Corona and the Digital Age
How Corona brought technologies to many companies
This past year has probably been the most difficult one for the new and older generations alike. Staying indoors and not being able to meet people is one of the more challenging consequences of this pandemic. It’s made so many changes to our daily lives and its no different for businesses. In these uncertain times, there’s one thing that has been proved certain — technology is the present and the future. All consumers have moved towards being online, ranging from ordering things from Amazon to watching Netflix to meetings on various video conferencing applications.
Each industry has been challenged to adapt very quickly to this new world. This virus has brought about years of change in a couple of months. According to McKinsey’s Global Survey, executives have said that digitization of their customer and supply-chain interactions as well as of their internal operations has been accelerated by three-four years. Executives also mentioned that funding for digital initiatives has increased tremendously.
The Struggle
However, some businesses haven’t been doing very well during these trying times. Most companies have business continuity plans, but those may not fully address the fast-moving and unknown variables of an outbreak like this. Production of hardware has slowed down as a result of global supply chain disruption. Along with this, the sudden or prolonged economic downturn has led to companies considering significant budget cuts. Cybersecurity risks have increased significantly as a result of so many people working remotely.
Adoption of Tech
Most respondents of McKinsey’s Global Survey have realized and recognized the importance of technology as a strategic component of their business and not just a source of cost efficiencies. Customer interaction digitization has been accelerated by a couple of years in all parts of the world. In Asia-Pacific, the customer interactions that are digital has increased from 32% to 53%. This has been calculated to be a jump of 4 years. Europe boasts similar stats as well.
Along with this, the products and services that are digital have globally risen from 35% to 55% in just over 6 months. This means that there has been an acceleration by seven years. The tech industry is predicted to have a market boom from $131 billion to $295 billion in the next five years. The main reason for this increase is the demand for social media platforms and teleconferencing tools.
Future
We’ve already seen how Covid-19 has changed the world but I haven’t told you about the changes that can still come our way. It’ll be a whole different IT environment.
Stress Testing
Before the pandemic, stress testing was done regularly for systems that were deemed to be critical for daily operations, however, I’m certain that remote access solutions were never a part of it. Now, after the pandemic, network-wide stress testing will become a standard daily procedure to be conducted for the majority of businesses.
Cloud Migration
Businesses have had only 20% of their workload uploaded to the cloud before the pandemic. Now it seems certain that in order to gain flexibility and decrease tech operating expenses, organizations will accelerate their move of data to the cloud. Data from McKinsey & Company shows that more than 50% have already migrated and they’re likely to stay that way.
WFH
Remote working has become the norm in these past10 months. It’s realized by companies that it is a more cost-effective way than precrisis. Feedback shows that remote workers are less likely to take absences. In addition, if implemented properly, this could mean less office space, less commuting, fewer business trips, and a greater focus on work by employees.
New Age of AI
There’s been a huge leap for AI and automation in all sectors, around the world. Robotic process automation has slowly crept into many businesses’ day-to-day tasks and marketing automation software. It’ll only increase now as automation is a sure bet to minimize any future business disruptions since it requires minimal human interaction and computers are the only things that haven’t been affected by the global crisis.
Investments in Cyber Security
Since most customer interactions seem to have travelled to being online, the risk of being hacked has only increased. Due to this and the everchanging needs of the customer means that investment by businesses into their cybersecurity will also increase. In addition, data protection will have a higher priority than before.
Long-term plans by businesses will see them connect with the IT community more than ever before. The COVID19 pandemic has caused a lot of pain for most industries. Some have managed to find a silver lining and some have found solutions to their problems. I’m certain that the points mentioned above will be a part of those solutions in some way.
Thank You for Reading!
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Inheaden is a young IT and software startup based in Darmstadt, Germany. As an “Idea and Tech Factory”, we have set out to be a driving force of innovation, digitization, and automation with a focus on the areas of services, products, and research. Under the Inheaden brand, we work on individual “high performance” software solutions that bring a change. Modern designs, innovative technology approaches, and IT security for our partners and customers are important components of our work profile.
