FIDI President Ebru Demirel on ensuring your business is FAIM-compliant all year round
It is the end of one year and the start of another. In other words, the perfect time to take stock of where we are now and where we want to go next.
We achieved many good things this year, including putting the final touches to the FAIM DSP certification, opening our Academy to corporate customers, and deepening the collaboration with other industry associations.
I especially want to emphasise the step of opening up to corporate students. The Academy will always hold a special place in my heart, because continuous education is so important to our lives: it enables us to reach new heights.
Also, this past year, FIDI took the lead in looking into gender parity and diversity in our community, with its 39 Club survey. The goal is to analyse how our members feel about gender parity in the industry. The results will be published early in 2020, and I am eager to see them.
In the meantime,
what can each of us do to ensure our companies are ready for the new year?
Here’s my suggestion: FAIM Fitness. What do I mean by that? The relative
quietness of the days around the holidays are a perfect time to make sure your
company is in shape for its FAIM audit. After all,
the point of the audit is not to make you run around and go crazy once a year
so you temporarily meet the programme’s standards. It is to raise and maintain
your company’s level of professionalism all year long.
By including FAIM requirements in your daily routine, you guarantee that you are meeting the standards all the time. So, I highly encourage you to do two things:
If you are not going through an onsite FAIM audit this year, make a point of using the internal FAIM audit to check proactively that everything is in good shape.
For the financial assessment, upload your financial documents to the secure online platform for EY’s financial assessment as soon as these are available. The EY financial report is a great additional marketing tool that you should use to stand out from the competition.
Your proactive approach to the FAIM audits makes the process run like clockwork for you and for FIDI. That’s why we all brought FAIM into our lives in the first place – to improve our company operations, to make them run smoothly, and to show the world we hold ourselves to a higher standard.
I love this industry and am thankful every day that I get to spend my life in it. The industry and its players are always evolving, but one thing remains the same: people move around the world and we are there to help make it as easy as possible. We are leaders, moving out ahead of them and smoothing the path they want to take. In fact, Leadership is one of the themes of our upcoming FIDI Conference in Osaka, Japan.
On that note, I hope you enjoy this issue of FIDI Focus. We, here at FIDI, wish you and your family the best for the new year. May it be one of richness and fulfilment for you all!
