Technologies have been seeing as a mode to ease human problems. In present condition of our society, technologies are playing a crucial role to make it functional effectively. But there are few technologies which are becoming trend and reducing spread of corona while helping business to stay open. These technologies are making society more resilient in the time of pandemic and may have a long-term impact beyond COVID-19.
Here is few technology trends that can help build a strong society structure, as well as their effects on how we do business, trade, work, learn, and seek medical services.
- Online Payment
A transmittable disease which spreads by touching and getting in contact with infected person can be spread due to cash or hand to hand transactions. Countries like South Korea US and China have already implemented secure measures to confirm banknotes are clean before they get into circulation. Online payment enables online shopping, fund transfer, payments of goods and receives stimulus funds faster.
- Online Shopping and Robotic Services
COVID-19 has converted online shopping from an occasionally to a must-have practice around the world. Online shopping requires a robust logistics system. In-person delivery system is not safe and virus-proof. Many delivery companies and restaurants around the world are launching contactless delivery services so the goods are received and dropped off at a certain location instead of direct human contact.
- Work From Home
Now when everyone locked in their homes yet office work is the part of daily life. In Remote working, employees have to work from home and technologies including virtual meetings, facial recognition, virtual private networks, cloud technology, voice over internet protocols, and work collaboration tools, advantage a person to be connected with office without even being there. Many companies have already asked their employees to work from home. These technologies also enable a person to appear before a virtual background to secure the privacy of the home. In addition to stopping to getting contact with the viruses, work from home also saves travel time and provides more flexibility.
- Distance Learning
Almost 191 countries declared or implemented closure of educational institution which is impacting 1.57 billion students. To ensure continuity of education in quarantine, many educational institutions have started online classes and offering online courses. Technologies which are involving in distance learning are similar as remote working and added with AR/VR and 3D printing.
Distance learning may look an option but it shows some difficulties for long time of period. Parents have to be present with children to guide them during the classes and the process could be an economical pressure on parents in terms of income level.
- Telehealth
With the advancement in Wearable personal IoT devices, people can track and get alert with their health changes. These devices are also working as a log recorder which helps doctors to care their patient more effectively. The telehealth also enables patients to have virtual appointments, online patient portal, remote monitoring and personal health records. This brings healthcare to peak of advancement where patient and doctors are connected to each other always. The benefit of telehealth services is that these are accessible anytime from anywhere. Telehealth is a way to make health care better, effective and closer to home.
COVID-19 has showed the significance of digital readiness, which allows business and life to go as usual – as much as possible – during pandemics like Covid19. Building the essential infrastructure to backing a digitized world and stay advance in the latest technology will be essential for businesses or countries to remain competitive in a post-COVID-19 world.
According to BBC, approx. 200 million people will going to lose their jobs due to COVID-19. And the financial burden often falls on the weakest classes in the society. Digitization and pandemics have accelerated changes to jobs available to humans. The question stll stands, how to mitigate the effect on the larger workforce? Governments all over the world have to put attention on this most vulnerable issue but also bring a timely and human-centred solution.
