The global response by organizations to the novel coronavirus pandemic has been transformational. A recent survey of more than 500 senior decision-makers in the UK revealed just how much the virus forced enterprises to innovate.
The independent survey, funded by London-based tech developer Studio Graphene, questioned about more than 500 decision-makers within UK enterprises. Since March, 50% of those surveyed said they adopted technologies that they were previously hesitant to deploy.
Further, 64% said the pandemic proved to be a catalyst for the digitization of their business much more quickly than they would otherwise have. While 47% report to have migrated their offering from face-to-face to online and 39% have invested in a new area of technology that they had never used before. Finally, 22% have launched a new app.
The pandemic proved to be an eye-opener, too. The survey found that 48% of decision-makers attribute COVID-19 to their enterprise organization’s greater awareness of how technologically outdated their business is. Forty-five percent believe that it was risk-aversion that made it previously difficult to innovate. Not surprisingly, half of those surveyed said that the pandemic incentivized their company to improve their digital infrastructure.
While 45% of enterprises said that the pandemic was a catalyst for their enterprise organization’s most radical digital transformation and 47% said that the migrated their offering online, only 39% have invested in a new technological area and 22% launched a new app.
These findings echo the conclusions from another recent report released from Lux Research. According to Lux’s report, “The Impact of COVID-19 on Tech Innovation,” the changes brought on by the pandemic will be felt for years to come.
Lux identified five key areas that will continue to shape technology investments beyond the pandemic. These include human “infection prevention,” remote commerce, improved resiliency, increased agility and ongoing macroeconomic impacts.
Lux says the transformation underway will be felt differently across vertical markets. For instance, increased agility and resilience will bring long-term positive change for materials innovation. “Materials informatics will also see a medium-term positive impact thanks to increased efficiency and agility in R&D. We expect a positive effect on plastic waste recycling and synthetic biology, as more people are gravitating to single-use plastics to stay safe, and synbio can allow more agile and flexible production,” said Michael Holman, vice president of research at Lux Research.
While the energy industry will undergo essential changes, Lux predicts that increased resilience and agility will drive further investments in clean energy that will further spur on the energy transition. “Digital transformation will [also] rapidly accelerate adoption of emerging technologies like telemedicine, thanks to a dramatic increase in remote commerce and the need for infection prevention,” said Dr. Kevin See, vice president of research at Lux Research.
Expect increased adoption of wearables, robotics, agrifood and health systems, and long-term adoption of autonomous vehicles, the researchers conclude.
