.”
“Corporate grad programs will add an 'eating out in Chinese restaurants' module, with a focus on how to (properly) eat chicken feet.”
“Learn to play table tennis.”
The foods we eat in Australia are also likely to change…
“Think McDumplings and McDimSum.”
Financial markets won’t just tilt towards Asia, they’ll look different:
“Stock tickers will go numeric (e.g. 001234.N instead of GOOG.N), as Asian markets use numeric tickers.”
The views and opinions expressed in this communication are those of the author and may not necessarily state or reflect those of ANZ.