"In light of the changes to organisational processes that businesses have had to make due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many firms have realised that there are more tasks that can be carried out from home than previously expected. In the business-related services sector, more than 50 per cent of companies – and in the manufacturing sector, more than 40 per cent – are reporting such digital learning effects. “The widespread recognition among firms that many more tasks can be performed remotely than previously assumed reinforces the impulse the coronavirus crisis is giving to increasing mobile work. Because of these new experiences and insights, many companies are planning to use remote work more regularly after the crisis than they did before,” says Dr. Daniel Erdsiek, a researcher in ZEW's “Digital Economy” Department. About one in three companies had to invest in new technologies in the short term in order to make remote work arrangements available during the crisis. These are the results of a recent representative survey conducted by ZEW Mannheim in June 2020 among approximately 1,800 companies in the information economy and manufacturing industry."

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