Pandemic accelerates digital transformation by six years

A global study conducted by cloud communications platform Twilio reveals that 97% of enterprise decision-makers believe the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated their company’s digital transformation efforts.

To better understand the magnitude of COVID-19 and the lasting effect it will have on business and customer engagement, Twilio surveyed more than 2500 enterprise decision-makers across the world to gauge the effect on their company’s digital transformation and communication roadmap.

The COVID-19 Digital Engagement Report is a snapshot of how businesses have addressed the complex challenges posed by this crisis and how they will continue to evolve moving forward.

“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,” Twilio Chief Customer Officer Glenn Weinstein said.

“Our customers in nearly every industry have had to identify new ways to communicate with their customers and stakeholders — from patients, to students, to shoppers and even employees — essentially overnight.

“Cloud scale, speed and agility are enabling organisations to innovate faster than ever. We believe the solutions being built today will be the standard for digital engagement in the future.”

Twilio Global Head of Healthcare Services Susan Collins said, “COVID-19 has had a monumental impact on digital transformation timelines within the healthcare sector and has undoubtedly changed the trajectory for innovation in the industry.

“IT budgets have been increased to accommodate for the rapidly changing needs of public health, and digital strategies have been accelerated by six years on average.

“The solutions deployed to address the COVID-19 crisis provide an opportunity for the healthcare industry to advance its use of technology to create tools that fit seamlessly within a provider’s workflow and ultimately deliver better outcomes for patients,” Collins said.

Key findings of the COVID-19 Digital Engagement Report include:

• COVID-19 was the digital accelerator of the decade, accelerating companies’ digital communications strategies by an average of six years — 97% of enterprise decision-makers believe the pandemic sped up their company’s digital transformation.
• Digital communication is the new lifeblood for business. Almost all companies (95%) are seeking new ways of engaging with customers as a result of COVID-19 — 92% say transforming digital communications is extremely or very critical to address current business challenges.
• Previous inhibitors to innovation have been broken down — 79% of respondents say that COVID-19 increased the budget for digital transformation. Companies report easing of barriers such as lack of clear strategy (37%), getting executive approval (37%), reluctance to replace legacy software (35%) and lack of time (34%).
• Omnichannel communication is taking on new importance — 92% say their organisation is very or somewhat likely to expand digital communication channels as the world reopens.
• Over half (54%) said COVID-19 propelled focus on omnichannel communications and 53% added new channels amid the pandemic. One in three companies started using live chat and IVR channels for the first time as a result of COVID-19.
   

To read the report, click here.

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