The findings, taken from interviews with 500 IT decision makers, show that more than eight in ten (84%) companies have ramped-up efforts to boost productivity since March, with more than half saying it is now vital to deliver cost savings (59%) and higher profits (54%) for their businesses.

Respondents said that legacy working practices (35%), such as excessive meetings, and poor IT infrastructure (33%) are the biggest barriers businesses face. Modern hardware, such as printers and tablets, (98%), collaboration software, such as project management platforms and video conferencing, (98%), and remote working tools, such as cloud-based technologies, (96%), top IT decision makers' lists for technology that will deliver the greatest productivity gains. Brother says that an average business of 250 employees could stand to save nearly 52,000 hours of workers' time a year - worth an estimated £776,000 - just by implementing simple, cost effective updates across their IT operations.