Execs fear for finance departments ability to adapt quickly

Ahead of the second national lockdown, digital workflow platform ServiceNow surveyed 900 c-suite leaders and more than 8,000 employees across 11 countries, including 100 c-level executives and 1,000 office workers in the UK.

The research found both c-level leaders and employees had low confidence that they would be able to adapt to another major business disruption.

It found that, despite 96 percent of UK leaders and 87 percent of UK employees stating that their company transitioned to new ways of working faster than they thought possible during the initial lockdown, many departments would not be able to implement new digital processes within a month in the event of another major disruption, such as the one we are facing now.

Only a minority of UK leaders believe that customer service (37 percent), finance (38 percent) and IT (39 percent) could introduce new workflows within 30 days.

The survey also found that UK business leaders are divided on how to keep their company most productive. While 49 percent want to maintain new ways of operating once the crisis subsides, 51 percent are keen to return to business as closely as it was prior to COVID-19.