Introduction
The COVID-19 pandemic has fast forwarded some of the key technology trends, including digital payments, telehealth etc. These technologies can help reduce the spread of COVID-19 while making sure that the businesses stay open. Technology can help make society more resilient within the face of pandemic and other threats.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, technologies are playing an important role in keeping our society functional during a time of lockdowns and quarantines. And these technologies may also have a long-lasting impact beyond COVID-19.
Online Ecommerce and Contactless Deliveries
COVID-19 has transformed online shopping from a nice-to-have to a must have round the world. It needs to be supported by a robust logistics system. In-person delivery is not virus-proof. Many companies across the world are launching contactless delivery services to ensure that recipient and the delivery person does not get in contact with each other.
Digital Payments
There is apprehension that cash can carry the virus. Many banks are sanitizing the banknotes to ensure they are clean before it goes back to circulation. Contactless digital payment methods in the form of cards or e-wallets are recommended payment method to avoid the spread of COVID-19.
Digital Worker
Many companies have asked their personnel’s to Work from Home (WFH). Remote work (WFH) is enabled by technologies including VPN, VoIP applications, cloud collaboration tools etc. Due to majority of people working remotely, there are still critical activities that needs to be performed within the enterprise network. So, a Digital Worker would be the need, which can augment human capability by sitting as Bot in the enterprise network and can perform some of the critical and repetitive work which needs presence at the site.
Telehealth
Telehealth tools are essential to contain the spread of COVID-19 while still providing essential medical care. Wearable personal IoT devices can track vital signs. Chatbots are helping in the initial diagnoses through symptoms identified by patients. All these data can come to the central Telehealth platform and can be consumed by a medical specialist and provide the right guidance to the patients without having to visit the hospitals physically.
Supply Chain Management
The COVID-19 pandemic has created disruptions to the worldwide supply chain. Lots of factories across the world have been shut, the goods have been stuck in the warehouses with no real time visibility. Heavy reliance on paper-based records and lack of real time visibility on data have made the existing supply chain system vulnerable to any pandemic. It is critical to create supply chain Twin by making all the processes in the supply chain digital.
is Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for Digital Business Services and also heads the IoT CoE at Happiest Minds. He has over 24 years of extensive technical and management experience. His expertise and interest lies in building niche global technology products across multiple areas like Multimedia and Communication technologies, Broadband modem, Set-top Box, Triple play Gateway, IoT, Complex Hardware and Portable components across multiple platforms, etc.
