With over 6 million organization signing up with Bitrix24 since the launch in 2012, we have a unique insight into how businesses and non-profit sector are adapting to the COVID-19 pandemic. Last week we’ve run a short survey in order to understand what effect coronavirus had so far, which industries adapted best and what future steps companies are planning. 

But even before the survey results were in, we’ve seen almost instant reaction from businesses and civic leaders to stay-at-home orders and mandatory shutdowns. Like other remote collaboration platforms, we’ve seen a significant increase in usage both from new and existing clients. For example, new Bitrix24 account signups were up 25%-40% on average during the third week of March. However, the dynamics were very different from country from country.

For instance, while the hardest hit countries inside EU were Italy and Spain, new Bitrix24 signups there were up ‘only’ 48%, while Poland doubled, and Germany went through the roof with 219% weekly growth. These figures suggest that the differences in the economic structure AND attitudes toward working from home in different European countries are a major factor in how quickly and effectively each country can ‘go remote’.

Overall, globally only 41% of Bitrix24 users have reported the COVID-19 pandemic has affected them so far. The outlier here is Italy, where 83% of all businesses that rely on our platform have reported significant impact. Perhaps most surprisingly, almost everywhere many organizations still believe that they’ll return to operating the way they were before the outbreak. Globally, 48% of all respondents plan no major changes, 37% in Poland, 56% in Germany, 40% in Spain, 48% in Brazil.

Also, unexpectedly most businesses and non-profits do not plan any additional investments in tools that enable distributed workforce. Overall 59% of organizations said NO to paying for additional software or hardware for their employees who are working from home, 54% of Polish businesses won’t do it, same as German ones, with a whooping 73% in Brazil and 51% in Italy.

The number of organizations that use Bitrix24 reported they can go and remain fully remote was quite high. This is likely the result of self-selection bias as companies that use Bitrix24 are much more likely to represent IT sector and have extensive remote collaboration experience even before COVID-19. When asked if 100% of all employees can work from home, 42% of all respondents said yes. The highest number (66%) was reported by Bitrix24 users in Spain and Latin America, with Brazil, Germany, Poland and Italy all reporting similar numbers (41%-46%).

Finally, the vast majority of the survey responded has reported that collaboration platforms like Bitrix24 where crucial to very helpful to enabling remote working. That number stood at 89% for Italy, 85% for Poland, 96% for Germany and Spain, 97% for Brazil and 95% globally

If you are a member of the press and have questions about the survey, please contact us at press@bitrix24.com

P.S. Please make sure you check out additional COVID-19 resources available from Bitrix24.

1. How to get unlimited users for free Bitrix24 plans - https://www.bitrix24.com/about/blogs/bitrix24-tips-and-updates/bitrix24-coronavirus-remote-working-and-contingency-planning.php
2. From office to remote work in 10 simple steps (webinar) - https://www.bitrix24.com/about/blogs/webinars/from-office-to-remote-work-in-10-simple-steps-webinar.php

A nine-step checklist for switching to remote work quickly - https://www.bitrix24.com/about/blogs/human-resources/a-nine-step-checklist-for-switching-to-remote-work-quickly.php