{"id":1854,"date":"2020-11-03T16:50:47","date_gmt":"2020-11-03T16:50:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/canada\/?p=1854"},"modified":"2024-04-22T21:28:14","modified_gmt":"2024-04-22T21:28:14","slug":"digitized-companies-fairing-better-through-covid-19-report-suggests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/canada\/2020\/11\/digitized-companies-fairing-better-through-covid-19-report-suggests\/","title":{"rendered":"Digitized Companies Fairing Better Through COVID-19, Report Suggests"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO, CAN \u2014 October 29, 2020 \u2014<\/strong> A new SAP study conducted in partnership with IDC Canada discovered that companies that were well into their digital transformation, performed better through the COVID-19 pandemic, while companies without a robust digital strategy are being left behind.<\/p>\n

The study found that while 95 per cent of enterprises surveyed had established a formal digital strategy, up from 85 per cent in 2019, most companies were at wildly different stages on their journey to becoming a digitally transformed \u201cintelligent enterprise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of the 17 per cent of Canadian enterprises identified as Intelligent Enterprise (IE) Leaders, 82 per cent have a digital strategy that is fully integrated into the core of the business or is complete and already producing significant results. At the other end of the spectrum, 98 per cent of Canadian enterprises categorized as IE Observers (14%) are only just beginning to build their digital strategies or executing on them. This divide in digital readiness has revealed a clear connection between COVID-19 resiliency and IE progress.<\/p>\n

The study examined the impact of COVID-19 on organizations\u2019 revenue, workforce, operational capacity, and facilities. While these core business functions have been impacted in two thirds of Canadian enterprises, IE Leaders have been more resilient, with 14 per cent of IE Leaders indicating they expect a revenue increase during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the five years that we have been conducting this study with IDC, Canadian organizations have progressed well on their journey to becoming Intelligent Enterprise Leaders. However, the pandemic has reinforced just how vital a fully incorporated digital strategy is to a business\u2019s ability to be agile and — \u00a0ultimately resilient — in the face of crisis and major shifts in the way they do business,\u201d said Sam Masri, Chief Operating Officer, SAP Canada. \u201cThe silver lining is that organizations are realizing the value of technology and the need for a strategic approach to transformation. This shows promise in bridging the digital divide in Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPrior to COVID-19 we made some important decisions regarding our infrastructure that enabled us, through the \ufb01rst few months of the pandemic, to be agile and nimble while we supported our Guests and Team Members,\u201d said Alicia Samuel, Vice President Information Technology at Longos. \u201cThis meant that at the start of the pandemic, our e-commerce site was available to our Guests while we had unprecedented volumes of traffic on our websites, and we were able to shift quickly to introduce options such as \u201cBuy Online Pick Up In-Store”. Our infrastructure decisions and strong executive leadership during COVID-19 enabled us to continue to service our Guests and take care of our Team Members.”<\/p>\n

The new study also found key attributes that have helped IE Leaders remain resilient through the pandemic:<\/p>\n