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Impact of covid-19 pandemic on ICT industry

 * COVID-19 is the infectious disease caused by the most recently discovered coronavirus. This new virus and disease were unknown before the outbreak began in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. COVID-19 is now a pandemic affecting many countries globally .The outbreak of pandemic Covid-19 all over the world has disturbed the political, social, economic, religious and financial structures of the whole world. World’s topmost economies such as the US, China, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Japan and many others are at the verge of collapse.According to official reports, the largest numbers of confirmed cases are in the United States, Italy, Spain, and France. However, even the countries that the new coronavirus has hit less aggressively are still under considerable strain.
 * The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector expects the growth opportunity, as the Covid-19 pandemic increases the reliance on digital technologies. ICT firms anticipate the international show and plan to introduce new services, products and solutions to get much exposure. As enterprises in the sector are substantially investing in their digital strategy and balancing short-term efforts with long-term measures, they will evolve from this pandemic more competitive(Business Wire).
 * According to a new report from Forrester, there is a need to prepare the organization for a pandemic as the spread of the coronavirus continues. The company said, “Use this opportunity to review and update your risk management and business continuity practices.” Enterprises need to take practical steps such as refreshing plans, updating employee policies, communicating frequently, and carrying out succession planning, it says IDC, in its Worldwide Black Book Live Edition, February 2020, reported the growth in global IT spending is expected to reduce by 3-4% by the end of 2020, considering “Pessimistic Scenario” due to the outbreak of Coronavirus disease. The impact might be even more profound as spread seems to overwhelm many countries beyond China. While the major impact is expected to be on Hardware business, the Software and Services businesses are also expected to slow down as the spread of Coronavirus goes beyond the boundaries of Asia, IDC noted.

Transforming the industry in the wake of pandemic:

 * Companies have been busy in development of industrial productivity through automation, robotics, and artificial intelligence, but none could have anticipated the sudden disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. While development was being done keeping focus on risk analysis by measuring its impact due to change in inputs and output quality parameters, none could have predicted the ultimate disruption in business models with umbrella impact on all parameters due to the CoronaVirus. It has changed the overall thought process of all development models to make it more flexible and easily transformable to meet such challenges. This pandemic has dented all input/output variables of every model and brought the full supply chain to nearly a halt. Almost four months have passed since the world came to know of its eruption and functional model, and no one is able to predict its future pace and/or lasting image as to when it will start abating. Nor does anyone know what lasting effect this pandemic will have on the global economy. No research scientist can forecast the time the pandemic will take to subside or the span of time it will keep on spreading(Nvidia).

Smart factories and crisis management:

 * With the use of Artificial Intelligence and digital technology, medical science researchers are joining hands with technology for scientific breakthroughs to rapidly test new vaccines under development and gather data to simulate performance and longevity to protect human life without negative side effect. Machine learning technique is adopted to gather data and improve results of predictions in different climatic conditions, food habits, areas people dwell and other vital factors. People need a safe solution right now for containment of the virus at one end, and on the other side develop vaccine for protection by increased immunity in humans. Medical science is trying to develop the best solution during this health crisis affecting the entire world. This disruption in human life is testing everyone’s emotional and social functioning. It will try out the emotional intelligence of business leaders in wake of current and future business in community based functioning of humanity.

Use of technology:

 * Digital technology has enabled us to work from any place/anywhere and manage it by tele/video conferencing, online chat with peers/customers and seamless transfer of data by use of block chain. Innovation plays a major role in bridging the gap between needs and essentials. Sometimes these evolved solutions become the great invention of time for future business and it is used for other sectors of life. Leaders with foresight at this stage, by taking an extra step, are protecting everyone while demonstrating endurance and flexibility. The flexibility enables others to adopt a similar approach, so that they can continue to perform the task without distraction and with high productivity.
 * Video conference call software such as Zoom, Bluejeans, and Google Hangouts can be used to arrange face to face meetings to capture the emotions while having discussions. Modern technology such as Docusign can be used to avoid the spread of viruses to human-beings through fingers touching, biometric signature entry, check-in at reception devices, exchange of pens, and countertops at the registration desk at reception of hotels. Some online software are available for communication through networking via online conferencing selecting from any of these are Hopit, Thinkific software for podcast and training.

Industry Insights:

 * The impact of COVID-19 on economic activity is manifest in everything from diminished consumer discretionary spending to a freeze on business expenditures including capital budgets, hiring, and reduction of everything but essential operational expenses. Stated differently, virtually any substantive business expenditure that is not absolutely necessary is on hold. The exceptions are those that are critical for operations and/or clearly net positive from an expeditious return on investment from a cost reduction perspective.
 * However, there are some less obvious impacts longer-term that involve public safety, identity and security management. These will be long-term opportunities for companies to capitalize upon the fallout of COVID-19 in terms of readiness for the next pandemic and general concerns relative to how consumers and business relate to one another now that the world understands that deadly viruses are a global issue and likely an ongoing concern.
 * The impacts range from retail customer issues, such as 5G phone availability and consumer willingness to pay, and business customer issues, such as a more immediate focus on expenditure in areas that enabled cost savings for existing operations rather than those that represent an investment in business growth. The pandemic is anticipated to amplify the gap between consumer and business 5G services with the former losing significant ground relative to the latter.

Areas of opportunities:

 * The rapid spread of Covid-19 has forced countries to use every possible methods to contain the disease. Some countries, like South Korea and Singapore, have done a better job than, say, Italy and Spain .Many countries have used a wide range of technologies in their fight against the pandemic, raising questions about excessive surveillance and the violation of citizens’ privacy. Here is a list of some of the tech tools being used in different countries.
 * Location Tracking( )
 * CCTVs( )
 * Smart Imaging( )
 * Robots & Drones( )