COVID-19's Impact on Business

Data at a Glance

There has been a great deal of discussion about how this crisis has accelerated innovation, and here we have a clear picture. During the two months since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, 24% developed a new product or service, 26% accelerated development of an already planned product and 31% introduced initiatives to better connect with consumers.

The coming months will indeed bring a "new normal" with under 13% of respondents saying things will "go back to normal" and 70% saying there will be "some change in the way things are done". 15% of those surveyed say things will be "radically different".

Our survey shows that this pandemic has resulted in organizations becoming more convinced of the value and necessity of digital transformation, with 63% saying its effects will have long-term impact and 22% saying it will have impact, if only in the short-term.

Over 44% see a future where some of their staff work from home, and 40% feel that it would be sustainable for their organization to allow large numbers of staff to work from home in the long term. 13% of respondents see it as unsustainable for their companies to have anyone working from home in the long term.

We wanted to paint a picture of the financial impact of COVID-19, the picture is mixed but surprisingly 21% of survey respondents have not seen any financial impact from COVID-19. 67% of respondents have felt a negative impact from the crisis, with 29% having significant negative impact. 9% of our respondents saw positive impact.

19% of respondents said their businesses had a crisis response team in place before COVID-19, while 47% put one in place for the COVID-19 crisis.

In contrast to the lack of crisis response preparedness, almost three-quarters of those surveyed (72%) said their organizations had technology in place to respond to the pandemic, while 20% invested in new technology and just 5% have no remote working technology in place.

Just 7% of those surveyed have retained all of their on site employees at their offices, other workplace sites during this pandemic, while 9% have a majority on site and 13% have about half in the workplace. 35% of those surveyed have everyone working at home and for 35% of organizations, a majority of their teams are working from home.

Hand sanitizing stations are by far the most common safety measure being taken at organizations, with 90% responding they have been implemented. Additional cleaning (71%), restricted access to communal spaces (64%), protective clothing (60%) and changes in location (50%) are being implemented by over half of organizations.

The most common cost saving measures at organizations during this pandemic have been "cutting expenses such as travel and social activities" (62%), 33% have put hiring freezes in place, 29% have cut budgets and 11% have cut salaries. Over 20% of organizations have not put any cost cutting in place.