According to Twilio, nearly all UK businesses (95%) consider software developers to be important for digital transformation, while 91% said that they are crucial to recovery from the pandemic, for example by enabling virtual communication with customers.
Meanwhile, nearly all decision makers surveyed (96%) believe the role of technology was important in responding to the challenges of the pandemic, with 68% saying it was ‘very important’.
Prior to the pandemic, 31% said that developers were ‘vital’ to the performance of the organisation, which has jumped to 41% since the pandemic began.
In regard to industry, respondents working in financial services overwhelmingly recognised the value of technology as ‘very important’ to respond to pandemic challenges (84%), compared to organisations on average (68%).
However, many organisations were revealed to still be underusing developer teams, by distancing them from customers and their needs until later in the process — under half (47%) engage developers at the start of a project.
The majority, on the other hand, only bring software developers in later down the line, for example when briefing them to build the solution, versus help to shape it to meet business needs.
What developers should look out for in 2021
“The organisations that solve customer problems with software are winning in the pandemic, as they continue to actively engage with their customers, even without face to face interactions,” said Marcos Placona, head of developer relations EMEA at Twilio.
“Developers are a creative workforce who can solve major business challenges and create invaluable customer products, if they are given the opportunity – they do not simply write code.
“Organisations that bring them in from the onset to understand objectives can unleash their power and therefore the power of the code they write.”
The Twilio research, conducted by Vanson Bourne, interviewed a representative sample of 400 IT decision makers at UK enterprises with 500+ employees, from a range of private and public sectors.
