Corona Virus and its potential impact on the Tech Industry
The Covid-19 outbreak has been declared a Pandemic by the World Health Organisation. This virus has caused a huge impact on the lives of people around the world, their families, and communities. However, there have been some serious implications on various organizations, firms, and the Tech Industry.
Response to the Covid-19, internationally, continues growing. Amidst this, the Tech industry, Telecommunications, and Consumer Technology continue to be affected by the global outbreak of the virus. Earlier the outbreak was confined in China which resulted in a disruption of the Global Supply Chain. However, as the outbreak has grown into a global pandemic, with over 341,334 confirmed cases across the world, the consequences and the effects on the industries have become even more serious and less predictable. Many industry and business conferences have been canceled to contain the spread of the virus. Employers have been asked to Work from homes which results in delayed target-meets, initiatives and canceled partnerships. But the Tech industries have been continuously helping with what is of an utmost priority now- keeping people safe and healthy. The industries are aiding such organizations that are scrambling to make video-conferences broadly available to the employees and clients. They are also speeding the process by which the governments are disseminating information about the deadly virus to the citizens. Here are several ways the Covid-19 outbreak is affecting the Tech Industry:
1) Cancellation of important Tech Conferences and the implications on partnership opportunities: Online conferences of business have helped limit the negative effects of canceled conferences, but we cannot disagree on the fact that the industries will still suffer due to forgone in-person business opportunities. All the attendees of the conference do not have the same opportunities to build a live network for the meetings in the place of in-person events. It is not easy for marketers to share the best practices and ideas over live online meetings. Say, for instance, the exchange of business ideas over live-streamed Facebook Global Marketing Summit was effective but, it would be more beneficial if the F8 Developer Conference actually took place. The effects of this will definitely be felt throughout the widely impacted industries. Even Google had to shift its Google Cloud Next event to an online alternative. Likewise, IBM had to livestream its developer's conference. This conference had hosted over 30,000 attendees last year. On an average, according to estimates from PredictHQ, the cancellation of major tech summits and conferences has incurred direct economic losses of over $1 billion.
2) A major implication of the Covid-19 outbreak on the Global Supply Chain: As a result of the outbreak of the global pandemic, there has been a major disruption of the global supply chain. Initially, when the virus originated in China, the country was hit hard. Many citizens contracted the disease and since the numbers kept on increasing, the rest of the people went into quarantine state. This ultimately resulted in shutdowns of all plants and factories, many of which were being used by big tech firms and companies to manufacture their goods and products. The tech giant Microsoft depends widely on customers who install the Windows software on laptops and tablets, and both of these products are also being hammered by shutdowns of production in China. Another example being Foxconn. This firm, which is Apple’s primary manufacturer, shut down its production in China amidst the outbreak of Covid-19. Due to this, Apple experienced shortages on its iPhone supply. Keeping in mind the Contingency Plans of companies, which means increasing production of a product in a region that is not impacted, the rapid spread of the coronavirus across the world creates difficulty in identifying which regions would be least affected. However, the resources of the Chinese economy will not be replicated that easily because "Made in China" initiatives have resulted in the government invest at least billions into the manufacturing sectors.
3) Disruption of daily operations of firms that require travel: Employees at Amazon’s worldwide operations which runs the technology and important operations for warehouses, product deliveries, Prime membership and physical stores, have been informed that they should stop all travels- domestic or international “until further notice”. Dave Clark, the Senior Vice President wrote to the employees that no group or team meetings that require travel should be planned until at least the end of April. He is hopeful that the world will have a better sense of the virus, its spread and impact, by then.
4) The requirement for remote work conditions during the Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted a need for 5G technology: The lightning-fast speeds, near-instantaneous communications, and increased connection density of 5G makes way for remote interactions, which is the priority of many organizations and enterprises right now, as the world is going into a state of quarantine. Two key areas-telehealth and teleconferencing, are crucial for proper operations of enterprises amid the outbreak of the pandemic. Concerning Telehealth, its technical expertise empowers physicians to diagnose, treat, and operate on patients without being in close proximity with them. We've already seen such use cases for 5G to combat coronavirus in China: Telecoms like ZTE and China Telecom designed a 5G system that made way for remote diagnoses of the coronavirus by connecting physicians at West China Hospital to 27 hospitals treating infected patients. As far as Teleconferencing are concerned, firm employers have increased dependence on teleconferencing tools such as Microsoft Teams, Google Hangouts, and Zoom, because employees have switched to remote work i.e Work From Home.
5) Increase in investment in Smart City Solutions: This is because Tech firms have proven to be providers of valuable tools in crisis management. Cities all over the world have utilized smart city technology, in order to mitigate the impact of coronavirus. In China, the Police department is using drones with thermal sensors to identify people in public with a running fever. Likewise, the Australian government has provided for a chatbox to address citizen questions and reduce the spread of disinformation regarding coronavirus. All these solutions fall within the domain of smart cities, which makes the space to be a worthwhile investment in a time of crisis. Most smart city solutions support the day-to-day operations of a city. According to the estimates of Business Insider Intelligence, the smart city investment will reach $295 billion by 2025, up from $131 billion in 2020. Now the importance lies here that should smart city solutions prove to be useful and effective tools at mitigating the coronavirus pandemic, governments all over the world may show greater certainty in making further investment in these.
6) Companies already have been identified VR as a tool to improve employee training, but the Covid-19 outbreak has proven to be the impetus for some tech firms to implement the technology: The outbreak of coronavirus have caused big tech companies to recommend or mandate that their employees work from home. While this is definitely the safest course of action during the pandemic, it surely inhibits collaborative efforts and opportunities for hands-on training. As a result, almost half of the firms and manufacturing companies are taking to use VR (Virtual Reality) and other alternative reality tools to provide real-world training conditions. While working at home, the employees can increase their skills with hands-on tutorials which previously could only be availed of, in a workplace setting. Let us take for instance a situation: A technician can practice repairments of industrial equipment without even leaving their homes. Additionally, a wider range of conferences and meetings can be held without being at workplaces, through VR, as workers can opine better, and share complex ideas and creative designs. Statistics suggest that only a handful of 20% of employees find communication and collaboration to be their biggest struggle while working remotely.
Another major point that is being given a thought to is how Netflix, Prime membership of Amazon and other similar enterprises have been affected by the outbreak of the pandemic. The question is that will Netflix see a drastic increase in the number of eyes, given the fact that people aren’t leaving their homes anymore? Or let us consider delivery companies like Uber Eats, DoorDash, and even Amazon. In a world where people are extremely reluctant to go outside and intermingle with others, the doubt that remains is whether consumers will start to depend more heavily on others doing the shopping for them, or not.