Digitalization of business in a pandemic

Digital transformation is the transformation of the economy (business) by revising the business strategy, models, operations, products, marketing approach, goals, by adopting digital technologies. Its main purpose is to accelerate sales and business growth. The article substantiates the inevitability of digital transformation of the economy and its necessity in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. The authors identified the industries and industries most affected by the virus. These are primarily transport companies, enterprises and organizations in the field of tourism, public catering, entertainment and leisure, culture and sports, hotel management, exhibition activities, and consumer services. The authors consider the main economic measures to support enterprises and organizations in modern conditions and note that digital transformation is one of the 5 national goals of the Russian Federation. Further, the article analyzes the values of the business digitalization index (BDI) before the pandemic (2019) and for the 6 pandemic months of 2020, as well as the values of the private indexes that make up it: channels for transmitting and storing information, integration of digital technologies, use of Internet tools, information security, and human capital. The results of the research indicated that according to entrepreneurs, the main factor hindering the digitalization of business is the lack of funds and budget constraints. Another important obstacle is the lack of interest in digitalization of company managers and the low level of their knowledge and skills in the digital environment. In conclusion, the authors point out the main barriers to business digitalization and ways to overcome them.