While the long-term impact of Coronavirus on the IT industry, as well as many other sectors, remains unknown, the short-term effect has been clear for all to see over the last few weeks.
The pause button has been pressed on hundreds of thousands of IT projects worldwide, with companies having been forced to rethink their strategies overnight. Scheduled tasks, such as software implementations and hardware refreshes have been put on hold based on the level of priority and risk and the feasibility of work being carried out remotely.
But while the IT world may not have been exempt from Coronavirus and, like many other sectors has been left with no other option but to put re-evaluate and reprioritise workloads, the industry has nevertheless shown remarkable resilience.
70% of IT departments haven’t taken advantage of the Government’s furlough scheme
Instead, the vast majority have switched to remote working in order to continue to deliver on their business-critical operations.
Up to half of remote IT workers have been more productive
Thanks to factors, such as workers’ time no longer being taken up by the daily commute or spending the day travelling to attend a two-hour meeting.
More than three quarters of IT staff will continue to work from home
This strongly suggests remote working is here to stay. Companies that embrace it will access a larger talent pool. Meanwhile, organisations that do not offer remote working, may lose talent to more flexible organisations.
Sector-wide overview of the new working norm
These stats are just some of the key findings from our ‘COVID-19: Benchmarking the impact on technology departments’ report. We surveyed more than 150 technology professionals across multiple sectors - professional services, property, warehousing, retail and financial services – to create the report.
As for what the new ‘normal’ could look like for technology, our survey paints an optimistic picture for the sector’s Coronavirus recovery, with:
Just over a quarter of survey respondents revealing they are looking to hire or on-board new IT staff in the next three months
Painting a positive picture of real-life resilience
Remote and new ways of working
As well providing a useful barometer of how the IT industry has held up to the wide-ranging impact of Coronavirus, our survey has demonstrated just how resilient it is in times of global uncertainty. Despite hundreds of thousands of businesses being forced to close or furlough staff, IT departments have remained busy and been essential to facilitating remote working and the creation of new business models.
The rise of technological dependence
It’s also positive to see that the sector faces a swift recovery from the pandemic, with the majority of IT budgets remaining the same as pre-pandemic levels. With more businesses looking to continue remote working practices moving forward, the integral role of technology and IT professionals is only going to become more important.
To see the full survey findings, watch the webinar featuring industry experts.
If you need help adapting your recruitment strategy to meet any of the issues raised in the survey, contact us on 01675 466 477.