Epicor Software Corporation today announced the release of its 2020 Global Growth Index, a report that explores the growth trajectory of companies around the world and provides insight into how business leaders are using technology to support and drive growth initiatives. The index looks at the constantly changing state of growth in the manufacturing, distribution, retail and e-commerce industries along with key trends that impact the bottom line.
A significant portion of the companies surveyed for the report have reported growth, with 71 percent reporting an increase in profits and 61 percent seeing an increase in market share over a 12 month period from April 2019 through to March 2020. However, growth projections for the next 12 months have been tempered given some of the challenges organizations have faced.
Organizations also reported Covid-19 (61 percent), China-US trade dispute/tariffs (29 percent) and environmental challenges (25 percent) as the factors most likely to negatively impact business growth over the coming year. To counteract these market conditions, investments in better technology (41 percent), working more efficiently (40 percent) and better planning (39 percent) were cited as levers that organizations can pull to overcome these business challenges.
The report also found that the cloud was poised to be a priority and the investments made in AI and big data are set to pay off. The other key finds were the emphasis on the skills and teams in order to harness the full power of the new technologies, improved customer satisfaction, retention followed by healthy margins and growing profits and increase in brand awareness, marketing and advertising were cited as the important indicators to successful growth.
Increasing global competition (41 percent), regulation changes (39 percent) and tax implications (35 percent) were cited as the top three factors that would most significantly impact the company’s supply chain
“2020 has been a year characterized by significant disruption to organizations of all sizes and across most, if not all, industries. These disruptions have accelerated digital transformation agendas for many; the trends identified in the Epicor Global Growth Index confirm that businesses will look to technology and IT infrastructure to drive company growth in the next 12 months. This continued investment will be important for companies to maintain business resilience, adapt to global volatility, and stay flexible as the market changes,” commented Andy Coussins, SVP and Head of International, Epicor Software Corp.
