Speed record in transformation towards remote work

WHAT?

According to a new survey study conducted by McKinsey shows that “responses to COVID-19 have speeded the adoption of digital technologies by several years – and that many of these changes could be here for the long haul”.

COVID-19 hit the world hard and Mircosoft has earlier reported that the number of meeting minutes went up from 560 million on the 12th of march to 2.7 billion on the 31st of march which is a five-time increase in only 19 days. Executives report that their companies have accelerated the digitization of their operations by three to four years and that the share of digital or digitally enabled products in their portfolio has accelerated by seven years. Executives also believe that these changes are long-lasting and are already making investments to ensure they will develop and stick. Funding for digital initiatives has increased more than anything else – more than increases in costs, resources in technology roles, and the number of customers.

According to the study, the increase in speed is even greater in Asia when it comes to developing digital products and services with a leap of ten years of development. The respondents in the survey also report that they have a similar mix of types of digital products before and during the pandemic, which shows that they probably have refocused their offerings rather than made huge leaps in product development in the span of a few months.

SO WHAT?

According to the respondents’ replies, remote work, or hybrid work, with more digital interaction, communication, operation, services, and products are here to stay. Based on the report product development into new types of services has not yet fully begun. This indicates that remote work is becoming the norm and that organizations are moving into the direction of digital-first and transformation of their operations as well as product and service development. Asia is moving even faster than Europe and America and catching up on development in general. As we now are approaching the norming phase we can glimpse the performing phase in the near future. Organizations will refine their ways of working, creating, and innovating, and new types of digital services and products will appear more and more as remote or hybrid work becomes the new normal.