While the focus of banks’ efforts should be short-term, this crisis may very well accelerate many trends that were already reshaping the banking industry.It’squitepossiblethattherewillbenoreturnto“businessasusual”. So, while short-term responses are clearly necessary, they may (and often should)layafoundationforlonger-termbusinessmodelchanges. Astheindustryreacts,itcannotallowtheperfecttobetheenemyofthegood. Numerous Accenture clients have immediately announced paymentholidays forloans, resultingincallcentersbeingoverwhelmed. Thetriageofissueswas As the industry difficultforunder-trainedstaff,andtherewasalotof confusion.Butweagree withthecalculusofourclients:itwasmoreimportant to quickly signal the banks’ intent to be supportive partners and display empathy,thantoworry reacts,itcannotallow aboutgettingallthedetailssortedoutbeforesetting customers’ minds atease. Thesebanksadopted the approach to a crisis that is often taught to leaders in the perfect to be the themilitary:beclearabouttheintent,setadirection,getabasicplaninplace, get started on the mission, buy some time to revise the plan, and then adjust enemyofthegood. as necessary*. This is also a good description of the agile way of working that manyofourclientshaveadoptedinrecentyears.Whileit’stemptingtotreata crisislikethiswithawaterfall“plan,resource,andexecute”process,wethink thiscrisiscallsforafocusonshortsprintswithinthebroaderpurposeofalways tryingtodotherightthingforyourcustomers. We hope you find at least one issue in this document that you and your team might not already have thought of, and perhaps a few new ideas on how to addressthiscrisis.Wehaveaggregatedourideasintoachecklistthatappears attheendofthisletter.Asalways,weappreciateyourfeedbackandsupport. Throughitall,let’snotforgetthatthisisfirstandforemostahealthcrisis,and that our primary responsibility is to safeguard the health of our families, our colleaguesand,indeed,ourselves.Staywell! 3 * See Accenture’s report on the 10 practical steps leaders can takenow to steer their organization confidently through the crisis.