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Accelerated need for digital transformation
By Padmaja Alavarthi
All of a sudden, there is a change in the way we live, work, and do business. Digital tools are in demand. With social distancing in place, it is a compulsion for even a common man to turn on to digital tools to perform day to day activities. On a positive note, this brings a significant digital transformation.
Even today, most employers believe in the traditional approach of work culture and resistance to allow their employees to work from home. With the current pandemic situation, there is a significant shift. Work from home option might become a trend for substantial companies to continue as they realise the benefits of fast-tracking digital transformation and to be prepared with such pandemic situations in the future.
Many educational institutions switched to home-based learning to contain the spread of the virus. Very few universities were better prepared for the shift, but others are yet to be planned to overcome such situations. Similar is the case with virtual conference sessions to exchange ideas and build professional relationships. It is not only compelling alternative options but also welcoming creative and innovative approaches to handle the situation.
There was very little push for telemedicine before. Now we can foresee the change. Few countries introduced the mobile app for tele-health, while some started introducing telemedicine. Still, there are many more improvements yet to be done in this area to overcome the worst conditions.
Thanks to Google, Microsoft, Cisco, Zoom, who are ahead and are ready with collaboration tools helping from SME's to MNC's to continue their operations during this period. Mobile apps are gaining priority even for a common man to do most of the activities right from groceries, paying bills, ordering food till receiving the news alerts.
Fighting with COVID-19, as a lesson learned, businesses from any sector should prioritise digital transformation by optimising and automating their processes in this dynamically changing environment.