The Covid crisis has seen 62% of Aussie organisations embrace accelerated change to outperform business targets, new research has found.

Enterprise cloud applications provider Unit4 has unveiled the findings of its second annual Business Future Index.

The index surveyed 3,450 respondents across 12 global markets to understand how business performance over the past 12 months has been affected by the pandemic and reveals the extent to which changes to people strategies, company policies and technology adoption have accelerated. It also identifies business priorities for the coming year and examines the top challenges facing organisations as the world enters a difficult economic period. 

The findings show a direct correlation between the benefits of embracing accelerated change and improved business performance, as well as highlighting distinct areas where action must be taken if organisations are to remain competitive.

"As with every crisis, the pandemic showed that organisations which were prepared to be more innovative and progressive in their people and technology strategies, as well as company policies, came out ahead in terms of business performance," says Mike Ettling, CEO, Unit4. 

"Looking forward to 2023, businesses around the world will face a myriad of pressures such as geopolitical issues, inflation and rising energy prices, as well as the continued competition for talent," he says. 

"The ability to adapt to such challenges is key, with no room for hesitation or inertia, as it can have a lasting impact on future performance."

Covid-19 pandemic impact:
According to the report, more than 9 in 10 organisations report great acceleration across their business as a reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic. This acceleration includes digital transformation efforts (Global: 52% | ANZ: 53% | APAC: 58%), flexible working practices (Global: 51% | ANZ: 49% | APAC: 50%) and the adoption of software and tools to aid employee productivity and experience (Global: 45% | ANZ: 44% | APAC: 45%).

Accelerated change boost: those who embraced change have seen clear benefits including better workplace digitalisation (Global: 80% | AUS: 82% | APAC: 80%); improved wellbeing (Global: 74% | AUS: 84% | APAC: 73%); stronger team collaboration (Global:73% | AUS: 79% | APAC: 73%); enhanced customer/end-user experience (Global:72% | AUS: 76% | APAC: 71%).

Become more resilient: Many organisations have seen increased workforce resilience over the past year, with 49% globally (AUS: 50% | APAC: 47%) able to recruit from a wider geographic area. Those who report major adoption of workflow automation and/or real-time reporting have felt this positive staffing benefit even more (Global: 54% and 52% | AUS: 57% and 55% | APAC: 51% and 52% respectively).

Pivot or fall behind: For organisations which haven't focused on rapid growth since the pandemic only 28% globally (AUS: 26% | APAC: 26%) report themselves as outperforming 2021 targets, compared to the global average (51% | AUS: 62% | APAC: 54%) who did embrace such changes.

Future business priorities: Attracting and retaining talent (Global: 62% | AUS: 66% | APAC: 60%), building out new products and services (Global: 59% | AUS: 61% | APAC: 61%) and digital transformation (Global: 59% | AUS: 59% | APAC 64%) were cited as the top priorities for the next 12 months.

Challenges ahead: To deliver on these priorities, there is an accelerated need to enhance talent strategies (Global: 51% | AUS 53% | APAC: 50%), respond to competitive pressures (Global: 49% | AUS: 57% | APAC: 59%) and change the way organisations operate and are structured (Global: 45% | AUS: 42% | APAC: 40%).

Action plan for change: people, policy, tools

The Index shows there is no room for complacency when it comes to embracing change and even organisations that performed well in 2021 cannot afford to ease up on the pace of transformation. Similar to the 2021 Index - which identified the need to focus more on people, alongside profit and productivity - the 2022 findings highlight challenges around people, policy and tools as organisations prepare to address their business priorities for the next 12 months.

Within each area, the Index highlights priorities where organisations can target their action plans for accelerated change:

People: flexible working strategies require further improvements to avoid employees leaving for employers with more attractive working conditions. Leaders also need to work harder to show they understand their teams. For instance, 80% of leaders (AUS: 83% | APAC: 76%) believe employee wellbeing has improved in 2021, compared to only 68% of employees (AUS: 84% | APAC: 70%).

Policy: Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and diversity are called out in the Index as areas requiring further action, as poor ESG credentials are seen as a factor affecting the ability to attract talent. This is compounded by another challenge - the ability to attract talent from a mix of generations - which is a key reason for increasing the focus on diversity.

Tools: To respond to competitive pressures and adapt organisational structures, there is still a lot of room to adopt technologies such as cloud, data management and real-time reporting tools, workflow automation and AI/Machine Learning.

Based on the evidence contained in this year's Index, organisations that achieve the balance between fiscal responsibility in uncertain economic times with the demand for innovation are more likely to achieve stronger business performance. The Business Future Index 2022 provides a framework to justify the business case for supporting accelerated change and points to a specific action plan where investment can be targeted to deliver tangible benefits.