The truth is out.
A Coeus Age research to sense the mood of the CXOs and gauge their priorities in the short, mid, and long term gives perfect shape to a hazy idea. 230 CXOs shared their views about their business in a survey that was conducted between May 15 and June 8, 2020.
Businesses are clearly suffering.
As high as 80% of the CXOs think the impact of COVID has been so disruptive that either revenues or profits or both will be hit this year. While keeping customers engaged, boosting employees’ morale, defining a holistic WFH policy, and ensuring survival are the key short- term priorities, the long-term focus is resurrecting the growth momentum or even building a completely new path.
50% of the CXOs think Digital Transformation is still a mid to long term priority but the short-term IT priorities seem to be indicating a temporary punctuation or an interruption in the DX journey.
CIOs make the picture clearer – 69% of them expressed fear of IT spend to be revised downward, with 39% putting the cut at as deep as 20% or higher, as compared to the earlier planned budgets. While their top three short term priorities include putting all projects except the critical ones on hold, making cyber security more robust, and adopting technologies that boost productivity is a part of business survival, areas such as emerging technologies, and infrastructure and applications modernization seem to be taking a back seat for the time being.
It is time to answer burning questions to define future strategies. What should the CXOs do to revive and rebuild?
The key questions that CXOs are grappling with –
- How and when to transit from a survival mode to re-constructing a new growth path?
- How to maintain the DX momentum amid battered performance and lack of funds?
- Is it a temporary blip or a completely new path must be taken?
- Are their options available for doing the necessary even amid a deep cut in spending?
