The widespread lockdowns imposed by municipal and state governments to curb the COVID-19 pandemic prevented nonessential workers from going into the office and required IT organizations to support a rapid pivot to digital business virtually overnight.

A new survey reveals that IT decision-makers who were already engaged in some stages of digital transformation (DX) believe that their investments left them better prepared and able to cope with widespread disruptions of normal business operations.

Few could have anticipated the impact of the coronavirus. Businesses needed to navigate new work environments and manage changing customer expectations. The survey indicates that the crisis exposed some vulnerabilities in digital agility even for companies whose DX efforts are mature. As a result, many organizations have begun to rethink their priorities and plan to increase their digital agility in areas such as supply chain resilience, application management, and accelerated cloud adoption. Another outcome is that IT leaders will likely have a larger say in how to move forward, as a large majority of the respondents indicated that the crisis has elevated the position of IT at the executive decision-making table.