To evaluate the economic impact of remote work and video communications solutions during the pandemic, Zoom commissioned the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to conduct a survey and economic analysis, focusing on what industries were able to pivot their business processes using video conferencing, resulting in business continuity and even growth during a time of significant economic turmoil. The resulting report, prepared by Zoom based on the survey data and findings made by BCG, spans key industries and six countries around the globe, including India, U.S., U.K., Japan, France & Germany.

A few top takeaways from the report:

· 2.5-3.0x increase in employees working remote at businesses surveyed, which was supported by a 2.4-2.7x increase in employees using video conferencing solutions

· The total time spent on video conferencing solutions increased 3-5x at businesses surveyed

· BCG’s COVID-19 employee sentiment survey from 2020 showed that 70% of managers surveyed are more open to flexible remote working models than they were before the pandemic

· Hybrid working models are here to stay - businesses surveyed expect over a third of employees to work remotely beyond the pandemic

The future of work

The COVID-19 pandemic made remote work a necessity, but the trend is here to stay. Some workers will go back into the office after the pandemic, but most others will still collaborate virtually as remote or hybrid employees. In fact, the Boston Consulting Group research findings reveal that remote work will remain prevalent in almost all the countries surveyed.

Impact by country

As countries around the world grappled with lockdowns, people rapidly adopted remote work and video conferencing solutions. Through the swift and effective implementation of remote work, businesses within these countries were able to save both money and jobs that may have been lost as a result of the pandemic. In the U.S., for example, the ability to work remotely helped save 2.28 million jobs.

To look at how video communication solutions affect the way people work, both now and in the future, the survey aspect of the report asked respondents to estimate what share of employees in their company used video conferencing solutions in 2019, 2020, and expected to in 2022. Results were grouped by enterprise and small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMB). As we can see, companies expect video conferencing usage to stay significantly elevated post-pandemic compared to 2019.

Video Conferencing Usage for Surveyed SMBs (as % of employees)

Figure 2 Source: BCG B2B video conferencing customer survey, commissioned by Zoom

Video Conferencing Usage for Surveyed Enterprises (as % of employees)

Impact by industry

No industry was immune from the economic impact of the pandemic, but some were able to make dramatic shifts in behavior to adjust. For this survey, BCG took a look at how the healthcare, education, technology, and professional services sectors embraced remote collaboration to enable continuity during the pandemic and how the trends may continue in the future.

Here are a few of the insights:

· Healthcare: 67% of businesses surveyed agree “My company is considering a flexible remote working model because of successful remote collaboration through video conferencing solutions.”

· Education: 3.5x increase in the use of video conferencing solutions during the pandemic at businesses surveyed

· Technology: 84% of businesses surveyed agree “Video conferencing solutions will continue to be essential for business operations beyond the pandemic.”

· Professional services: 2.7x increase in remote work during the pandemic at businesses surveyed

To learn more about the economic impact of video conferencing and remote work during the pandemic and what’s next for today’s businesses, here is “The Impact of Video Communications During COVID-19” report.