Digitization driven by COVID19

Digitization driven by COVID19 - An unprecedented field test

For a long time now, Germany has only been in the lower midfield in terms of digitization. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic we are suddenly forced to go digital... a huge and unprecedented field trial. Like many of you, we had to clear out our offices overnight and immediately start working and coordinating our work exclusively virtually. How does it work so far and what kind of changes can be expected?

Before the crisis, the opinion within Germany was clear: Around 30% of employees were able to work completely or partially from their home office, as a recent study by the Bavarian Research Institute for Digital Transformation shows.

The main reasons for this low figure from the company's point of view were fear of lower productivity and a lack of permanent responsiveness from the home office. In a survey conducted by the Süddeutsche Zeitung, as many as 40% of the interviewed employees stated that their bosses simply did not allow them to work from home.

In the meantime, a large part of the work that is not of systemic relevance takes place in the home office. Although there are no current reliable figures on this due to the situation, the number of people in the home office is likely to be around 43% and thus significantly above the pre-corona level.

Employees indicate that their employers have been well prepared for this circumstance in general. Poured into figures... 34% of employees see their employers as very well prepared, 37% as rather well prepared, only 20% as badly prepared and 10% as very badly prepared.

The perceptions are positive. According to researchers of the Research Institute for Digital Transformation (BITD), about one third of the respondents who used home offices during the corona crisis have improved their assessment of home office work. It can therefore be expected that the crisis will have a lasting effect on the still widespread culture of presence in the working world in Germany.

At the same time, we are also experiencing far-reaching upheavals in other areas of society. Suddenly e-learning is possible, and content is being conveyed digitally. However, due to missed developments, there are still many challenges in this area. Nevertheless, after the Corona crisis, digital content will become more significant in schools and universities. Similar innovation thrusts are to be found in the areas of digital payment or the online appearances of companies.

That crises promote innovation is nothing new. However, it will only be possible to draw a balance after the end of the Covid-19 crisis, for example when companies are faced with establishing home offices as a real alternative. The long-term nature of Corona's innovation thrusts depends on the economic consequences of the crisis. In the end, we will eventually be able to evaluate the consequences of covid19 in terms of its digitization impact.