Since the referendum, businesses have been advised to start planning their post-Brexit policies but this is difficult given that no one knows what post-Brexit will look like. Business leaders and institutions have warned of the disadvantages of leaving the EU with no deal, but time is running out for a deal to be agreed. As a global IT provider with a UK base and with customers across manufacturing, retail, financial services, we wanted to understand what steps we and our clients can take to stay productive in the face of this uncertainty and despite the outcome.
No deal doom
While we can hope for a positive deal that establishes customs and border agreements, clarifies the position of workers and covers the exchange of data between countries, businesses must have a contingency plan for the UK leaving the EU without a deal. This has been presented as a worst case scenario in a joint statement issued by The British Chambers of Commerce, EEF, CBI, Federation of Small Businesses and the Institute of Directors: It predicts massive new customs costs and tariffs, disruption at ports destroying supply chains, UK and EU nationals working abroad being left uncertain about their future.
As technology runs through all areas of an organisation from production and supply chain to HR, the IT department is well placed to work with other departments to minimise disruption and avoid additional burden. Looking at which processes operate with other countries and which technologies or operational changes can be implemented is a good place to start.
Transform without overhauling
Businesses that have undergone digital transformation projects will be best prepared to cope with a volatile climate: they will already be finessing aspects of their organisation to enable better performance, flexibility and scalability and the ability to react quickly. However, for other businesses there is little time before the Brexit deadline to overhaul their IT systems. What’s required is a focus on those areas that are most likely to be affected by changing regulations and infrastructure.
The ability to add mobile apps to an older system is often the desired outcome of digital transformation projects, but businesses are often deterred by perceived complexities of integrating the mobile interface with multiple back-end systems. It’s a common belief that to create an effective mobile app you need to rip out and replace existing systems which is a prohibitively costly – and risky – exercise. This is not necessarily the case, however. Advanced application programming interfaces (APIs) can allow for an integration layer, tying the mobile app interface to a variety of core applications even where the source code is unavailable. API tools allow data to flow both up and downstream from multiple systems, bringing it into a single workflow that can be accessed by a mobile app.
Data
Data is an area that some businesses might overlook when contingency planning for Brexit, but one that could cause enormous headaches. UK based businesses have diligently and often painstakingly worked towards compliance with Europe’s data protection regime, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Out of the EU, we’ll need a new agreement to move data between the UK and EU countries. This could take months, resulting in data stagnation, the threat of which has caused many larger companies to move to open data centres in mainland Europe.
While cloud solutions are an excellent means for businesses to scale and make rapid changes, those that use a cloud IT service which stores data anywhere outside of the UK must prepare appropriate legal and technological structures to ensure compliance. It is worth referring to the Information Commissioner’s Office web site which details a list of safeguards which protect any transfer of EU citizens’ personal data to the UK.
Skills
The steady fall in net migration since the Brexit referendum has slowed the flow of workers and, depending on the deal (or no deal) UK businesses could struggle to fulfil certain roles and send employees to work overseas. Britain’s technology sector is already suffering from a skills gap, which has traditionally been plugged by the EU labour market. Eastern Europe in particular, has served as a dependable channel of IT and mainframe talent for companies based in the UK. This option may not be available for much longer and, according to a survey by Tech London Advocates of 5,700 start-ups, corporate and academic representatives, 55% believe Brexit is the biggest threat to skills across the tech sector.
One area where demand is outstripping supply is mainframe skills, despite 50 per cent of Fortune 500 businesses being built on these machines. Many programmers are leaving the UK since companies they work for are considering relocation to the EU post-Brexit. British businesses need to move quickly to ensure that they aren’t left without the development resources they need.
New technology is helping. For instance, open source tools and languages for mainframes can be used to make these machines more accessible to existing IT staff, even if they are totally unversed in COBOL. “Ported” versions of popular development tools allow more common languages like Python, PERL or Java to programme IBM mainframes and other existing systems to be used. Such tools are increasingly commonplace, shrinking the skills gap and removing the pressure on organisations as they search for mainframe expertise.
Conclusion
Whatever happens on March 29th and thereafter is out of our control but what happens to our businesses depends on how we prepare. Contingency planning does require focus and a certain commitment of resources but it is necessary: businesses must understand the implications of the possible outcomes and be equipped to make rapid changes to their processes. An organisation’s IT department has a key role to play in providing stability until certainty is restored and, for those businesses still in the first steps towards digital transformation, the innovations implemented should stand them in good stead for the future.
By Guy Tweedale, regional VP at Rocket Software
