Digital Transformation in the Midst of COVID-19

Everyone was compelled to get online when COVID-19 started, which significantly sped up the adoption of digital technology by several years and altered how businesses in all industries and geographical areas conducted themselves. Schools started offering online courses, corporations automated their operations by choosing digital business models, and many workers began telecommuting, all of which reduced part of the organizations' operating costs while preserving income streams. Following this, several mobile applications were created to speed up the processes involved in contact tracing. These applications not only assisted in tracking the spread of the pandemic but also encouraged contactless business transactions.

Organizations made significant technological investments in 2020 to instantly address issues like declining revenue, disrupted supply chains, changing consumer needs and behavior, and the ongoing need for transformation. The use of technology was not limited to corporations, though. Customers chose online channels during the pandemic, prompting businesses to speed up the digitization of customer contacts over several years. As a result, there were at least three times as many encounters with customers because at least 80% of consumer interactions are now digital.

All types of enterprises have benefited greatly from digital transformation, which begs the question: why weren't these improvements implemented earlier? The obvious solution is that, before the pandemic, there was no pressing need to convert operations to digital ones.

The adjustments and advancements brought about by the pandemic appear to have widespread support and are here to stay. Nowadays, both consumers and employees prefer online transactions and remote work since it provides them more time to do other things than when they had to commute to work every day. With this, businesses can only pay attention to and meet the needs of their clients and personnel.

Everyone was compelled to get online when COVID-19 started, which significantly sped up the adoption of digital technology by several years.

In the Asia-Pacific region alone,

• Just between December 2019 and mid-2020, the average share of goods and services that are partially or completely digitalized rose from 33% to 54%. Just this has sped up digital transformation by more than ten years.
• After that, the average percentage of digital customer engagements rose from 32% in December 2019 to 53% in July 2020, which resulted in a 4-year acceleration of the digital transformation.
• And since at least 80% of consumer interactions are now digital, there will be three times as many customer encounters in 2022.

Looking at a global scale, 

• Based on the average rate of adoption from 2017 to 2019, the average share of products and services that are partially or fully digitalized has gone from 35% (Dec 2019) to 55% (July 2020), which has accelerated digital transformation by 7 years.
• According to the average rate of adoption from 2017 to 2019, the average proportion of digital customer interactions has increased from 36% (Dec 2019) to 58% (July 2020), which has sped up digital transformation by 3 years.