The pandemic has proved to be a catalyst of sorts for digital transformation, forcing organizations of all sizes to rethink how they operate, what they offer their customers, and their commitment to the digital employee experience.
Before March 2020, many organizations were simply improving what they were doing, not transforming, says Jorge Lopez, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner.
“Before the pandemic … roughly 80% of our clients weren’t necessarily pursuing transformation even if they called it that, because it implies major change and new markets and new revenue streams — even entirely new business models,” Lopez says.
But in the past 18 months since remote work became the norm, organizations have accelerated efforts to become more digitally focused, in large part migrating to the cloud and deploying collaboration tools to maintain productivity and cohesiveness.
The speed of innovation necessary to navigate the pandemic has now become a major trend. “We’re in a period of enormous stress … so it’s become difficult to find a place to hide from the competition,’’ Lopez says. “Transformation is becoming more and more what’s required to respond to the new realities of the marketplace.”
Many organizations are developing hybrid work models as employees start returning to the workplace. With this come new technology initiatives to help them stay competitive while retiring IT assets that are no longer relevant.
