The coronavirus issues have also impacted upon employee and consumer attitudes as companies find ways to adapt to a remote workforce and a new digital reality. Some of these issues have been picked up by xMatters, who have undertaken a service titled ‘Impact of COVID-19 on Digital Transformation‘. This takes the form of questions posed to 300 consumers and 300 IT professionals (drawn from companies from at least 500 workers).
The study shows that despite a declaration of confidence from 75 percent of IT professionals in their ability to support the greater dependence on digital services, there has been a rise in application performance errors reported by more than half of consumers. This places additional strain on IT helpdesk operations.
The measures have directed some companies to seek the use of virtual assistants (including video, telephony and chatbox services) in order to help manage the additional demand upon resources, and to cope with a reduction in onsite or remote services.
Current efforts by IT organizations to build operational resiliency and adapt quickly will help position businesses for future success. 82 percent of consumers say they will continue using digital services in the same capacity even after the current stay at home period expires.
The data also showed that security is a key concern for consumers and businesses. With this, it was found that almost half of consumers (at 48 percent) stated that security or privacy concerns would stop them from using digital services. Furthermore, a majority (79 percent) of IT workers indicated that their organization put an even greater focus on infrastructure security and privacy during this period.
