Of companies believe they cannot continue beyond months The lack of preparation on the part of many companies meant that decisions had to be made quickly in the middle of the pandemic instead of thinking long-term. Accordingly over of the companies surveyed believe that they cannot continue to exist for more than months under the current circumstances. In the European countries surveyed France Germany Italy Netherlands Spain and UK as well as in Australia this percentage is . The EU and the federal and state governments are offering financial aid and loans to absorb the losses caused by the pandemic.
But for some companies these losses will still be too high and they will have to go out of business. Survival of companies in crisis Digitization is still not a priority for SMEs The digital transformation is defined as follows How organizations use digital technologies. Virtually every aspect of a business can be improved with digital Specific Database transformation including marketing field service customer service project management and financial management . Even though companies have adjusted their offering in response to COVID- our survey results show that the transition to digital solutions is not yet a high priority for SMEs in the short term.
We asked about the priority of various aspects such as employee productivity brand image or short-term customer retention and respondents in Australia Brazil France and Spain ranked the transition to digital business processes as the lowest priority. Securing financial support was ranked as the lowest priority in Germany Italy and the UK and improving brand image in the Netherlands. The study shows that in most countries maintaining employee productivity and customer retention are top priorities. In Brazil and the UK the top priority is to comply with social distancing and local hygiene and quarantine rules followed by maintaining employee productivity. The main focus since the beginning of the crisis has been health and safety measures for of the companies surveyed.