Businesses are developing digital resilience

Businesses are developing digital resilience, and it will prove to be a key factor for winning in the 2020s, indicates Boston Consulting Group (BCG). As the world of business grows increasingly uncertain and volatile, companies that have purposefully developed resilience and capabilities to tackle ambiguity and unpredictability are most likely to thrive.

Companies’ resilience is being tested as never before. Consumer spending in the US fell by almost 20% during the first two months of COVID-19’s explosive spread across the country, according to the US Department of Commerce. The pandemic has disrupted 75% of supply chains, according to the Institute for Supply Chain Management.

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Customer priorities and touchpoints are changing rapidly, and the massive shift to remote working poses a major risk to companies’ IT infrastructure. Consequently, a recent BCG study shows that approximately 60% of companies expect to report at least a 10% decrease in revenue and earnings in 2020. In this “bleak” context, and in general, resilience is a key driver of value.

Even before the COVID-19 crisis erupted, many companies were struggling to keep pace with technological change. The challenge has only accelerated since the pandemic began, bringing a growing realisation into sharp focus – the future of work and life will be more digital than people previously imagined. With almost every organisation having to depend on data, analytics, digital tools and automation, digital technologies will constitute an increasingly critical element of business resilience tomorrow.

Digital transformation has, therefore, become more crucial than ever. In a recent BCG survey, 75% of executives agreed that they regard digital transformation as becoming more urgent in light of the COVID-19 crisis, and 65% said that they anticipate increasing their investments in digital transformation. As almost every organisation’s dependence on digital technologies grows, it is hardly an exaggeration to say that adopting and managing digital technologies will be critical to business resilience. If done right, digital transformation will not only build long-term resilience, but also increase speed to market, workforce productivity and stability.

As businesses are developing digital resilience, click here to read about three steps towards building digital resilience.

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