In V12’s Covid-19 Business Impact Survey* (May 2020) we looked at how organisations sourced homeworking technology and about how new processes have developed and the impact of remote working. How businesses responded to the immediate dispersal of their workforce, will likely impact their future competitive capability.
While 43% managed to extend homeworking facilities to the required volume, 30% of respondents struggled to secure sufficient homeworking technology for their employees working from home, due to the sudden high demand for equipment.
In terms of quality of service to customers, 4 in 10 were impacted but managed to retain an acceptable level of service. However, 15% reported that their customer service was seriously impacted.
Those that reported no impact on customer service or operations, cite a key learning from the pandemic as being an improvement in operational capability. Inevitably this will make these organisations more competitive moving forward. Planning is everything.
We expect to see a widening divide between those companies who had a robust business continuity strategy in place and those which struggled. Key to continuity is the communications to facilitate collaborative working, and while our survey showed significant use of Microsoft Teams, many are starting to look beyond what Teams can deliver.
With the threat of further waves of a coronavirus pandemic, and the possibility of PSTN switch off in less than 5 years, IT professionals are looking for greater flexibility. Many are looking at Direct Routing, with its powerful disaster recovery capabilities as well as enhanced security and very significant cost-savings.
Our survey tells us that 22% of IT budgets for next year will increase, with a further 20% saying that the increase will be more than 5% year on year. Most businesses are now seeing the advantages of the working in the cloud, it won’t be long before many of them extend their entire unified communications structure there too.
*Survey commissioned by V12 and conducted by Larato, May 2020.