HARRY GODDARD

Deloitte Ireland

HARRY GODDARD CEO Deloitte

Deloitte employs c.3,000 people. Appointed CEO in June 2019, Harry Goddard’s client service experience is largely focused on leading significant technology-rich transformation programmes at national public sector and retail financial services clients.

ACTIVITY The twin beacons that are leading indicators of our trading outlook have been the performance of our restructuring and M&A businesses. Typically operating on a counter-cyclical basis, they have both performed strongly. This reflects the K-shaped economy where the pandemic has severely impacted on very specific sections of the economy (transport, tourism, hospitality, etc.) but other sectors have performed quite strongly, with our M&A business illustrating the high levels of available capital in the market.

Activity levels in our consulting and risk advisory businesses have been driven by companies that have traded through the pandemic and are investing, particularly in digital capabilities, to create greater resilience in their business models. Our audit business has continued to grow with a number of new mandates secured through the year. From a consulting point of view, once our clients moved to a remote working environment, work on projects continued and the business has performed very strongly as clients seek to further their investments in digital technology, most notably in cloud, cyber and robotics.

REMOTE WORKING The last big freeze of March 2018 gave us the opportunity to prove that our technology worked and that our efficiency levels would remain robust while everyone worked remotely. What we did not know is whether we could sustain the model and how our clients would react.

Since transitioning overnight to virtual we have utilised a variety of collaboration tools to enable people to stay in touch with colleagues and clients. We focused on communicating clearly and frequently with our people, significantly expanded our wellbeing supports, and provided options for agile working and time off such as paid sabbaticals. Our approach is one of flexibility and ongoing dialogue while understanding that people have different needs. Achieving a truly purposedriven culture requires listening and being very open to what you hear.

BUSINESS SUPPORTS Some sectors will require capital and confidence to be able to re-open on a permanent basis. If state supports were withdrawn, few of the businesses currently closed could survive without a clear and immediate path to reopening. Additional supports may be necessary to enable that reopening.

Most of these businesses will require time to rebuild their balance sheet and rebuild their business model.

ENTERPRISE We have seen a real explosion in the migration to cloud computing, with clients not just leveraging the capability for data storage, but more broadly seeking access to a range of data and analytics services as they look to provide a richer and more robust user experience for their customers. This migration to cloud computing has also led to the creation of new services and solutions that are built on cloud technology, as well as driving significant demand for cybersecurity services.