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Digital Transformation in Times of Covid-19
Pandemic: The Case of Morocco

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Hicham Nachit Lhacen Belhcen
School of Law and Economics Ain Chock, School of Law and Economics Ain Chock,

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Hassan II University of Casablanca, Hassan II University of Casablanca,
Morocco. Morocco.
Hicham.nachit-etu@etu.univh2c.ma Lhacen.belhcen@univh2c.ma
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Abstract:
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The Covid-19 pandemic has created serious disruptions to both public and private
sectors throughout the world. Governments had to act fast and take preventive
measures, while several businesses had to slowdown, or worse, shutdown their
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activities to avoid further spreading the virus. However, the Covid-19 crisis cannot
be perceived only as a period of instability, but also as a period of high rates of
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digital technologies adoption. Digital transformation has gone from being an

option to becoming an urgent priority for several businesses and public service-
providers, which sheds light on the digital readiness of governments, companies,
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and most importantly, customers. In this context, the present paper aims to explore
the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on digital transformation implementing process
and the extent to which Moroccan economic actors are ready to embrace digital
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transformation based on three main factors: (1) Global digital infrastructure, (2)
Companies digital readiness, and (3) Customers digital readiness.

Key words: Digital Transformation, Covid-19, Digital readiness, Morocco.

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This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3645084
 INTRODUCTION

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Globally, the emergence of disruptive new digital technologies has created a movement for
outstanding digital services. Governments and businesses from all over the world are in the
midst of an unprecedented transformation as they rethink their operating models and abandon

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analogue systems in favour of digital updated ones. For many years, digital tools have been an
integral part of business life, they are used to improve processes, conquer new markets,
transform business models, and more importantly, influence the extent to which businesses or
even countries are perceived in terms of competitiveness. This global transformation is

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referred to as the Fourth Industrial Revolution (i.e. Industry 4.0). Its ultimate objective is to
make everything around us “smart”, which makes it more of a digital and less of a physical

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transformation (Chou, 2019).

Adopting and adapting to digital is more than just an option. The ongoing changes in
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customers’ needs and behaviour forces both companies and public administrations to lead a
digital transformation. On the business level, the use of digital tools enables companies to
become more customer-centric and thus more efficient when answering market demands.
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Therefore, for businesses to stay competitive and avoid being left behind, it is crucial to
consider, plan and progress their transition to digital. However, according to Chou (2019),
companies that have not attained “digital readiness” can’t be transformed in the new digital
era since they would be susceptible to face many obstacles that would keep them from
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benefiting from the transformation. As for governments, digital transformation on this level
can be driven by different local and global factors such as increasing transparency, enhancing
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citizen satisfaction and trust, balancing costs, improving rankings and attracting new
investors. However, digital transformation, as a strategy, requires endless updating to keep up
with the customers’ changing behaviour, which makes of it a very long and energy-
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consuming process.

On December 31st 2019, a new coronavirus disease was detected in Wuhan, China. The World
Health Organization called it Covid-19 and confirmed it as pandemic on the 11th of March
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2020 (WHO, 2020). Which made countries around the world impose severe restrictions on
their populations in an attempt to stop the spread. By the time this article is being written, 213
countries around the world have reported more than 11.4 million confirmed cases. As the
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coronavirus spreads rapidly, several countries seem to be facing new and unforeseen
challenges. The social and economic impacts of Covid-19 pandemic are difficult to predict at

This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3645084
 this point of time. Along with the health crisis, there are also fears of a long-lasting global
economic crisis due to the measures taken by governments and economic sectors. In Morocco,

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most businesses and public administrations were hit by the effects of Covid-19 since people
were asked to work from home, which means more use of digital tools (e.g. delivery apps,
video conferencing software, etc). As a result, rather than only digitizing the relationship

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between firm and customer, it is today an obligation to also digitize the relationship between
firm and employee, which brings us up against the question of the Moroccan digital
infrastructure and whether companies and customers are ready to go digital.

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In light of these circumstances, it is our purpose, through this paper, to explore the impact of
Covid-19 pandemic on digital transformation implementing process and the extent to which

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Moroccan economic actors are ready to embrace digital transformation.

LITERATURE REVIEW
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All over the world, and since the beginning of 2020, there is only one topic of interest: Covid-
19 pandemic. With the health crisis it caused and the number of infected people still on the
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rise, it is difficult to foresee its impact on economy and society at large. First detected in
China, the novel coronavirus has travelled to 213 countries and territories, infected more than
11.4 million and claimed lives of more than 530.000 people at the time of this writing1.
Several countries have implemented health, economic and social measures to face the rapidly
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spreading virus and flatten its curve until a vaccine is developed (Anderson et al. 2020). How
long the impact of Covid-19 will last and how efficient the measures taken to face it are both
unknown (Karabag, 2020). According to Fernandes (2020), a comparison between Covid-19
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crisis and other global crisis such as the 2008 financial crisis would be meaningless since we
are dealing with new challenges we have never experienced before.
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Many businesses, well before Covid-19 spread, pursued digital transformation strategies to
improve their internal, external, and holistic organizational dimensions (Hess et al. 2016). The
definition used most often in the Information System (IS) literature for Digital Transformation
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(DT) is provided by Fitzgerald et al. (2013), who define it as “the use of new digital
technologies (social media, mobile, analytics or embedded devices) to enable major business
improvements (such as enhancing customer experience, streamlining operations or creating
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new business models).”

1
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3645084
 The Covid-19 crisis can be seen not only as a disruptive period of instability and danger but
also as a period of accelerated use of digital technologies (Karabag, 2020). Before the

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pandemic, several organizations had an understanding of DT’s importance, yet the process of
its implementation was slowed for most of them due to different factors such as complexity
and cost (Scott, 2020), until COVID-19 turned digital transformation into an urgent priority

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(Lesser et al. 2020). Looking ahead to the post-covid-19 era, business strategies are facing
major transformations (Kodama, 2020). They are now forced to rethink their business models
more than ever in order to ensure the crisis impacts them as little as possible and their
customers continue to receive adequate services. The coronavirus crisis provided firms with

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the opportunity of exploring and expanding the use of digital tools such as video conferencing

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applications and thus eliminate the face-to-face meetings (Karabag, 2020). It is a wake-up
call, not only to businesses, but also to governments. Digital transformation of the public
sector refers to the transition that occurs in governments operations in order to improve the
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way citizens are served (OECD, 2018). Hence, and given the Covid-19 situation, digital
technology is reshaping the way public services such as health, education and communication
are delivered (Ting et al. 2020), and according to the United Nations Division for Public
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Institutions and Digital Government (2020), many governments have increased their use of
social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter in order to further connect with their
people and enable them to receive accurate and up-to-date information about the pandemic.
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However, several countries, mostly the emerging ones, are still struggling with the
development of their digital economies. Which requires, first, the construction and maturation
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of digital infrastructures such as fiber-optic networks, wireless-based ICT, digital

technologies (i.e Artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, etc) and software that
would ensure and facilitate a 24/7 online real-time connectivity. Second, the development,
within companies, of a certain level of awareness regarding the importance of digital
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transformation and the improvement of employees’ skills, which would result in a better
understanding of the changes currently occurring in the global business environment and in a
significant increase in companies’ ability to embrace and use digital technologies (i.e. digital
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readiness). And third, contributing to end-user’s digital literacy and readiness through
increasing their willingness to accept Internet-based services and providing them with new
resources of knowledge, which will allow a better understanding of digital transformation and
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help close the digital divide.

This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3645084
 METHODS

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A qualitative method was chosen to lead this study for all the advantages it presents. It is the
most suited approach for exploring and understanding phenomenon and addressing emerging
questions (Creswell et al. 2017). We opted for an exploratory case study design which is

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suitable for new area researches where “little is known and the literature is scarce” and is
therefore used to give birth to new research questions and hypotheses that can be further
explored in future studies (Johannesson et al. 2014). According to Yin (2017), multiple-case
studies are likely to generate more valuable insights compared to single-case studies. The

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main objective of the present working paper is to explore the impact of the Covid-19
pandemic on digital transformation within the Moroccan context. Due to lockdown in

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Morocco, it was not possible to collect primary data. Therefore, in order for us to collect
evidence on the digital transformation phenomenon and how both Moroccan public and
private sectors are behaving towards it under the pressure caused by the Covid-19 pandemic,
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we conducted, as a starting point, a manual content analysis of secondary data including
reports, surveys, press releases, and press articles published in the most consulted business
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newspapers in Morocco such as L’économiste. The choice of public and private sectors on
which this working paper is based was not made randomly. We chose to explore digital
transformation within Moroccan education and health sectors being two of the most sensitive
public services in Morocco which require further investments (World Bank, 2018). As for
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private sectors, we chose banking and retailing for the pressure they both were under as a
result of the lockdown following covid-19 pandemic (Nicola et al. 2020).
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RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Morocco’s technological environment

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The Moroccan government has been taking steps towards digital transformation and more
user-driven approaches for years (OECD, 2018). Morocco is ranked 97th out of 141 countries
in terms of ICT adoption (WEF, 2019), and 87th out of 121 countries regarding its network
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readiness (PI, 2020). The data from the Network Readiness Index shows that all pillars have
known a positive evolution. However, Morocco's rankings still indicate weak performance
within two sub-pillars, namely the businesses’ use of ICT and the economic impact of ICT,
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which were respectively ranked 95th and 80th. The first obstacle to network readiness within
most African and Arab countries is often related to infrastructure (PI, 2020). Therefore,
significant efforts still need to be made in order to raise the level of maturity of Moroccan

This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3645084
 online services especially that only 35% of the basic services are available online (Court of
Accounts, 2019).

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Moroccan households seem to prefer smartphones over computers since, as reported by the
Moroccan National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (ANRT) (2019), 86.3% of

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them have at least one smartphone against only 60.6% owning a computer (i.e. Desktop,
laptop, and tablet). And according to the same survey, 74.2% of households have access to
internet. In 8 years, the household equipment with internet has been multiplied by three.
However, if 8 out of 10 urban households have access to internet, only 1 out 2 rural

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households have the same privilege. The data also shows that Internet in Morocco is mostly
used for entertainment and news, followed by professional and educational uses. While prices

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of equipment and internet services represent the main reason behind not being equipped with
internet in Morocco.

Covid-19 in Morocco
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On the 2nd of March 2020, The Moroccan Ministry of Health announced that a first case of
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the new coronavirus was registered in Morocco2. Since then, the numbers kept rising
exponentially to reach more than 14000 cases3 at the time of this writing. Meanwhile, the
government, being aware of its limited health facilities, reacted quickly in order to contain the
spread of Covid-19. Table 1 highlights the key measures taken by the Moroccan authorities.
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Date Measure
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An Economic Watch Committee (CVE) was established by the

March 11th 2020
MEF to monitor the impact of Covid-194.

The MEN announced the closure of all educational institutions until

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March 13th 2020

further notice. The classes are to be held online5.

A Special Fund for the Management of the Coronavirus Pandemic

March 16th 2020
was created to support the national economy6.
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2
‘Morocco announces a first case of the new coronavirus’, March 2nd, 2020. https://bit.ly/3b0OgFQ
3
Worldmeter. https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/morocco/
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4
‘Coronavirus: Morocco sets up an economic watch committee’, March 11th, 2020. https://bit.ly/3dFk1qj
5
‘Coronavirus: schools closed until further notice’, March 13th, 2020. https://bit.ly/2MxP5fG
6‘
Coronavirus Epidemic management fund: the decree has been signed’, March 16th, 2020. https://bit.ly/2XEfnn1

This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3645084
 The interior Ministry declared a 1-month state of health emergency
March 19th 2020
in Morocco7.

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The National Social Security Fund (CNSS) set up an online portal
March 19th 2020 through which formalities related to a monthly lump sum allowance

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for employees can be completed8.

The CVE announced that the informal sector will also benefit from
March 23rd 2020
a subsistence aid financed by the special fund9.

The Government’s Council extended the state of health emergency

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April 18th 2020
by another month, until May 20, 202010.

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A bill allowing joint-stock companies to hold councils and settle
April 23rd 2020
accounts using videoconferencing software was voted11.

The MEN announced that classes will remain closed until

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Mai 12th 2020
September 2020 and that distance learning will be maintained12.

The Government’s Council extended the state of health emergency

Mai 18th 2020
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by three additional weeks13.

The Ministry of National Health set up a mobile app called

June 1st 2020
“Wiqaytna” intended to track the spread of Covid-19 in Morocco14.
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The Government’s Council extended the state of health emergency

June 9th 2020
until July 1015.
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The public authorities ended lockdown for most of the Moroccan

June 19th 2020
provinces starting on June 25th, 202016.
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7‘
The Interior Ministry declares state of health emergency’, March 19th, 2020. https://bit.ly/3gq5PCz
8‘
Covid-19: Launch of a portal dedicated to a monthly lump sum’, March 24th, 2020. https://bit.ly/3f3vnot
9' ‘
Here are the urgent measures to support informal workers and households’, March 27th, 2020. https://bit.ly/2UjvB2F
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10
‘Morocco extends state of emergency until May 20’, April 18th, 2020. https://bit.ly/2z1t0CK
11
‘PLC: Accounts to be settled via videoconferencing’, April 27th, 2020. https://bit.ly/2WqAN4W
12
‘Coronavirus Maroc / school tests: This is what the ministry will do’, Mai 12th, 2020. https://bit.ly/30hauSA
13
‘Morocco extends containment and prepares for economic recovery’, Mai 19th, 2020. https://bit.ly/2Ug0qW7
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14 ‘
The Wiqaytna app is available and can be downloaded’, June 1st, 2020. https://bit.ly/3h1m1v1
15 ‘
Morocco: state of health emergency extended until July 10’, June 9th, 2020. https://bit.ly/2UCROsx
16 ‘
End of lockdown: Morocco ... or most of it, ends lockdown’, June 19th, 2020. https://bit.ly/3dTYsS8

This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3645084
 Impact of Covid-19 on DT in the Moroccan public sector

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Education

Morocco, like many other developing countries, has recently made certain improvements,
especially in terms of increasing school enrolment in primary and secondary schools (Chtatou,

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2015). However, despite implementing different reforms, Morocco still needs to increase its
efforts in order to achieve the desired outcomes. In its digital government review of Morocco,
the OECD (2018) shed light on the importance of a real strategy aiming to integrate ICT in
education in order to develop digital skills within the Moroccan schools, especially in rural

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areas17.

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Since Covid-19 spread in Morocco, the Ministry of National Education (MEN) has decided to
suspend all classes and close all educational institutions. This decision has an impact on 8.9
million students, including 7.1 million primary and secondary education students (UNESCO,
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2020), which are all invited to adopt distance learning as a measure to limit the spread of the
virus. To do so, a digital platform (TelmidTICE) was set up to ensure pedagogical continuity
alongside with national TV stations that have also started broadcasting remote lessons.
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Moreover, to ensure teachers can directly communicate with their students and organize
distance learning sessions, the MNE launched another platform (Teams), which allows
students to be more integrated into the distance learning operation. Two weeks after the
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launch of distance learning, the MNE announced that the TemidTICE platform reached
600.000 users per day and that the number of virtual classes created on Teams platform
attained 400.000 class18.
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Furthermore, institutions with limited access, such as engineering schools (i.e. EMI, ENSIAS,
INPT, etc), are already trained and used to distance learning through interactive platforms,
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which can be explained by their IT skills and ability to use relevant software applications19.
However, a survey carried out by Benkaraache et al. (2020), aiming to evaluate the degree of
adaptation and satisfaction of students and teachers to the Moroccan distance learning system,
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found out that this latter has failed to replace the face-to-face learning. In fact, 61.5% of
teachers believe that distance education has not succeeded in replacing that in the classroom,
and 57% of students do not wish to take such courses in the future. Regarding the difficulties
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17
‘Education: A digitalization policy prevails’, March 22nd, 2019. https://bit.ly/2zUhNEx
18
‘Covid-19/Morocco – Distance learning: The MEN delivers a review’, April 3rd, 2020. https://bit.ly/2Su4pxc
19
‘Distance education: The University of Rabat deploys its system’, March 27th, 2020. https://bit.ly/2MENrc4

This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3645084
 faced by distance learning, a majority of 78% of professors and 65.4% of students mention
internet network weakness as the main issue, followed by a lack of effective methods and

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approaches amongst the teaching staff.

Healthcare

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The Moroccan Ministry of Health has committed itself to achieving digital transformation and
to helping grow a sector that provides quality healthcare for all20. It recognizes that
technology can be leveraged to provide solutions, ensure availability and fluidity of
information, and help with decision-making based on data and real-time indicators21. Before

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Covid-19, The ministry of health implemented an online appointment system

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(www.mawiidi.ma) which enables people to make doctors’ appointments, get health advice
and thus, minimize waiting time. But with Covid-19 crisis and the measures taken to handle
it, the ministry had to adopt (i) a citizen-centric strategy and communicate with the public on
a daily basis through the Ministry’s social media accounts in order to ensure they receive the
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right information22, and (ii) a patient-centric strategy through launching a new digital platform
(www.dochome.ma) which allows a remote Covid-19 self-diagnosis. The most important
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advantage of this platform is that sending and confirming a request takes only an average of 3
minutes, which makes the treatment process reactive and efficient23.

Moreover, on June 1st 2020, three months after discovering the first Covid-19 positive case in
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Morocco, the Ministry of Health presented the new tracking app “Wiqaytna”. Which, based
on Bluetooth technology, notifies its users in case they come into contact with positive Covid-
19 cases. The Ministry has also stated that the app was developed in collaboration with the
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Digital Development Agency, also recently created, and the National Telecommunication
Regulatory Authority (ANRT), and that it has been approved by the Moroccan Data
Protection Authority (CNDP)24. One week after it was launched, Wiqaytna exceeded 1
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million downloads25. However, several social media users started warning people against
using the app even before it was launched. Most of them seemed to either misunderstand the
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20
‘Microsoft - Morocco: cloud in healthcare services’, 2018. https://bit.ly/2KX82aY
21
‘Debate on Digital Transformation as a lever for social acceleration’, February 17th, 2019. https://bit.ly/3b1bsUB
22
‘Covid-19 is accelerating Morocco’s digital transformation’, April 13th, 2020. https://bit.ly/2KRASt8
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23
‘E-Health: Free digital teleconsultation platform’, April 27th, 2020. https://bit.ly/2VZw6A5
24 ‘
The Wiqaytna app is available and can be downloaded’, June 1st, 2020. https://bit.ly/3h1m1v1
25 ‘
Covid-19: Over 1 million downloads of the Wiqaytna App’, June 6th, 2020. https://bit.ly/3dKWoN4

This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3645084
 way it works26 or believe it would have access to users’ personal data27. According to the
Network Readiness Index (2019), Morocco is ranked 74th out of 121 in terms of trust sub-

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pillar, which helps assess how individuals and firms are in the context of network economy
and how they perceive safety and privacy, and therefore comes behind other African countries
such as Rwanda and Tanzania with respectively the 60th and 66th ranks.

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Impact of Covid-19 on DT in the Moroccan private sector

In early April 2020, nearly 57% of Moroccan businesses announced they had permanently or
temporarily shut down their operations due to the Covid-19 outbreak. As for companies that

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kept their activities despite of the ongoing health crisis, half of them had to reduce their

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production to adapt to the conditions imposed by the government, and 81% of these have
reduced it by 50% or more (HCP, 2020). As a result, in order to keep functioning during the
shutdown and avoid an economic fallout, most economic sectors are going digital and
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employees are becoming familiar with Cloud-based tools, such as Zoom, as alternative
solutions to ensure good communication28.
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Banking sector

As is the case in several countries around the world, the Moroccan banking sector is also
committed to the digital transformation path, and it has already had noticeable effects29.
Digital transformation is essential and beneficial for the banking sector since digital channels
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enable banks to lower distribution and back-office costs and improve customer satisfaction
while Big Data helps create more personalized offers, which allows a 15-30% improvement in
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bank profits30. According to a recent scientific study31 focused on an analytical approach

affecting 30 banks in Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, five banks, three of which are
Moroccan, namely BMCE Bank Of Africa, BCP, and Crédit Agricole du Maroc, stood out for
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their remarkable efforts in terms of digital transformation and the concrete solutions resulting
from their transformation processes.
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26 ‘
Wiqaytna App: What Casablancans say about it’, June 4th, 2020. https://bit.ly/2YgK9B9
27 ‘
Wiqaytna and respect for personal data: the ministry responds to rumors’, June 3rd, 2020. https://bit.ly/3h0V0rL
28
‘Covid-19 is Accelerating Morocco’s Digital Transformation’, April 13th, 2020. https://bit.ly/3dcVEzD
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29
‘Banking digital transformation: towards new challenges!’, February 1st, 2020. https://bit.ly/3cc5C3W
30
‘Successful digitization improves bank profits by 15-30%’, December 24th, 2019. https://bit.ly/3dQjaTV
31
‘Digital transformation of banks: Trusted Advisors presents its study’, February 21st, 2020. https://bit.ly/37j5SfU

This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3645084
 Once Covid-19 was confirmed to have spread to Morocco, the Moroccan Banks Professional
Group (GPBM) has decided to limit the number of clients that can access a bank branch at the

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same time as a preventive measure to decrease the risk of being infected32. Therefore, banks
started readapting and further strengthening their information systems to ensure the proper
functioning of their activities and devoted more attention to communication, as they all

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invited their clients to avoid visiting bank branches and use digital channels instead33. On one
hand, BCP Group’s DT has known a remarkable acceleration since the lockdown was
imposed. “We have witnessed a 20% increase in using our online banking channels34”, states
its managing director. And Attijariwafa Bank Group launched a first version of the first

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chatbot in Morocco based on artificial intelligence. It allows its customers to have their

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questions answered quickly, efficiently and at their convenience35. On the other hand, Crédit
Agricole du Maroc had recently presented its 2019-2023 strategic plan aiming to strengthen
its leadership position in rural areas and exploit the possibilities offered by digitalization36.
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Which shows to what extent Moroccan banks are invested in digital transformation.

At the end of June 2019, the number of people with bank accounts (i.e. Banking rate) in
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Morocco gained 2 points compared to the end of 2018 to reach 78% (Bank Al-Maghrib,
2019). However, after neutralizing the impact of having multiple bank accounts per individual
and only considering the adult population, the real banking rate can be confined between 34%
and 54% depending on the different calculation methods37, but does not change the fact that
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Morocco has a low level of banking38. Which sheds light on the gap that digital banking can
fill, since digitalization makes it possible to cover a large part of the population that still does
not have a bank account, but is equipped with smartphones39. Especially in rural areas since,
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according to the Network Readiness Report (2019), Morocco is ranked 117th out 121 in terms
of rural gap in use of digital payments.
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32
‘Covid-19: Limitation of access to banks’ branches’, March 16th, 2020. https://bit.ly/2yejmwH
33
‘Coronavirus Morocco: GPBM reacts strongly to certain criticism’, April 20th, 2020. https://bit.ly/35svPsB
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34
‘Covid-19: Banks under critics. BCP sheds light’, Mai 14th, 2020. https://bit.ly/37jUMHD
35
‘Banks: Attijariwafa bank launches a chatbot, the first in Morocco’, Mai 25th, 2020. https://bit.ly/2MJW59t
36
‘Crédit Agricole focuses on digitalization’, July 16th, 2019. https://bit.ly/2Yqnt1F
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37
‘Mckinsey: Can banks survive against fintechs’, November 12th, 2019. https://bit.ly/3ff3lWO
38
‘The battle for financial inclusion’, Mai 21st, 2020. https://bit.ly/2AdFAzT
39
‘Savings: Recovery paths’, November 8th, 2019. https://bit.ly/3cTD9zD

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This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3645084
 Retail sector

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Since the first cases of Covid-19 were discovered in Morocco, consumers’ behaviour has
known remarkable changes, as it is the case in several other countries. Supermarkets started
witnessing long queues of panic-buying customers seeking essential and hygiene products40.

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Which encouraged them to, first, communicate with their costumers and reassure them about
the availability of all sorts of products41. And second, to rethink their operating models
through a strategic adaptation that can focus specifically on e-commerce as an essential
option42 that helps limit consumer movements especially in times of Covid-19 pandemic. For

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instance, Marjane, the Moroccan hypermarket, launched an e-commerce app43 which allows
its customers to make their purchases on their smartphones, and signed a partnership with the

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Moroccan distribution platform Glovo44. While LabelVie group, through its Carrefour Market
brand, launched a free home delivery service in partnership with Jumia Food, also a
Moroccan distribution platform45. According to the Attijari Global Research Analysts, the
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retailers that accelerated the digitalization of services in order to allow their customers to
place orders online during the pandemic, should also be able to take advantage, in the long
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term, of this new market niche which will ultimately create value46.

In 2019, according to the Interbank Monetary Center (CMI) (2019), the cards issued by
Moroccan banks have reached a total of 16.2 million, which represents an increase of 7.6%
compared to 2018, and payments made using bank cards in the retail sector have reached
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18.6% of the total payments. Meanwhile, the internet payment activity maintained a strong
growth with +46.7% in volume and +18.2% in number of online payments. However, only
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14.2% of Moroccans made their purchases online in 2018, and almost half of them did it only
2 to 5 times (ANRT, 2019). Moreover, 70% of the Moroccan online transactions only concern
bills payments and plane tickets purchasing (CMI, 2019).
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40
‘Coronavirus: Panic purchases explode’, March 15th, 2020. https://bit.ly/2XStGEi
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41
‘Covid-19: Supermarkets reassure against panic-buying’, March 15th, 2020. https://bit.ly/3dcCQQU
42
‘Does Covid-10 succeed in reconciling Moroccans with e-commerce?’, Mai 19th, 2020. https://bit.ly/3fgxYeA
43
Marjane. https://www.marjane.ma/fr/services/livraison/
Pr

44
‘Glovo partners with Marjane to launch home delivery’, April 6th, 2020. https://bit.ly/3cUUFDN
45
‘Confinement: Carrefour Market embarks on Home Delivery’, April 3rd, 2020. https://bit.ly/2Sx4qAs
46
‘Coronavirus: in Morocco, telecoms, food and retailers are doing well’, Mai 6th, 2020, https://bit.ly/2Yy1Egu

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This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3645084
 Discussion

ed
In 2020, a significant amount of economic and social changes has occurred following the
outbreak and spread of Covid-19. As governments, on one hand, declared states of health
emergency to guarantee the safety of their citizens and mitigate the pandemic impacts, and

iew
businesses, on the other hand, were forced to use digital technologies to mitigate damages
caused by the virus. Morocco was no exception and has not been spared from the Covid-19
disruption.

As an emergent country, Morocco is progressing quite well in terms of ICT adoption and

v
network readiness, certainly with some sectors more advanced than others, but overall, there

re
is a positive momentum in the digital direction even if Morocco still remains far behind the
technological advances of other emerging countries. However, the Covid-19 crisis had a
significant impact on the way digital transformation is perceived in Morocco. It turned digital
er
technology adoption into an urgent priority to ensure services are still delivered. The
lockdown, following the state of health emergency, have shed light on the importance of
digital transformation in both public and private sectors. It provided the Moroccan
pe
government with an opportunity to accelerate its digital plan and improve the citizen
experience through different digital-driven initiatives. Education and health have benefited
from this acceleration. Nevertheless, the government still needs to increase its efforts
regarding digital transformation within both sectors. The survey carried out by Benkaraache et
ot

al. (2020) showed how unsatisfied teachers and students are with distance learning, knowing
that the survey only concerned universities in the urban area and did not include the rural area
tn

where indicators show a limited access to digital tools. Not to mention the lack of trust in
government online services even when approved, which calls for more efforts to raise digital
awareness.
rin

Meanwhile, the Moroccan business environment was also disturbed by the Covid-19 crisis.
The pandemic has changed the way people work, shop, and communicate. Therefore,
businesses and industries that have embraced digital transformation and reshaped their
ep

business models have an advantage over those that didn’t, especially in times of Covid-19. In
other words, by embracing digital transformation, several Moroccan businesses were able to
maintain their activities and cope with the unprecedented slowdown. The banking sector was
Pr

relatively prepared for such a crisis. Banks managed to answer their customers’ needs either
through physical, digital or both channels. However, the fact that the banking rate is below

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This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3645084
 average, especially in rural areas, represents one of the major obstacles to the development of
online payments, which sheds lights on the opportunities Moroccan banks can still seize

ed
through further developing their digital strategies. Contrarily, most retailers had to adapt and
partner with distribution platforms in order to have their products purchased online, since they
have not developed the necessary capabilities to digitally transform their activities. They are,

iew
therefore, missing out on all the opportunities offered by the digital economy and the digital
infrastructure that Morocco is making available. As a result, most of Moroccan consumers are
still reluctant to purchase online, which creates an environment of mistrust. It is also worth
noting that the increase in consumer use of online shopping cannot be linked only to the

v
development of the retailers’ digital strategies, but also to the unexpected change in consumer

re
behaviour due to the pandemic. Moroccan retailers are therefore called upon to make more
strategic efforts in order to gain these new customers’ loyalty for the post-crisis.

CONCLUSION er
In 2020, the covid-19 pandemic spread rapidly throughout the world, which represents a
totally new type of crisis for everyone and a challenge for both public and private sectors. It
pe
will certainly have a wide-ranging impact on the economy and society as a whole. However,
some businesses and public service-providers may come out of it stronger, and the central
driver of this change will be the implementation of digital technologies and the adoption of
new ways of working.
ot

The purpose of this working paper was to lead an exploratory study of the impact of Covid-19
pandemic on digital transformation implementation and the extent to which Moroccan
tn

economic actors are ready to embrace digital. The results we obtained show that Covid-19 had
a significant impact on the way DT is perceived in Morocco. Both public and private sectors
have relatively benefited from the lockdown to take few steps forward in terms of digital
rin

transformation. As several Moroccan businesses and public institutions were forced to use
digital tools in order to ensure customers receive adequate products and services despite the
crisis. However, more efforts need to be made in order for Morocco to increase its readiness
ep

and thus make it easier for economic agents to embrace digital. Investments in digital
infrastructure and democratization of technology and access to digital tools are some of the
areas in which these efforts need to be focused. Moreover, further research is also needed to
Pr

develop a better understanding of the crisis effects and be more prepared for the post-crisis
era.

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This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3645084
 ed
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This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3645084