We’ve discussed how digital transformation fits into our post-COVID world. Specifically, how investment in emerging technologies is key for business survival.
(Not to mention its effect on the digital workplace and cybersecurity.)
Let’s keep the discussion going. Why? Because according to a study by cloud communications platform Twilio, COVID-19 accelerated companies’ digital communications strategy by an average of 6 years.
Basically, we’re going to be feeling its effects for a very, very long time.
“Over the last few months, we’ve seen years-long digital transformation roadmaps compressed into days and weeks in order to adapt to the new normal as a result of COVID-19,” explains Glenn Weinstein, Twilio’s Chief Customer Officer. Looking at the numbers, 97% of survey respondents believe the pandemic sped up their company’s digital transformation.
“Cloud scale, speed, and agility are enabling organizations to innovate faster than ever,” Weinstein added.
Twilio surveyed 2500+ enterprise companies on how COVID-19 impacted their digital transformation roadmaps. Read the report and learn how your peers are thinking about the future. https://t.co/zGng9v727y pic.twitter.com/Eitx2OAJ1a
— twilio (@twilio) July 15, 2020
To generate their COVID-19 Digital Engagement Report, Twilio — with Lawless Research — surveyed 2,500+ enterprise decision-makers in the US, UK, Germany, Australia, France, Spain, Italy, Japan, and Singapore.
Further key insights include:
- 96% say COVID-19 accelerated digital communication transformation
- 92% say transforming digital communication is extremely or very critical to address COVID-19 business challenges
- Overall, many barriers to DX were broken. At the top of the list of barriers is ‘lack of clear strategy’ and ‘getting executive approval’ (both 37%), ‘reluctance to replace legacy software’ (35%), and ‘lack of time’ (34%). The average number of barriers broken among respondents is 2.7.
- 79% say COVID-19 increased their budget for digital transformation
- 95% expect their organization to find new ways of engaging customers as a result of COVID-19. 54% of respondents said COVID-19 propelled focus on omnichannel communications, while 53% added new channels.
- 1 in 3 companies started using live chat and IVR channels for the first time, with the average number of net-new channels implemented being 3.5.
Industry- and geography-specific effects
Of the industries that were most likely to accelerate DX efforts, technology, energy, and healthcare were at the top of the list.
74% of healthcare companies have sped up their digital transformation. Read more in our COVID-19 Digital Engagement Report. https://t.co/2dY8DZWYeT pic.twitter.com/Mz11iUclKf
— twilio (@twilio) July 22, 2020
When looking at the acceleration of DX, construction, and energy companies had their efforts sped up by an average of 8.1 and 7.2 years, respectively.
Finally, Twilio’s report shows that DX knows no borders. Companies in Japan, Germany, and Singapore have had their digital communications efforts accelerated by an average of 7.5, tied at 7.2, respectively. In the UK and France, 1 in 3 organizations say their DX budgets have ‘increased dramatically.’
