Technology during the Pandemic

On every continent and nearly every country, the outbreak of coronavirus is forcing us all to change our lives.

As we all know by now, self-isolation is key to fighting the spread of this highly infections virus. This is why we are now we are living and working from home, without setting foot outside wherever possible.

However, we are doing this thanks to technology. We are so used to it that we barely notice, but if this had occurred even 25 years ago, staying isolated would be a much harder prospect for most people. It’s easy to forget that technology is enabling all of this.

Working from Home

One of the biggest changes for many is working from home to avoid travelling and contact with others. But this is only really possible due to the affordable, fast internet access we all have today. Whether its 4G or 5G on your phone, or a home broadband connection through an ISP, the internet is the reason why so many are able to work remotely. Laptops or desktop PCs are something most homes have and are also an essential tool allowing businesses to keep operating. Whether its connecting into the business intranet, using Zoom or other conference software for video meetings or sharing documents to colleagues scattered across the city, the internet is the main enabler for remote working.

The ability to run office applications, communications software and remote work with often bespoke enterprise solutions such as customer service software and even complete ERP platforms allows workers to provide seamless support for global businesses with little degradation of service. In the long run, this could even lead to a change in the way we work in general thanks to modern technology.

Keeping You Safe

Another area where technology is playing a central part is government response. Governments are using SMS in many countries as a means of mass communications. For instance, in the UK, the government is contacting those vulnerable to coronavirus through SMS with reassuring messages and important information. This is followed up with letters, emails, but the immediacy of SMS provides crucial information quickly to those in need.

Apps are helping us survive

Apps are relatively new, only really appearing after the iPhone launch in 2008. They took off in usability and popularity in an even shorter amount of time. Apps have gone from entertaining to becoming the link to the things needed to survive. Shopping apps are proving crucial, allowing people to have their groceries delivered without risking infection in crowded stores.

Although booking a delivery time and choosing groceries seems simple enough on the surface, from warehouse management to fleet oversight and more, technology fuels every aspect of the process that brings the food we need to survive to our doors. This also applies to takeout food, where companies like Deliveroo and Uber Eats are providing home delivery of food from a wide range of restaurants. This is not only keeping you safe by avoiding the need to risk infection from others when going out, but it is enabling many businesses to carry on trading when they would otherwise have been forced to close down.

In addition, technology is helping keeping us all entertained!

From games consoles like the Xbox and PlayStation providing entertainment and multiplayer games, allowing contact with friends in other locations or countries. We are also witnessing huge volumes of streaming around the world. Netflix, Disney+, Amazon and more are delivering movies and TV shows to keep us occupied. YouTube and other video solutions are also offering a wealth of information such as home exercise instructions and more to help keep us healthy during isolation at home.

Finding the Cure

Technology will also be the answer in finding the cure. Researches are made available online to all. Many are co working remotely from different corners of the world. All efforts are being joined to find the treatment and cure of the virus.

An application called Folding@home uses spare power on users’ personal computers, pooling the resources to create a supercomputer network that works on solving research problems. During this emergency, so many people have signed up to it. The folding network now has more than an exaflop of performance, or one billion-billion operations per second.

As the pandemic continues to spread across the world, there are challenges for us all. But in many ways, we are in a better position than ever to get through it. Technology today is helping us do the right thing and stay home. This wouldn’t have been possible just 25 years ago. Not only that, it helps us access food, keeps us entertained and will even find the cure for the pandemic.