How and where we worked changed almost overnight. On March 11, the World Health Organization officially declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Within days, millions upon millions of knowledge workers switched to working remotely to meet mandatory stay-at-home orders. The new realities of work are straining IT professionals, IT budgets, and employees as we all adjust to remote working and get accustomed to new technologies and processes. Here are some recent, and sometimes surprising, statistics on how the pandemic is affecting business continuity.
In a recent survey, nearly three-quarters of organizations have already implemented or plan to implement policies such as limitations or bans on in-person meetings, both internal (66%) and external (74%), along with delaying and canceling events (75%), expanding work from home policies (75%), not attending events they have previously attended (79%), and enacting travel bans (81%). 81% of companies now have a crisis response team in place.1
The first step in any successful business continuity plan is to establish a corporate policy through a steering committee charged with overseeing, supporting, and directing the enterprise response to the virus. Once you have a crisis response team in place, you need to identify what critical services and functions are required and who is responsible for executing those plans.
There has been a massive shift to remote work. 88% of organizations have encouraged or required their employees to work from home.2
Once the pandemic crisis is over, workers may stay at home. In one survey, nearly 43% of full-time workers said they would want to continue working from home.3
Business continuity tops C-level concerns; 71% of executives are worried about continuity and productivity during the pandemic.4
Enterprises, particularly larger organizations, are planning to invest in the technology and communications tools needed to support remote workers. The technologies topping the list include communication and collaboration tools (43%), mobile devices and services (37%), bandwidth and network capacity (32%), and information security (28%).5
Larger enterprises (more than $1B in revenue) expect to spend more on communication and collaboration tools than smaller enterprises (less than $1B in revenue): 63% versus 34%. A combined total of 43% of all enterprises expect to increase spending.6
Software is expected to post positive growth of just under 2% overall this year, largely due to cloud investments.7
Prior to the crisis, the use of video conferencing tools was growing. The pandemic accelerated the use of video conferencing overnight in terms of the number of users and in the number and length of meetings.8
In one survey, 41% of enterprises are already experiencing increased strain on internal IT resources, and another 14% expect to begin experiencing it within the next three months, with another 3% beyond three months. Additionally, 34% of enterprises say they are spending more on IT resources and assets (51% of companies with more than $1bn in revenue).9
It’s clear that technology will play a starring role in your business continuity plan and is critical to help you maintain operations and functionality. This is the time to rely on a seasoned service and solution provider, such as Black Box, to help you adapt to rapidly changing working conditions and make long-term, strategic technology plans. Black Box is the trusted leader in Digital Workplace technology and we can help you design, deploy, and manage a UCaaS or UC&C solution that can transform end-user experiences as well as your business operations. Contact us at 855-324-9909 or email us at contact@blackbox.com for more information.
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1. https://www.spglobal.com/en/research-insights/featured/coronavirus-flash-survey-march-2020
2. Gartner, COVID-19 Bulletin: Executive Pulse, 3 April 2020
3. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/04/why-many-employees-are-hoping-to-work-from-home-even-after-the-pandemic-is-over.html
4. Gartner, COVID-19 Bulletin: Executive Pulse, 3 April 2020
5. https://www.spglobal.com/en/research-insights/featured/coronavirus-flash-survey-march-2020
6. https://www.spglobal.com/en/research-insights/featured/coronavirus-flash-survey-march-2020
7. https://www.spglobal.com/en/research-insights/featured/coronavirus-flash-survey-march-2020
8. https://www.channelpartnersonline.com/article/uc-roundup-ucaas-providers-in-next-stage-of-covid-19-surge/
9. https://www.spglobal.com/en/research-insights/featured/coronavirus-flash-survey-march-2020
