Post Pandemic Plausible Directions – Digital Explosion

We recently published a report that was a cross Research and Advisory initiative at Gartner. Analysts from many different industries, coverage areas, and teams participated in this list, that to be fair was published in early May. So it does not take into account some recent events and disruptions.

I wanted to spend the next several days sharing each one and would appreciate any feedback. The entire report  is  available Top 10 Plausible Directions Resulting from COVID-19

A webinar on this topic could also be found here.

Keep in mind, COVID-19 will have short- and long-term implications for all organizations. There are many opposing trends and parallel scenarios. These posts will explore each one.

The next plausible direction is Digital Explosion.

Description

The digital explosion refers to how the COVID-19 lockdown has accelerated digitalization. Organizations need to support employees working remotely, while interacting with customers, citizens and other businesses digitally as face-to-face interactions are prohibited. Once lock-down lifts, people maintain digital connections as their preferred interaction mode.

Signals

• Spike in adoption of digital technologies to support remote working (SaaS, video etc)
• Increase investment in telecoms technology & services
• Changing customer & citizen behavior
• Change in purchase and consumption habits

Short-Term Impacts

• ▪All customer interactions must be digital
• ▪Products and services must either be sold online or go digital to provide revenue
• ▪Sense of disruption and isolation for employees unused to working from home, which decreases their productivity

Long-Term Impacts

• ▪More employees request to work from home
• ▪Increased digital divide between digital citizens with decent internet connections and those who lack digital skills and decent internet connections
• ▪Businesses will need a strong digital presence to engage customers
• ▪Business must develop digital products and services to keep generating revenue

Recommend Response

• ▪Develop a digital workplace strategy to keep employees engaged and productive
• ▪Innovate to digitalize your customer experience and create digital products and services
• ▪Build algorithms to monitor customer behavior and discover new client needs to address

Just a reminder –

The entire report  is  available Top 10 Plausible Directions Resulting from COVID-19

A webinar on this topic could also be found here.