Pandemic accelerated digitization for 84% of organizations

Endava, a next-generation technology service provider, has released new research demonstrating how businesses around the world are reshaping their approach to ongoing digital adoption based on the lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Endava’s research included senior business leaders and IT decision makers from the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, the Nordic countries, Australia, and Singapore, representing a wide range of industries.

“COVID-19 showed global organisations that there’s a real need to be flexible and fast when creating and implementing digital strategies. Operating environments changed almost overnight and companies needed to be quick to adapt and implement new technology to solve emergent issues. This digital acceleration approach was validated during the pandemic. It’s important that businesses keep pace with the evolution of technology to allow them to not only follow their own digital adoption strategies, but also have the ability to react to unforeseen issues,” said John Cotterell, CEO at Endava.

The fast, agile approach taken during the pandemic is set to last

The senior personnel surveyed overwhelmingly stated that the pandemic had revealed flaws in their technology. In fact, 87% had to move quickly to accelerate digital deployments, and 99% admitted that their preparedness could be improved.

As a result, they needed to adapt to the ‘new normal’ quickly and iteratively. This approach of working on short deadlines to meet immediate challenges proved surprisingly effective. As a result, 84 percent of organizations reported that elements of their digital adoption were accelerated by up to ten years as a result of the rapid technological pivots they made.

Digital acceleration is the new normal with budgets on the rise and appetite for change

This iterative digital acceleration process is expected to continue. 92 percent of the companies polled said they have increased their budget for digital adoption, and 88 percent are implementing improvement programs to address vulnerabilities.

Furthermore, 95% plan to invest more in developing the skills required to improve their digital capabilities. Respondents also outlined their optimal approach to these improvements, giving delivery a 70% short-term and 30% long-term weighting. This weighting is well-suited to digital acceleration, which can be agile and swift, rather than the traditional digital transformation approach, which can be difficult to steer to avoid issues once underway.

Careful integration of new technologies

Endava’s research also revealed that organizations are looking ahead, weighing the best new technologies to integrate into their existing solutions. Not surprisingly, cloud optimization came in first, with AI close behind. Respondents were also interested in novel ideas such as the metaverse.