This is illustrated by 56% of firms increasing technology budgets and 34% planning to speed to their digital transformation as a result of Covid-19.

The Xerox Future of Work Survey, conducted by the independent research firm Vanson Bourne, polled 600 IT decision makers including senior C-level professionals from the UK, US, Canada, Germany and France, whose organisations have at least 500 employees, a statement said. 

Among the countries polled, the US is most likely to have increased confidence in remote working (86%), followed by the UK (80%), Germany (80%), Canada (77%) and France (75%). Also, 58% plan to change their ‘work from home’ policy within the next year, highlighting the need for companies to support a hybrid workforce.

Among the key findings:

• Technology purchasing priorities are shifting to better support employees. As a result of technology gaps uncovered by having a mostly remote workforce, 70% of IT decision makers globally are re-evaluating their budget spend, with companies increasing investment in remote technology resources (55%) or a hybrid of remote and in-office resources (40%). The pandemic also has businesses prioritising investments in cloud-based software, remote IT (63%) support and collaboration software (52%).
• Hardware such as laptops and printers were another important consideration, especially for companies based in France, with 22% of respondents citing it as the most important need when it comes to technology, productivity and their overall work experience.
• Sudden stay-at-home orders quickly revealed technology gaps. To mitigate against future disruptions, such as the rapid transition to remote work resulting from Covid-19, companies will look to invest in new technologies and seek added capability from existing tools to accelerate their processes’ digital transformation.
• Expanded remote work policies are here to stay, although businesses plan to return most employees to the office. Employees may not be going back to the office all at once – or even in the same capacity as before – but the need for organisations to support a hybrid workforce is here for the foreseeable future.

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