We’ve now had well over year of sporadic lockdowns, of varying degrees of severity. I’m loathe to tempt fate, but it does seem that, in the UK, we’re heading towards a low background level of Covid-19, during the summer months at least. It’s therefore an appropriate time to examine the changed methods of working, and whether, or to what extent, they should be incorporated into normal practice.
The Bank of England and the UK Treasury have announced a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) Taskforce to coordinate the exploration of a potential British CBDC. But how could a digital Pound actually work? As it happens, this is something that Consult Hyperion knows rather a lot about. Apart from our work on the first British central bank digital currency (Mondex) back in the 1990s, our work on the first population-scale mobile money scheme (M-PESA) in the 2000s and our work on the most transformational contactless payment roll-out (Transport for London) in the 2010s, our practical experience across implementation platforms means that we understand the architectural options better than anyone.
At this time of year my colleague, Dave Birch looks forward, his annual “Live Five” started as a bit of fun, but over the years has become a thought provoking look at what might impact our industry in the coming year, if you haven’t read it yet, please follow this link.
As we come to the holiday season, we know that we will be bombarded with reviews of 2020 on television, in our newspapers and online. A conversation with some colleagues about how long they had worked in the payments industry, prompted my own review when I realised that on the 8th December, I clocked up 40 years in the industry, how technology has changed our lives in that time.
Twenty-Twenty. What could go wrong in such a perfectly numbered year? Sadly, we all know the answer to that: Everything.
2020 has been dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic threatening our way of life, challenging our resourcefulness and resilience, on a global scale not experienced since the World War ended 75 years ago.
In 2020, some businesses with a strong digital presence have shown resilience by shifting all their operations online and moving to full-on remote working, adapting to a period of indefinite social distancing. Broadband connectivity was a key factor in keeping the lights on for those businesses. When the stay-at-home order came into full force in the UK, most feared the impact this would have on broadband performance all around. They anticipated a struggle along with their neighbours, stuck at home looking for ways to keep connected with their loved ones and colleagues, and to keep themselves entertained online. No doubt these were all valid concerns for us, domiciled warriors, called to take up arms to save lives by, ahem, manning the recliner, among other things. Yet, lo and behold, most of the ISPs in the UK had no major trouble adapting, and stood their ground as their resilient systems faced this sudden, indefinite surge in demand as the pandemic unfolded.
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