The current COVID-19 pandemic may have changed the way many of us work and impacted productivity, but digital transformation marches on. With technology arguably more important than ever, digital transformation needs acceleration, and companies are beginning their journey with the cloud. That’s according to results from a survey by cloud service provider Ancoris and the Cloud Industry Forum (CIF).
The survey, which was conducted in the UK by Vanson Bourne prior to the lockdown, is comprised of responses from IT companies and business decision-makers in digital transformation to understand how they were utilizing next-generation technologies and the cloud. According to the results, 80% said they had their digital transformation strategies at hand, compared to today. With the novel coronavirus putting more pressure and less time on these companies to plan, only 18% of them have a strategy in place. “The very survival of office-based organization has hinged on their ability to adapt and go remote as quickly as possible,” Ancoris CEO David McLeman noted, which is putting pressure on companies to pivot as quickly as possible.
Before the lockdown, the cloud was considered a vital element of their digital transformation efforts for 25% of respondents in the business and professional services sectors, 23% in the public sector, 22% in retail and surprisingly low 19% of respondents in the financial sector.
Among other key findings: twenty-eight percent of businesses already have their digital transformation strategies fully in place, while 54% have begun their implementation. Businesses are also seeing the importance of the cloud, as 93% of respondents said their companies use it in some sort of way. And 25% of respondents said that they don’t get enough assistance from partners in helping them make strides in digital transformation.
McLeman emphasized the importance of having external partners now and after COVID-19. They play a “leading role” in helping companies digitize, he said, and will be an “increasing integral component on ongoing digital transformation” post-COVID-19.
