Preparing for a new world: The latest COVID-19 insights from CFOs

These certainly haven’t been easy times for CFOs, who’ve been juggling an unprecedented mix of challenges that came at them at lightning speed. I think it’s safe to say that six months ago, no one was forecasting what's looking to be the worst downturn since the Great Depression. There’s no playbook for how to respond to a scenario like this one, but everyone is responding. 

To help finance leaders learn from each other’s experiences, starting in March, PwC began conducting a biweekly survey to continuously track the actions, plans and concerns of US CFOs. We followed up the April 27th survey, our fourth, with a webcast to share the results and invite participants to express their opinions via an online poll. Nearly 3,500 executives (representing various functions, not just finance) joined the webcast (and more than 300 CFOs participated in the most recent survey).

The big theme from both the survey and the webcast? The world of work and the use of technology — both of which were already evolving quickly before COVID-19 hit — are even more top of mind than ever now.

Double down on digital transformation — today and tomorrow

There’s no question: Most US companies are feeling this downturn’s impact. Eighty percent of the CFOs surveyed say that COVID-19 will reduce their revenue and/or profit in 2020, and nearly a quarter say the hit will be 25% or more. 

Faced with these challenges, companies report that digital tools are saving the day — and not just by enabling more employees to work from home. When we polled our webcast participants about how they are supporting their customers, for example, the top answer (chosen by 43%) was by providing more digital experience.

CFOs are betting on tech for the future, too. Even though 70% of CFOs are looking to cancel or defer some investments in response to the crisis, only 22% say that digital transformation investments are on the chopping block. 

Finance leaders are persisting with these investments even though many are not counting on this crisis passing quickly. Forty-eight percent of US finance leaders say that even if COVID-19 disappeared today, their business would still need more than three months to get back to normal. I firmly believe that, both during this crisis and after it passes, accelerating digital investments will be a key to success.

Plan now for the return to work

No one knows how this economic recovery will proceed, though it will likely occur at different paces in different geographies and across different sectors. Yet, many finance leaders report that their companies are already working on plans to bring workers back on payroll and back on site.

We asked our almost 3,500 webcast participants about their companies’ return-to-work plans. Most already have a plan (although 22% either lack a plan or only plan to work remotely in the medium term), but only 28% are “very confident” in that plan’s robustness.

These plans largely focus on new safety measures and requirements, reconfiguring worksites to promote physical distancing, and changing shifts and/or alternating crews to help reduce exposure. Here too, many are taking the long view: Almost half (49%) of CFOs say their companies will make remote work a permanent option for roles that allow it, and 40% say COVID-19 is accelerating automation and new ways of working.

Only 22% are currently looking at new tools to support workforce location tracking and contact tracing. I expect that number to rise, since these new technologies can help support worker safety. By replacing manual processes for managing worker safety, they can enable companies to bring more of their people back more quickly, both boosting productivity and enhancing trust. 

Prepare for a future that looks different — and works better in many ways

COVID-19 has been a public health, economic and societal crisis, and businesses have started working their way through it. But many are already looking at ways to emerge stronger on the other side. When we asked our webcast participants how the current situation might make their companies better off in the long run, the top answer was work flexibility (72%), followed by better resiliency and agility (55%) and technology investments (52%.)

What I found interesting — and promising — was that only 29% expect leaner operations to be a long-term benefit. In other words, even if cost containment is clearly top of mind in the near term, companies are still planning to reinvent themselves for the future. That new future is likely to include not just new ways of working, but also more resilient and agile supply chains and operations, all supported by digital technologies.

How to win that future? I’d set two priorities:

1. Take a long-term view. Even as the crisis continues, plan for the return to the workplace (with the help of new technologies) and continue to accelerate digital transformation initiatives. 
2. Build the new world of work. If you provide the right structure and upskilling, flexible work offers new ways to boost engagement and productivity, as well as opportunities to attract more diverse talent. 

If you take that longer-term view, and make your workforce strategy central to that view — not just supporting worker safety, but by reinventing how they work — your company may emerge from this crisis stronger than ever.