Five key findings explore the impact and state of digital readiness before and after the pandemic.

1. Digital Readiness and the Pandemic:
Assessing the Impact
TCS COVID-19 Business Impact Survey 2020
September 2020 TCS Confidential | Copyright © 2020 Tata Consultancy Services Limited www.tcs.com

2. 2
About the
How is the pandemic impacting
their business, and when do they
foresee economic conditions
returning to pre-pandemic levels?
In July of 2020, TCS conducted a survey of nearly 300
executives to get insights on how they were planning
and managing the near- and long-term impacts of the
COVID-19 pandemic. Those surveyed represented
mostly large companies across 11 industries in North
America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, 63% of them with
annual revenue over 5$ billion.
TCS COVID-19
Business Impact Survey 2020
What are the main changes they
anticipate in their business and
industry, in areas such as the
business model, supply chain and
customer experience?
What are the most important and
most difficult actions they have
taken or are planning to take,
particularly concerning
technology investments and
pandemic response?
What digital capabilities do they
have today, or don’t have but are
developing or planning to develop
in this pandemic, to remain
vibrant companies during and
after COVID?
We asked 16 questions in 4 areas:

3. 3
Within the survey findings, we have identified six essential
digital capabilities that have proven crucial to responding
rapidly to COVID-19 and the post-pandemic world.
End-to-end digital
customer experience (CX)
AI-driven analytics to
continually tweak and
personalize the CX
Core enterprise software
in the cloud
Highly automated business
processes
Key digital ecosystem
partnerships
Digital sensors tracking
product performance
Six essential
digital capabilities

4. 4
#1Most organizations lack
essential digital capabilities,
and the pandemic is exposing
this as a weakness.
Organizations with essential
digital capabilities are coping
better with the pandemic.
Many organizations are actively
expanding their digital
capabilities.
Amid shrinking budgets,
digital transformation rises
as a priority.
Keeping remote employees
productive, motivated and safe
from cyberattacks takes center
stage.
#2 #3
#4 #55 Key findings

5. 5
Finding #1:
Only…
Most organizations lack
essential digital capabilities
Nearly two-thirds could support employees working
remotely. But less than a third have these essential
capabilities.
Why this matters: Companies were able to support
employees working remotely with relative ease. But that
may have masked the fact that only a very small number
of companies were digitally prepared in other ways.
25%can deliver 23%have highly
22%have digital
end-to-end digital customer
experience (CX)
27% have
core enterprise systems in
cloud
24%have AI-based
analytics
automated core business
processes
sensors tracking products
21%have key
partnerships in digital
ecosystems

6. 6
Finding #2:
Organizations with essential
digital capabilities are
coping better with the
pandemic
Leaders are less likely to have seen
revenue decline during the pandemic
than Followers
And if they did
experience revenue
decline, they are far
more likely to be
confident they will
bounce back faster
than were Followers.
74%Leaders
(64% vs 73%)
We compared survey respondents on the six digital capabilities. We then identified
‘Leaders’ (they had more of those capabilities) and ‘Followers’ (they had few if any of
the capabilities) from the two ends of the spectrum of digital adoption.
Why this matters: A few standouts were more prepared
than others when the pandemic hit, and it worked to
their advantage. Companies with essential digital
capabilities have fared better during the pandemic than
those without.
expect revenue to bounce
back within two years
Only 54%
Followers say the same

7. 7
Finding #3:
Many organizations are
actively expanding their
digital capabilities
Most companies without essential digital capabilities
are actively building or planning them now.
Initiatives pursued by the greatest
proportion of companies
Why this matters: The pandemic has sounded a wakeup
call. A large proportion are now racing to catch up at a
pace many would never have envisioned before the
pandemic hit.
44%
End-to-end
digital CX
44%
Highly automated core
business processes
39%
Core enterprise
software in the cloud

8. 8
Finding #4:
Amid shrinking budgets,
digital transformation rises
as a priority
Revenue has fallen at 68% of companies, and at
least two-thirds do not see it returning to
pre-pandemic levels for more than a year.
Why this matters: Organizations recognize that these
technologies are critical for resilience in the face of the
pandemic, and that digital capabilities will continue to
be essential in the post-pandemic world, given the
changes that the crisis has accelerated.
Despite these dismal numbers, nearly all
companies see digital transformation (DX)
as a vital priority.
Of companies increasing
DX investments, average
increase is
Of those decreasing DX
investments, average
decrease is only
66%
of respondents have
maintained their DX budget
25%
have actually increased it
during the pandemic.
33% 14%

9. 9
(continued)
Top difficult and important leadership
challenges in the pandemic
Companies must carefully consider what
capabilities they need to catch up on.
Why this matters: There is a significant lack of clarity on
how to strategically move on multiple digital fronts cost-
effectively. Companies face a conundrum: Becoming
more digital while being more cash-constrained makes it
very difficult for any large company to move equally on
all digital fronts at once.
Determining how
to go digital
Rethinking strategy for
a post-pandemic world
Strategic cost
management
Managing cash
flow and budgets
Finding #4:

10. 10
The most common areas of increased
technology investment serve to boost the
efficiency and safety of remote work.
Average company workforce primarily working remotely
Why this matters: For the majority of organizations,
shifting work home has not been difficult, yet keeping
remote workers productive, secure and working in agile
teams, has been a real challenge. Nearly all organizations
are investing to make it productive and safe.
Finding #5:
Keeping remote employees
productive, motivated and
safe from cyberattacks takes
center stage
65%
collaborative
technologies
56%
cybersecurity
51%
cloud-native
technologies
9%
Before the
pandemic
64%
Now
40%
2025

11. 11
Call to action:
Pivot and thrive
Coalesce around a vision of the company’s place in the digital
ecosystem.
This involves having a strong knowledge of digital operating models and
digitally enabled products, and a purpose-driven approach to understanding
where the company’s best strategic opportunities lie.
Continually experiment with new digital business models, digital
products and digital processes.
This requires embracing risk because there is no innovation without risk. But
companies can reduce risk through agile development of products and
business processes, rapid online feedback and flexible business model
planning.
Engineer digitally flexible supply chains.
As the pandemic has demonstrated, the ability to shift production and
distribution rapidly from cross-border to intra-border is essential to
resilience.
Purpose-driven AdaptableResilient
What can companies do to thrive digitally,
during and after the pandemic?

12. 12
Automate every manual activity that can be automated, using AI to
improve them continually.
Automation builds robust competitive efficiencies and frees employees to
pursue higher-value tasks.
Create an irresistible digital CX.
Organizations must be able to personalize the customer experience for the
masses using AI and automation. They should simplify interactions before,
during and after the purchase, and, where necessary, provide a digitally
intensive sensory experience (which requires cloud computing).
Identify new tasks, skills and jobs that can’t be automated, and train
people to master them.
A digital strategy will create new opportunities and impose new demands on
employees. Upskilling is a vital undertaking to ensure that the company can
appropriately handle the new way of working.
Call to action:
Build an adaptive core
What can companies do to thrive digitally,
during and after the pandemic?
Purpose-driven AdaptableResilient

13. 13
Keep the remote workforce agile, productive, energized, healthy
and safe from cyberattacks.
Remote working is here to stay. Just as companies design IT and offices to
ensure excellent results, they need to optimize the remote working
experience.
Capitalize on a global market for talent.
The trend toward remote work enables talent to work from anywhere they
can tap the internet. This expands the opportunity to hire great employees
who would not have joined a company if they had to report to one of its
offices. Conversely, it poses threats as rival firms compete for the best talent.
Create a superior employee experience, especially for remote
workers.
As the battle for talent goes global, the quality of the employee experience
will be more important than ever.
Call to action:
Protect, empower and
retain talent
What can companies do to thrive digitally,
during and after the pandemic?
Purpose-driven AdaptableResilient

14. September 2020 TCS Confidential | Copyright © 2020 Tata Consultancy Services Limited www.tcs.com
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Digital Readiness and the Pandemic:
Assessing the Impact
TCS COVID-19 Business Impact Survey 2020