The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the
world as we know it - with nationwide
lockdowns and social distancing measures
upending the lives of people everywhere
and driving economies into the ground. The
virus has not discriminated, and no corner of
society has been immune to its effects.
In the midst of crisis, many businesses
have frozen spending plans and pulled funding
as they have attempted to cope with the
effects that the outbreak has had on their
operations and revenues. However, that said,
the pandemic has been a strong facilitator of
creativity and innovation. And while it is true
that the virus is likely to have a significant
impact for years to come, there is at least
some cause for optimism when it comes to
the future of UK businesses.
Working practices have
rapidly adapted, with many
employees now working from
home. There has been a push
for companies to digitise their
processes, and for customerfacing
businesses to develop
online offerings to ensure
sales did not plummet.
This has pushed
businesses across all sectors
into unchartered waters, but
these changes have not been
without long-term merit. The
intense period of innovation
ignited by the global pandemic
has proved that although we
are living in unprecedented
times, organisations can
deliver on successful digital transformation
even against all odds.
Research
To explore this phenomenon further, Studio
Graphene recently polled over 500 UK
business leaders to uncover the impact
that COVID-19 has had on innovation and
creativity. The research found that almost
half (47%) of the businesses surveyed had
successfully migrated their offering from
in-person to online since March 2020, with
similar numbers (50%) stating that the virus
had prompted them to adopt a new digital
solution that they had previously been
hesitant to embrace.
As history has shown, when faced with
seemingly insurmountable challenges,
business leaders and entrepreneurs are often
at their most creative. To avoid the prospect
NEWS ANALYSIS SURVIVING COVID
Embracing innovation
IN RESPONSE TO COVID-19 RESEARCH SUGGESTS THAT BUSINESSES IN THE
UK HAVE TURNED TO INNOVATION TO SURVIVE. RITAM GANDHI TALKS NEW
ELECTRONICS THROUGH THE RESEARCH FINDINGS
of having to close operations or see sales fall
off a cliff, many companies have clearly made
daring and necessary decisions in order to
survive.
This poll suggests that the pandemic has
prompted many organisations to think outside
of the box when it comes to delivering digital
transformation.
Strikingly, half of the respondents stated
that they had taken on new digital solutions
to enable them to continue delivering their
“Over half (55%)
of the business
leaders
surveyed said
that fostering
innovation has
now become
a keen focus
within their
organisation.”
Ritam Gandhi
product or service. An additional 39% of
businesses stated that they had done so by
investing in a new area of technology that
they have never used before, such as artificial
intelligence or augmented reality.
And for many businesses, these
investments have been a long time coming.
Great leaps have been made in this domain
in recent years, but it is often the case that
organisations end up bogged down by internal
hierarchies and red tape when trying to
implement new tech.
Naturally, most leadership teams will run
into some anxiety about the prospects of
change; it is always easier to stick to the
status quo rather than invest resources into
new products, services or ways of doing
things. Indeed, almost half (45%) of the
businesses surveyed agreed that a risk-averse
culture has hindered their efforts towards
innovation in the past.
Even for businesses that have previously
opted to embrace digital transformation,
mitigating risk has remained a focus. With
so much careful planning and consideration,
large-scale digital transformation projects
often become drawn out, taking months or
even years to realise.
However, recent events have shown that
this needn’t be the case, and businesses
have cut these timescales down substantially.
Although the final products might be a little
bit rough around the edges and still require
some refining, organisations will undoubtedly
have learned some important lessons from
these fast-tracked initiatives. This ought to
stand them in better stead for the challenging
months ahead.
Fast-tracked initiatives
With many success stories of organisations
acclimatising to this new reality, the looming
question now for business leaders is how to
avoid the trap of reverting back to laborious
and overly cautious processes once the
pandemic has passed.
Companies would do well to consider their
accomplishments throughout this trying period
carefully and incorporate the lessons learned
into future implementations.
Thankfully, the research is encouraging;
the findings of Studio Graphene’s poll suggest
business leaders have already recognised
the positive impact that digital channels
and automated processes can have on their
day-to-day. Over half (55%) of the business
leaders surveyed said that fostering innovation
has now become a keen focus within their
organisation. The vast majority of respondents
also stated that they are now more likely to
invest heavily in technology for their internal
operations going forward.
All in all, the coronavirus pandemic has
posed many challenges for businesses and
their operations. But in the same breath,
these difficulties have also exposed the
need for organisations to invest in pioneering
solutions.
• Ritam Gandhi, is the Founder and Director of
Studio Graphene
www.newelectronics.co.uk 13 October 2020 9
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