The coronavirus pandemic is, understandably, at the forefront of the news right now. A recent 451 Alliance flash survey, conducted from March 10 through March 19, shows how attitudes quickly evolved as the news developed.
Almost across the board, disruptions to business increased rapidly between the survey’s launch and its close.
- At the start of the survey, 35.5% of respondents reported that the coronavirus had no impact on their organization. This fell more than 20 points, to 14.1%, by the end of the survey.
- Between March 10 and March 19, the percentage of respondents reporting that their organization was experiencing a loss/reduction in customer demand increased from 21.7% to 40.2%, a surge of nearly 19 points. This was also reflected in a recent 451 Alliance consumer survey, where 73.2% of respondents said the coronavirus pandemic was among the top three greatest threats to their personal finances.
73.2% of respondents said the coronavirus pandemic was among the top three greatest threats to their personal finances.
- Almost half (48.3%) of respondents at the start of this survey reported a loss/reduction in employee productivity. This surged to nearly three-quarters (73.7%) by the end of the survey.
- By March 19, 64.9% of respondents were reporting that their organizations had implemented expanded/universal work-from-home policies. Meanwhile, the proportion of respondents who cited increased strain on internal IT resources had increased from 24.1% to 43.3% over the course of the survey. The percentage reporting increased spending on IT resources almost doubled in that time frame, growing from 20% to 39.5%. In terms of security, by the end of the survey 22.5% of respondents were reporting increased information security spending, three times as many as when the survey began (7.5%).
- At the start of the survey, 50.8% felt their organization’s IT systems were totally equipped to handle any new policies resulting from coronavirus, but by the end that fell 10 points to 40.8%.
Due to the rapidly evolving nature of the coronavirus situation, 451 Research will be conducting regular follow-up surveys in the coming months, so stay tuned for more insights.
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