MUMBAI: A few days back, during an interview given to Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza and television broadcaster TVN24, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates talked about the possible timeline in which the world will return to normalcy. During the interview, Gates predicted that the world will be completely back to normal from the Covid2019 pandemic by the end of 2022. And now, a new survey conducted by KPMG has suggested that most of the CEOs of the world's most influential companies do not expect a return to normalcy this year.
Return to normalcy in 2022
The survey involved 500 CEOs from 11 key markets (Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Spain, the UK, and the US) and it tried to shed light on the CEOs’ views on business growth resumption post the Covid pandemic, their views on vaccine distribution, their top-of-mind organisational risks, and business transformation priorities going forward.
According to the survey, 45 per cent CEOs believe that 'return to normal' will not happen this year, and they expect normality to resume in 2022. The lack of Covid vaccine distribution among their workforces is one of the major reasons that made these business leaders predict a realistic timeline that is needed to achieve a possible return to normal.
One-third of the CEOs (31 percent) who took part in the survey anticipated a return to normal this year. Interestingly, 24 per cent of those surveyed revealed that their business has changed forever due to the coronavirus outbreak.
55 per cent CEOs claimed that the perceived pace of vaccination distribution is prominent. These CEOs stated that they are very much concerned that not all of their employees will get inoculated, and it could negatively impact their business operations.
61 per cent of the company owners revealed that they will wait for a successful vaccine rollout before asking their employees to return to the office. 90 per cent of the CEOs intend to ask employees to report to the company if they get vaccinated.
CEOs adopting new strategies
In the changing world of business due to the Covid outbreak, most of the CEOs made it clear that their primary goal is to ensure the safety of the workforce. 26 per cent of the CEOs say they will cut down on international travel until the end of the pandemic.
Just 17 per cent of the CEOs who took part in the survey revealed that they are planning to downsize the company's physical footprint. 57 per cent of those interviewed plan to conduct customer engagement and queries predominantly via virtual platforms such as chatbots, telephone, web, and social media.
Digitisation is a new trend that is happening in the world of business due to the Coronavirus outbreak.
"A sizeable majority of leaders have reported acceleration of new digital business models and revenue streams (69 per cent) and to develop a seamless digital customer experience (56 per cent). This year, CEOs plan to spend more on digital technologies than last year, with 52 per cent prioritising data security measures, 50 per cent focusing on customer-centric technologies, and 49 per cent committed to digital communications, such as video conferencing and messaging capabilities," states the study report.
