Last updated on June 23rd, 2023 at 10:33 am
INTRODUCTION
The coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak is causing widespread concern and economic hardship for consumers, businesses and communities across the globe. Most companies already have business continuity plans in place, but those may not fully address the demanding and unknown variables of an outbreak like COVID-19.
Typical contingency plans are intended to ensure operational effectiveness following events like natural disasters, cyber incidents and power outages, among others. They don’t generally take into account the widespread quarantines, extended school/workplace closures and added travel restrictions that may occur in the case of a global health emergency. With the absence of in-person interaction businesses/investors sought to bridge that gap with more data transparency.
Adopting Technology
To meet the growing demand for increased data transparency and to ensure sustained and consistent communication businesses have been forced to leverage technology for virtual meetings and for secure document exchange. According to a new McKinsey Global Survey, Covid 19 has speeded the adoption of technology by businesses and accelerated the digitization of their customer and supply-chain interactions and of their internal operations by three to four years.
The share of digital or digitally enabled products in businesses portfolios has accelerated by a shocking seven years and most of this will continue over the long haul. Funding for digital initiatives has increased more than anything else—more than increases in costs, the number of people in technology roles, and the number of customers. Companies now recognize technology’s strategic importance as a critical component of the business, not just a source of cost efficiencies.
Digital adoption has taken a quantum leap at both the organizational and industry levels. It’s not only the customer-facing elements of organizational operating models that have been affected but the accelerations in the digitization have been across the board including their core internal operations (such as back-office, production, and R&D processes) and of interactions in their supply chains. It is expected that companies are making these crisis-related changes with the long term in mind and that such technology-related changes, along with remote work and customer interactions, will continue in the future. Furthermore, this rate of adoption is consistent across all regions.
Businesses who adapted quickly to leverage technology have gained a significant competitive advantage. Businesses are fast realizing that their digital and corporate strategies are almost one and the same. The way to win in the future is a technology-driven business strategy. Bold, tightly integrated digital strategies will be the biggest differentiator between companies that win and companies that don’t, and the biggest payouts of digitization will be operational excellence and superior organizational health. Technology further separates the high performers from the also-rans.
When companies respond to technology and digitization assertively and across multiple dimensions, they improve their performance. In other words, winners exceed laggards in both the magnitude and the scope of their digital technology investments.
The Confiex team specializes in providing premium virtual data room solutions tailored for businesses. With their vast experience in working with document sharing platforms, they have been actively supporting the Virtual Data Room community since 2015 by offering valuable information to users free of charge.