The words “London financier” conjure a picture of gentlemen in bowler hats and umbrellas walking through the gray streets of the City, a pink-sheeted copy of the Financial Times tucked securely under one arm. Finalists for the 2019 Citrix Customer Innovation Award, Schroders PLC are tossing the fuddy-duddy image and redefining the role of the finance professional.

At the new digitally optimized headquarters of the centuries-old asset management company, tablets have replaced newspapers and a flexible workplace allows employees to access their desktop wherever they want.

“[We] really put technology on the forefront of everything … creating the best digital experience for users that we possibly could,” said Paul Baird (pictured), global head of communications of information technology at Schroders.

Baird spoke with Lisa Martin (@LisaMartinTV), co-host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, and guest host Keith Townsend (@CTOAdvisor) during the Citrix Synergy event in Atlanta, Georgia. They discussed how Schroders fully digitalized its work environment using Citrix Systems Inc. software (see the full interview with transcript here). (* Disclosure below.)

[Editor’s note: The following answers have been condensed for clarity.]

Townsend: How has Citrix helped power the digital transformation of Schroder’s employee experience? 

Baird: Citrix’s Virtual Desktop Infrastructure solution was key to everything. It was the fundamental building block. Our solution is called S3, which is’ anytime, any place, from any device. [Citrix VDI] really empowered us to be able to fulfill that. It wasn’t an empty mission statement; it really was what we believed.

Martin: After over 200 years as a company, Schroders has a culture that’s pretty steeped in history. How has Citrix helped evolve that culture into the digital age?

Baird: One of the big pushes … was to enable collaboration for absolutely everyone in the company. Fundamentally, what we needed to do was not impinge on anyone’s ability to work and to collaborate. Everyone needed to be able to access their data, their applications, their services from whatever they were in order to properly digitally collaborate with each and every one of their colleagues. Otherwise, we’d just have done our users a disservice. Citrix helped us with that because we have an agile desk environment; we have flexible working.

We took the decision to roll out a virtual desktop environment to the existing users in our old offices prior to moving in, which proved to be an absolute godsend. For some people who’ve been there for years and years, moving into new offices is a sea change; it’s a difference to people’s working environment. [So], what we endeavored to do was to give them the new technology solutions … prior to the move so that all that actually changed was the desk and the furniture and the view.

Townsend: One of the challenges with information technology communications is getting people to read past the first line of an email saying that there’s a change coming.  So, what have been some of the effective ways that you’ve been able to communicate and prepare people for change? 

Baird: I agree entirely that the email delivery of information really doesn’t work. People just put it down as spam.

We worked with all areas of the program who who were pushing forward to get our staff into our new head office. There were roadshows … [where employees] could come … and log into the new technology. We had exact mock-ups of what the new desks were going to look like, and that had really, really positive benefits. We had videos behind genius bars that we had set up so that people … were actually seeing what that new technology journey was going to look like for them.

That really give us a lot of benefits, because people became more engaged; they understood where we’re going. It wasn’t just we’re going to send an email, and I’m going to get going to come in to work on a Monday morning, and everything’s changed in front of me, and what happened? Everyone pulled together. Everyone walked together.

Martin: Competition is fierce, whatever industry you’re in. Talk to us about how Schroders’ digital transformation has benefited your clients? 

Baird: Having the ability to collaborate with the clients is key to everything that we do. Having that almost seamless workflow. I can sit at a desk; I can come and sit beside you at your desk; I can log in to my machine and show you what I am working on; we can have an ad hoc meeting.

Fundamentally, our biggest strength as a company is our people. Ultimately, our staff working better together gives us a better user experience and a better customer experience.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Citrix Synergy event. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for Citrix Synergy 2019. Neither Citrix Systems Inc., the sponsor for theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE