The Coronavirus pandemic has upended millions of lives and affected every corner of the globe. Everyone’s obvious first priority is to stay safe, stay afloat, and get through this crisis. As a secondary serious effect of our new reality, the pandemic continues to have significant business impact. Organizations are grappling with what to do right now, and what to do long-term. When it comes to digital transformation and COVID-19, what are the right moves to make now and in the future? It’s a logical impulse to initially focus on cost cutting, continuity planning, and shoring up remote access. However, don’t ignore the single most important initiative for putting your company in the best position to rebound: Digital transformation. It may seem counterintuitive to accelerate these efforts right now, but in truth, moving forward with technology is more crucial than ever to business survival. But don’t just take our word for it. We’ve put together this roundup of recent articles from leading sources, explaining why now is the time to act.
Gartner
Coronavirus: CIO Areas of Focus During the COVID-19 Outbreak
Key Quote: “The value of digital channels, products and operations is immediately obvious to companies everywhere right now…This is a wake-up call for organizations that have placed too much focus on daily operational needs at the expense of investing in digital business and long-term resilience. Businesses that can shift technology capacity and investments to digital platforms will mitigate the impact of the outbreak and keep their companies running smoothly now, and over the long term.”
Forrester
Now Is A Counterintuitive But Ideal Time To Drive A Companywide Innovation Campaign
Key Quote: “Transformational times like this create opportunities to disrupt traditional market moves that are falling short and craft net-new services that extend your firm’s value.”
Key Quote: “The world is going even more digital because of this crisis, and old industrial-era thinking needs to be abandoned once and for all.”
Accenture
Channel Shift: Prioritizing Digital Commerce
Key Quote: “The COVID-19 pandemic is rapidly accelerating the digital commerce pivot globally, forcing business to revisit and even reimagine their strategy in the interest of capturing new marketplace opportunities and their fair share of new digital customer segments.”
Forbes
COVID-19: A Call for Digital Transformation
Key Quote: “It’s imperative for enterprises to build in the necessary operational resiliency to survive this new reality. The COVID-19 pandemic has showcased the value of IT and digital transformation, and organizations should use this time to accelerate the transition.”
COVID-19 Is A Before-And-After Moment in Digital Transformation
Key Quote: “Even when the COVID-19 outbreak is contained, it’s unlikely things will return to normal. Instead, we’re seeing the forced acceleration of previously slow-moving trends that are likely to shape the future for the long haul.”
CIO
Doubling Down on Digital Transformation During the Coronavirus Pandemic
Key Quote: “It’s tempting to backburner digital strategy amid the sharp uptake in business continuity and resiliency efforts. Don’t do that: Rather, accelerate business transformation efforts now to put yourself in better position after the pandemic passes.”
Insider Pro
Post-Coronavirus Planning Calls for More (Not Less) Investment in Tech
Key Quote: “As with the work-from-home trend, even when the crisis is over new habits will have been formed and the post-pandemic world will look very different from the pre-pandemic world. The higher cost of face-to-face interactions will go way down, but the relatively lower cost of electronic interactions will go up, and that will force a shift in spending toward IT.”
Harvard Business Review
Coronavirus Is Widening the Corporate Digital Divide
Key Quote: “The stakes for digital transformation have increased dramatically. Now, digitizing the operating architecture of the firm is not simply a recipe for higher performance, but much more fundamental for worker employment and public health.”
IDC
Key Quote: “The COVID-19 epidemic has showcased the value of IT and digital transformation, and organizations should turn the crisis into an opportunity to accelerate the transition.”
McKinsey
Beyond Coronavirus: The Path to the Next Normal
Key Quote: “A shock of this scale will create a discontinuous shift in the preferences and expectations of individuals as citizens, as employees, and as consumers. These shifts and their impact on how we live, how we work, and how we use technology will emerge more clearly over the coming weeks and months. Institutions that reinvent themselves to make the most of better insight and foresight, as preferences evolve, will disproportionally succeed.”
Digital Transformation and COVID-19: Conclusion
It can feel a little daunting to put digital strategy and implementation at the forefront right now, especially if you haven’t made significant progress in this area pre-COVID. However, in any crisis, new opportunities emerge. Somewhat strangely, digital transformation and COVID-19 seem to go hand-in-hand. This is a chance to create resilient processes and business models that give you competitive edge in our new reality, and well into the future.
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