The end of March saw a drastic change globally in the way we went about life, due to the outbreak of COVID-19. Not only did this impact how we interacted with friends and family, and how we worked, but it also had a huge impact on how businesses could operate.
With the lockdown in the UK impacting work forces through remote working and furlough schemes, industries such as manufacturing (with close-quarter factories and production lines) who tend to use traditional channels like telephone sales to bring in new business, were faced with looking at a new way to work.
With digital transformation already a growing topic of interest amongst UK manufacturers, lockdown brought this digital need forward. Digital communications via social media or email campaigns for example were now more important than ever to keep in touch with customers where phone lines weren't available, and new eCommerce opportunities such as going direct to consumer (D2C) were now a heightened priority in trying to keep business going - but what did this mean in real life? To find out if manufacturers were gearing up to maneuver in this way, we went out with a survey at the end of April to ask UK manufacturers just that, and these are the results.
So while digital is very much on the mind of UK manufacturers brought forward by the Coronavirus, the uncertainty of lockdown means it's not yet the right time to embark on this new journey for many. When business returns to normal (the new normal), watch this space as we might see manufacturers take this digital leap very soon.
If you have any questions about the results, or are interested in learning more about our findings and how we can help, please do get in touch with our digital transformation experts via [email protected].
