Spend on digital transformation was up across industries last year, with retail seeing a 37.6 per cent uptick in 2020.

According to research by cloud communications platform Twilio, nearly a third (30 per cent) of British businesses increased spend on digital transformation by 50 to 99 per cent in 2020 compared to the previous year.

92 per cent of companies plan to either increase or maintain digital customer engagement spend in 2021.

On average, retail businesses across the world took 31 days to accelerate digital transformation strategy, closely followed by finance (32), technology (33), manufacturing and automotive (33), healthcare (36), logistics (36) and construction (38).

“Digital connection was a defining part of every pandemic experience, and it will be the foundation of the next phase of digital transformation,” said Glenn Weinstein, chief customer officer, Twilio. “From the complex logistics of vaccine distribution, to powering the hybrid workforce, digital engagement is already playing a critical role in the process of recovery and rebuilding the world is tackling now.”

David Parry-Jones, vice president, EMEA at Twilio, commented: “We’ve seen a huge boost to digital transformation in the past year, and that shows no signs of slowing in 2021. Prior to the pandemic, under half of the UK’s customer engagement was digital, but already that percentage has increased to more than 60 per cent. We have no doubt that this will continue to rise, as businesses strive to address the varying expectations of customers through a mix of digital channels.”

89 per cent of UK business leaders said COVID-19 accelerated their move to the cloud.

53 per cent of UK businesses surveyed suggested that their digital interactions with customers increased by more than 50 per cent during COVID-19.

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