Localogy’s fourth wave of its 2020 Modern Commerce Monitor™ spotlights the current impact and continued transformation driven by COVID. Highlights from the report reveal 55% of businesses still have employees working remotely and to support that sustained, remote workforce, there has been an incredible increase in technology investment since the last wave released in June.

Among those increased software investments to support a remote workforce, the report finds a 61% increase in video conferencing, a 63% increase in virtual office software, and a 57% increase in productivity, project management, and document management software. Alongside this trend, there has been a 35% decrease in concerns over productivity issues with remote employees when comparing April’s data to this latest report.

These findings, among others, illustrate a lasting impact driven by the sweeping and drastic changes small businesses have made during COVID. While operations have seen the greatest shift toward tech-driven transformation, there is a 43% increase in SaaS investment related to supply-chain services and a 21% increase in customer relationship management software.

To gain a better understanding of the winners in this COVID era surge in digitization, Localogy recently concluded a small business Benchmark Report identifying SaaS leaders in key categories. New accounting and invoicing software adoption since the start of the pandemic is highest among companies with 1-10 employees (37%) and leading the pack in new adoption is Xero, Freshbooks, and Wave.

When it comes to small business websites, agencies are still the largest provider at 16%, while more than a dozen providers split the market with single-digit percentages, WordPress and GoDaddy leading the pack on adoption but trailing among the lowest customer satisfaction levels. Overall, the report found that only 50% of business owners are satisfied or very satisfied with their current website provider. Leading the pack in customer service is Network Solutions/Web.com, Shopify, and Constant Contact. This creates a lot of opportunities in the marketplace as business owners scramble to find the best right fit for their evolving business needs.

Lastly, the benchmark study found that only 40% of small businesses use CRM software and 12% purchased a new CRM software since the start of the pandemic. The leaders in adoption since the onset of COVID include Salesforce, Freshsales, and Zoho CRM.

For more information and to request your copy of the Modern Commerce Monitor Wave V-IV report visit resource.localogy.com/mcm-wave-v-iv.

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