Technology won't be able to avoid the onset of a pandemic; nevertheless, it can assist in managing a crisis more effectively. We all understand how badly COVID-19 has impacted our lives, both personal and professional. During now of sheer uncertainty and constant fear, our willingness to adopt technology has been our lifeline. The lockdown phase has seen a paradigm shift with the industry falling back on healthcare IT as an answer to those challenges. because the industry gears up to face the new normal, the adoption of it's become one among the priority areas. In the recent past, the IT world has advanced tremendously. Industry 4.0 ushered within the age of automation and data exchange. Machine learning, AI, big data, internet of things (IoT), and robotics are today’s reality. While medicine has seen immense advancements, but have not utilised IT advancements to the optimum for patient care, yet. Fortunately, India doesn't need to start on ground zero. we've significant health IT advantage than many other developing nations and a large potential to leverage IT solutions to redefine health care delivery. The recent 'Future Health Index 2019 report' ranked India amongst the leading nations within the adoption of digital technology, with 88% of healthcare professionals using a minimum of one variety of digital health technology.
Let’s take a glance at how technology has impacted our lives within the current COVID-19 pandemic.
Distance Learning
According to a recent survey, around 191 countries have either implemented or announced the closure of colleges and universities, which has directly impacted near 1.57 billion students. Most of the academic institutions have begun to offer their courses online to create sure education isn't disrupted thanks to the pandemic.
Online Entertainment
COVID-19 has completely changed the way content is being generated, distributed, and streamed. Online streaming of live shows and concerts have gained traction across the planet. Several film production companies have also been releasing their movies via Over the highest (OTT) platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Hotstar, Netflix, Zee5, Voot Select, etc. The lockdown has helped people in realising the convenience of viewing content on OTT platforms; it's changed how people are consuming content on a day-to-day basis. OTT platforms have witnessed a big rise in both app downloads and viewership during the lockdown period. There has been a big spike within the gaming sector’s sales and therefore the duration that the games are being played. People are using gaming as a choice to house COVID-19 stress.
Contactless Online Deliveries
The online grocery market witnessed tremendous growth during the pandemic because of the soaring demand amongst consumers. Families, particularly with children and older people, preferred to position their grocery orders online. This, in turn, resulted during a significant increase of latest users who are resorting to online apps for grocery deliveries. the availability given to decide on a preferred time interval for delivery plus a reduced delivery fee for orders above a specified amount is attracting more and more customers towards online delivery business models.
Fitness & Health Apps
New alternatives are being introduced by health and fitness apps to assist people to remain fit at the comfort of staying indoors thanks to the pandemic situation. Various fitness and health brands have started conducting live workout sessions on their apps and social media platforms. These initiatives have also seen decent traction.
Work From Home (WFH)
The work from home option has ensured continuity and various opportunities for various companies and businesses. Internet, virtual meetings, conferencing, etc. have assisted professionals in adapting themselves to figure from the house scenario with ease. WFH has also ensured that the deliverables don't seem to be delayed. Remote working has been a blessing in disguise, which has helped us to an excellent extent to take care of and follow social distancing protocols.
COVID-19 has proved that technology innovations are helping in managing the epidemic in a very timely, systematic, and calm manner. A lesson learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic has been to remain prepared well before against any crisis at both a private and collective level. All we want to fight an outbreak like COVID-19 is preparedness. Advancement in technology is steadily progressing; it'll undoubtedly still grow exponentially. It’s we humans who should adapt to changes in technology faster and still invest in building the technology systems for better preparedness