Technology thrives during times of need
Necessity is, indeed, the mother of invention. According to Digital Information World, solutions created during desperate times endure, and drive economic growth long into the future. For example, The Great Depression birthed the electric razor and car radios, among other technological advances, while Microsoft and Apple got their start during the oil crisis recession in the 1970s. The current pandemic has presented us with the opportunity to change the way we live and operate, exposing weaknesses in systems we previously relied on and allowing us to make them better. People are searching for ways to adapt, and technology will always lead this march.
Increased investment in cyber security
According to the 2nd Global Business Barometer, teleconferencing platforms have, arguably, received the most attention as a tool for businesses to adapt to the changes brought on by COVID-19; however, for many businesses, the current focus is on security and risk. Forty-four per cent of respondents said cyber security would become ‘much more important’, followed by the related areas of data privacy at 42.5%, and risk management and cloud computing at 39.9% each.
Remote working
Businesses forced to either shut down or send their staff home to work during lockdown have been able to enjoy the silver lining of decreased costs of running their workplaces, giving them a little grace to ensure they survive and, hopefully, thrive as the economy reboots. Technologies such as video conferencing and project management software have meant that a lot of companies working from home have still managed to make a success of this time, and it’s highly unlikely that they won’t emerge from this with revised remote working policies in place. A Nowsourcing infographic states that as remote work, technology, and internet access continue to develop, workers will have the option to leave big cities, escaping the high cost of living and bolstering small town economies in the process.
Adoption of home technology
Whether it’s due to working from home, home schooling, a need to create alternative revenue streams or simply for the sake of socialising with friends and family, there has been a massive uptake in home technology – both hardware and software. The aforementioned infographic shows that sales and use of these technologies keeps growing: sales of Chromebooks have risen by 400%, webcams 179%, monitors 138%, headsets 134%, and keyboards 64%. Additionally, Zoom gained an extra 190 million new users in three months, and G Suite gained a million new paying businesses in February alone.
5G infrastructure
Despite bizarre conspiracy theories linking 5G to COVID-19, it is still fully expected by experts to help boost post-pandemic recovery by introducing new possibilities for tech products. 5G isn’t an upgrade of 4G, as many people believe, but a brand new mobile system. For businesses, it will create increased speed and bandwidth, improved battery life for remote IoT devices, enhanced security, better WAN connections, 100 times the traffic capacity, and 100 times the network efficiency – among many, many other advantages. Rolling out across 2020 and 2021, 5G will be a huge boon in our post-COVID recovery.
