Companies that embraced digital transformation more whole-heartedly have performed better during the pandemic and expect a faster rebound, while the laggards are now making necessary investments and racing to catch up. According to Rajashree R, chief marketing officer, TCS, before the pandemic, companies’ digital capabilities were rapidly becoming central to their success and business transformation initiatives. “However, our study has revealed how several enterprises were not as far along in developing a digital backbone as they hoped.”

His reference is to a global survey titled, “Digital Readiness and COVID-19: Assessing the Impact,” undertaken by the IT services major that reveals that 90% of organisations are maintaining or increasing their digital transformation budgets amid the pandemic. The survey engaged almost 300 senior business leaders from large enterprises—97% with revenue above $1 billion and 44% above $10 billion—spanning 11 industries across North America, Europe and Asia. Six digital capabilities were identified as critical factors in companies withstanding the pandemic:

• End-to-end digital customer experience (CX)
• AI-based analytics to continually improve the CX
• Core enterprise systems in the cloud
• Highly automated core business processes
• Digital sensors tracking products
• Key partnerships in digital ecosystems

The analysis compared organisations with more advanced digital capabilities in place prior to Covid, referred to as “leaders,” to those that had fewer, if any, in place, known as “followers.” Fewer leaders (64%) have seen their revenue decline, compared to followers (73%). Leaders had better business visibility and a more confident outlook, with 74% of them expecting revenues to bounce back within two years, compared to 54% of followers. While 68% of companies have seen revenue declines amid Covid-19, 90% of organisations have either maintained or increased their digital transformation budget. Firms reported maximum increases on: collaborative technologies (65%), cybersecurity (56%), cloud-native technologies (51%) and advanced analytics (39%).