COVID-19 and IT Sector
Earlier in 1978, computers were mainly used to perform complicated calculations but as soon as they were applied to indexing and sorting written information, the term “Information Technology” was invented.
IT is mainly known
within the context of business operations as opposed to entertainment or
personal technologies. Several products or services within an economy
come under it including computer hardware, software, internet, electronics
etc.
Currently, the world has been affected by a pandemic ie: COVID-19 that has caused drastic
changes in most industries. However, one of the major impacts has been
witnessed in the IT industry.
The negative ones
are mostly more than the positive ones. It seems likely that consumer sentiment
and behavior will be shifted, at least temporarily, by the pandemic and its
fallout.
Even once the world moves past the peak of the epidemic, it’s unlikely that people will
return to life as it was before the outbreak. Instead, there will likely be a
new normal where awareness of germs and infections is higher, and uncertainty
about financial outlooks lingers. Things may feel unstable for months to come,
particularly if the second wave of infection hits in the winter as some have
begun to predict.
These changes in
sentiment and behavior will underpin the future of tech and human interaction
with it. For example: in order to stem the tide of the pandemic arguments are
already being made for using location data from smartphones to do contact
tracing. As of mid-April Google and Apple have said they’re working together to
use technology to track and limit the spread of the virus. This type of
surveillance would have been inconceivable a few months ago, but it’s gaining
greater buy-in during the pandemic.
However, the
Smartphone companies are suffering a huge loss and their production is also
projected to decline by 12%. For example, Apple Inc. is estimated to have at
least a 10% fall in its shares because of the lack of availability of iPhones in
the market. The parts that are required to build the iPhones are supposed to
come from China, and it is facing a major lockdown.
The impact can
also be seen on raw materials supply, disrupting the electronics value chain,
and causing an inflationary risk on products.
The greatest loss
it has suffered is due to a major fall in the economy. Mostly all of the
companies have asked their employees to work from home due to their concern
regarding the health and safety of the employees. Due to this, there is a
massive loss in opportunity for many companies that have international dealers. Smartphone
industry because of its labor-intensive supply chain.
In order to expand
their horizons, these companies tend to have an ample amount of conferences or
meetings with multinational companies which is a great opportunity for
them. However, even these meetings are either getting postponed canceled or
shifted to teleconferences which won’t have the same reach. There has been an
estimated loss of US$ 1 Billon due to these cancellations.
Staffing concerns
are also ramping up for full-time employees, as well as gig workers, such as
drivers, delivery workers, and retail staff, who often work as contractors. There
has been a slowdown in recruiting and production which is affecting a future
pipeline of skilled workers. Cybersecurity risks are also likely to rise as a
result of more people working remotely.
Sudden or the prolonged economic downturn is leading to budget cuts in the companies that
would eliminate discretionary spending and also remote work, online education
and social distancing will create demand for products and services delivered by
the tech industry due to which the technical support may struggle to keep up
with the demands.
The pandemic has
demonstrated how reliance on human labor makes it impossible to keep the
economy running during a viral outbreak. Because the best scientific
predictions estimate that we may be dealing with this for another year or two,
and because there’s no guarantee we won’t experience another pandemic five,
ten, or twenty years down the line, we’re seeing an even greater degree of
focus put on using AI to do jobs that are risky for humans under the
circumstances.
Unlike humans,
robots are not susceptible to the virus and can continue working during a
pandemic or other crisis without risk to health and safety. Increased use of AI
in these high-risk jobs also limits corporate liability in terms of providing
workers with a safe working environment.
However, the global healthcare information technology has witnessed a huge growth. North America accounted for the largest share of global healthcare information in the technology industry in 2019, followed by Europe. The large share of this region is attributed mainly to a high number of positive COVID-19 cases and deaths in the US, a robust healthcare system and IT infrastructure, and the presence of many large hospitals in the region.
Moreover, a large number of major global
players are based in the US, owing to which the country can easily manufacture
these devices. The prominent players in the global healthcare information
technology market are Optum (US), Cerner (US), Cognizant (US), Change
Healthcare (US), Philips Healthcare (Netherlands), Epic Systems (US), Dell
Technologies (US), and Allscripts (US), among others
Companies are
directing more investment toward powering distance working, including
investment in things like cloud solutions and conferencing and communication
tools.
Distance work will increasingly include medicine, with the greater availability of telehealth systems almost certain to come as a result of the pandemic. Telehealth options are key to slowing the spread of the virus and to ensuring healthcare systems can continue serving all patients while keeping them from crowding into the waiting rooms.
An influx of investment in telehealth technology powering secure video
appointments, secure messaging systems, online appointment scheduling systems,
online prescribing, and online billing and payment system are also expected due
to the current situation.
Technology has one of the most important roles to play in enabling us to meet the challenges presented by the pandemic and to be better prepared for whatever comes next. COVID-19 will reshape tech priorities for corporations and governments, including greater investment in telehealth, cloud infrastructure, and contactless digital alternatives to touch interfaces a lot of opportunities opened up in the IT industry, such as the growing need for the 5th generation (5G) technology. This will help increase connections that support the primed remote interactions. This has become the top priority for many organizations due to the pandemic.
Telehealth is one of the developing industries in the
crises. This could help people to get diagnosed, treated, and operated with the
need of a physician to be physically present. A lot of apps have been built in
the past few months to help achieve this. There are many patients who are in
self-quarantine who need medical supervision and medical assistance every day,
and these applications could help them achieve that.
The main reason for this increase in the economy for this industry is the increased demand for software and social media platforms such as Google Hangouts, WhatsApp Video call, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams. All these teleconferencing tools help the people who are in quarantine to stay in touch with their family members as well as have conference meetings and work at the same time.
The economy will also
blossom because, during these crises, people understood the importance of the
internet and technology as this is helping us stay safe and helping in the
communication between the doctors and the public.
Many countries who are facing the shutdown have invested in smart city solution such as the cops in China are using drones attached with thermal sensors to identify the symptoms for coronavirus and get immediate medical help. In Australia, the government had launched a chat-bot to keep the citizens up to date with the situation and answer their questions so that they will be able to decrease the spread of misleading information and stop the panic that could be created in public.
In South Korea, the local government has launched a Smartphone app that
keeps the self-quarantine employees in touch with their co-workers to keep the
updates to the work process and to ask any questions.
In January, in
China, the telecom AHS designed a 5G powered system to enable the consultations
and diagnoses of people affected by the virus by connecting the physicians at
West China Hospital to 27 other hospitals in the area to treat the illness
affected people. This not only helps doctors to communicate faster and come up
with a diagnosis but also helps to keep track of the emergency patients who
need immediate medical help and if a hospital is not able to provide that the patient could immediately be shifted to the nearest equipped hospital for
assistance.
However, once the pandemic is under control there is still bound to be a certain amount of fear and doubt that linger about infection from contact with surfaces. Though the risk of contracting COVID-19 from surfaces is lower than from direct contact with droplets from an infected person, people will want to limit risk as much as possible.
We will begin to see the far greater availability of contactless
interfaces as a result. In a nutshell, the impacts are not likely to end in this
sector but the companies are trying to take initiatives and efforts in order to
minimize the losses and instead take out the benefits from the current
situation.
Writer: Anisha Kapoor
Editor: Sonal Kamble
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