97% Enterprises Claim COVID-19 Boosted Their Digital Transformation Efforts: Twilio Report The report highlighted the pandemic has accelerated companies' digital communications strategy by an average of six years
By Debarghya Sil •
You're reading Entrepreneur Asia Pacific, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.
Twilio, a leader in cloud communications platform, on Tuesday announced the results of a global survey measuring the impact and outlook of the COVID-19 pandemic on businesses' digital engagement strategies.
The San Francisco-based firm surveyed over 2,500 enterprises to understand the magnitude of the pandemic on the firms and their digital transformation and communication roadmap.
The report titled The COVID-19 Digital Engagement Report is a snapshot of how businesses have addressed the complex challenges posed by this crisis and how they will continue to evolve moving forward.
The report found out that the pandemic has accelerated companies' digital communications strategy by an average of six years. The report highlighted that 97 per cent of enterprise decision-makers believe the pandemic sped up their company's digital transformation. Around 95 per cent of the firms are seeking new ways of engaging customers as a result of COVID-19 and 92 per cent claim that transforming digital communications is extremely or very critical to address current business challenges.
The report underlined that 79 per cent of respondents said the pandemic has increased the budget for digital transformation. Companies report easing of barriers such as lack of clear strategy by 37 per cent, getting executive approval by 37 per cent, reluctance to replace legacy software by 35 per cent and lack of time by 34 per cent.
The respondents said omnichannel communication has become necessary during these uncertain times. Around 92 per cent of the respondents believed their organization is very or somewhat likely to expand digital communication channels as the world reopens. More than half, i.e. 54 per cent, of the firms said COVID-19 propelled focus on omnichannel communications, and 53 per cent added new channels amid the pandemic. One in three companies started using live chat and IVR channels for the first time due to COVID-19.
Commenting on the survey, Glenn Weinstein, chief customer officer at Twilio said, "Over the last few months, we've seen years-long digital transformation roadmaps compressed into days and weeks in order to adapt to the new normal as a result of COVID-19. Our customers in nearly every industry have had to identify new ways to communicate with their customers and stakeholders – from patients, to students, to shoppers, and even employees – essentially overnight."
"Cloud scale, speed, and agility are enabling organisations to innovate faster than ever. We believe the solutions being built today will be the standard for digital engagement in the future," he further added.
