How COVID-19 Has Changed the Digital Trajectory for Professional Advisory Firms

Book chapter, 2021

As COVID-19 affects populations across the globe, the measures to prevent its spread are increasingly affecting our economies. Restrictions on the movement of people and goods and regulations for social distancing and quarantine affect both the consumption and production of goods and services. In this article, we examine the impact of COVID-19 on professional advisory service providers assisting their clients to excel. We find that COVID-19 has rapidly broken down several previous barriers to digital transformation and has caused a rapid increase in the adoption of digital technology among professional advisory firms. We conclude that although there might be a corona bump of rapid digital implementation, a new normal has been established, which changes the operational context and implies that the rate of digital trajectory will be steeper, and the pace will be faster, than has been earlier anticipated. This implies that professional advisors will become better suited to advise on the increasingly complex digital context of their clients.