Covid-19: A Catalyst for productive change
As challenging and disruptive as the pandemic has been for businesses it does present a silver lining for tech adoption and learning. A 2020 McKinsey survey of executives shows that “companies have accelerated the digitisation of their customer and supply chain interactions and of their internal operations by three to four years.”7 This is clear in our research too.8
This rapid technological progress and adaptation drives new learning needs for employees. It also offers opportunities to increase engagement and impact of learning through innovative new technology. Critically, the impact of the pandemic on ways of working has normalised our use of digital to support all aspects of work (and non-work) life including how we learn.
Our study supports this survey, with the majority of the UK workforce believing their organisation reacted quickly and effectively to the changes brought about by the pandemic. In fact, 62% felt their organisation acted quickly to ensure their ability to integrate technology into the business effectively was not hindered. 65% felt their organisations responded quickly to ensure it safeguarded its workforce in their new working environment.
Businesses have been forced to implement technology and advance protocols to support the post-pandemic landscape, and technology has been at the heart of many of these new ways of working. So, with the positive effect the pandemic has had on tech adoption rates within businesses, how has this impacted learning opportunities? And what are the long-term effects of these fast, reactive approaches from organisations?
7McKinsey, 2020, https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/how-covid-19-has-pushed-companies-over-the-technology-tipping-point-and-transformed-business-forever 8Capita, 2021, https://www.capita.com/c/the-great-opportunity
