For the past ten years, digital transformation moved at a relatively slow pace, focusing mainly on improving products, processes, and the employee experience. Then COVID-19 hit, forcing IT decision-makers to prioritize their IT initiatives and increase digital investments.

Our research at Software AG showed that companies in 2020 were evenly split on where they invested their optimization efforts, with external initiatives around services beating internal initiatives. Organizations had to take dramatic steps to keep businesses afloat, which meant prioritizing growing customer demands amidst pandemic lockdowns.

At the height of the pandemic, companies were forced to innovate – and do so quickly – to continue operations and serve customers. 97 percent of global IT professionals we surveyed agreed they went through some sort of digital transformation in 2020, with three out of five saying they went through a “large amount” of change.

With companies prioritizing tech investments to benefit customers, enhancing customer support, and implementing technology like Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to improve customer service, they shocked transformation efforts back into action. Now, the same number of global professionals expect to continue transformation efforts in 2021. The pandemic forced companies’ hands, but the massive change means they’re now poised to use technology to transform the world around them.