Three quarters of US businesses might accelerate their digital transformations

Coronavirus US business tracker: 18th June 2020

Getting ahead of the competition may be the key to success when it comes to businesses adapting to a post-coronavirus world, so it’s unsurprising that accelerating digital transformations is at the root of most business strategies.

When it comes to WFH, almost all US businesses (95%) currently have policies in place

US businesses are going to face natural challenges during the phased reopening period. For example, how they adapt to a completely new way of working, how they embrace a new type of consumer and how they set themselves apart from the competition.

Our recent data shows that staying at the forefront of the technological landscape and keeping digitally savvy is crucial to US companies, with three-quarters saying they are considering accelerating their digital transformations to deal with the impact of COVID-19.

In fact, businesses are preparing for some significant technological changes in the US corporate sector, with almost one in five saying that they expect more investment in the building of virtual platforms as a result of the pandemic.

Perhaps they are merely planning for the inevitable shift to working from home (WFH), with presentations, meetings, conferences, and events needing to be held online.

When it comes to WFH, almost all businesses (95%) currently have policies in place – likely one of the most dramatic shifts in ways of working that the US has ever witnessed. It looks set to remain on track, with 74% of professionals expecting a shift towards more WFH policies once the pandemic is over.

According to the U.S. Census, about 5% of American workers (approximately 8 million people) primarily worked from home in 2017, up from 3% in 2000. Our findings show that this number is undoubtedly going to increase dramatically as more and more companies begin to offer WFH policies to their employees.

Negative impact has remained relatively stable over the past two months, and the overall effect of COVID-19 on businesses remains negative. Almost half (46%) have reported a dip in their revenue leads and number of projects, which is likely to be a primary cause for nearly four in ten (38%) businesses making salary cuts to wages (up from 33% previously).

Many states are looking ahead to reopening their economies and breathing some normality back into their daily lives. Businesses will remain cautious as they do so, with many expecting the average impact to last for another seven months.

Savanta’s US weekly business tracker measures the business impact of COVID-19 among decision makers within organizations of all sizes and industries. It tracks the perceptions on the economy overall as well as organization specific impacts including sales, employee outlook, productivity and performance.

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