Have You Thanked Technology Today?

The coronavirus has challenged all aspects of our lives. Healthcare notwithstanding, one of the biggest challenges has been in trying to keep as much of our lives as possible running as normal. Technology might already have altered the way we work, rest and play for good – but it’s been even more crucial during a period where people are working from home and avoiding large gatherings in the US and the rest of the world. In this post I’ll look at how tech is rising to the coronavirus challenge to keep the world moving. 

Video calls are finally having their moment in the sun. While some might have been reluctant to rely on these calls pre-crisis – fearing glitchy footage, poor sound, heavy breathing or all of the above – there’s been little choice but for many businesses and workers to put their faith in technology.

Skype, for example, has seen a 70 percent jump in users over the last month – and a 220 percent jump in calling minutes. Microsoft Teams, which offers workers the chance to share files and chat as well as jump on video calls now has a daily active user base of more than 44 million people – up from 20 million in November.

Yet the breakout star has been Zoom. A relative new kid on the block – especially compared to Skype – this was downloaded a whopping 2.13 million times worldwide on March 23 alone. The parent company – Zoom Video Communication – has seen its share price rocket from about $70 in January to more than $150 by the end of March, giving it a market value of $42 billion. It has been good for founder and chief executive Eric Yuan too. With 20% of the company’s shares in his ownership, he’s seen his net worth jump by more than $4 billion to just under $8 billion.

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Yuan now predicts that the post-crisis world will have got the video call bug and that they technology will continue to play a big role in our lives. He said: “I hope this crisis can be over very, very soon, but one thing I know for sure is that companies will learn this is the way to work.

“I am pretty sure almost every company will be thinking about it and [will] say, ‘hey, maybe working from home makes sense’, and maybe let every employee work from home, maybe once a week. Previously, a lot of businesses didn’t even want to try.”

Technology isn’t just helping to keep business meetings on track with the help of Microsoft calendar and other apps, however. There’s been something of a retro feel to the way many people are using the internet and, particularly, social media during the time of crisis. Starved of human, face-to-face contact, we’re using technology to keep in touch but also share tips and support. Whether that’s moms looking for educational resources to keep their kids occupied, people looking to brush up on their financial knowledge so their savings and investments survive the storm, single people looking for some company or communities getting together to support the vulnerable, the internet is acting as a connecting force, bring people together and tackling loneliness, confusion, vulnerability and isolation. 

Writing for Metro, clinical psychologist Dr Roberta Babb explained:

This sharing-and-caring vision is a reminder of the way people thought about the internet before the era of fake news and cyber crime. While misinformation or news-induced anxiety are still clearly dangers, recent positive use of the internet has been a useful counterbalance to the negativity that all-too-often is the main focus of attention by the media.

While some technology is finding it has an increased role in the circumstances of the coronavirus – such as video conferencing – other entrepreneurs are putting their pioneering spirit into new technological innovations that will fulfil the demand of the world during and after the crisis.

We’re seeing, for example, increased automation in some industries – especially manufacturing settings that previously require a densely-populated workspace – and an increased use in robo-assistants to ensure people can keep their ‘social distance’. But, most of all, we’re seeing new products that will be necessary as businesses look to return to ‘normal’ as quickly as possible. These include disinfectant spray guns that can quickly and safely provide the sort of deep clean workplaces might well need to safely reopen their doors – likewise air purifiers. 

Thermal scanners are proving popular in a bid to ‘vet’ people before they can safely enter buildings, for example. FLIR, a company that makes thermal cameras for military intelligence, has said that it has had an ‘exponential’ rise in interest from customers who want to use their equipment to scan employees for fever. Casino chains, airlines and even a grocery store chain are already looking to use such cameras in the bid to combat the crisis, although experts are torn as to how well such technology can work for the desired purpose.

Whatever happens next in the coronavirus story, however, it’s likely that there will be a heightened focus on the way we clean public environments and screen individuals to ensure they’re ‘safe’. Both of these trends need nifty and affordable technological solutions and the people who provide them can expect to reap the rewards.

Tech might be helping to keep our lives on track – but this crisis is also exposing some frailties in the infrastructure that underpins our use of technology too.

Writing for Forbes, Steve Andriole noted how the current conditions will put strain on the system right across the US. He argued: “The US digital infrastructure is at risk. It was never designed for the current demand. It’s just another infrastructure in need of repair and investment. It’s a hodge-podge of components: broadband service, big pipes to companies, small pipes to homes, cheap Wi-Fi routers with limited ranges, and diverse connected devices in various states of repair, updates and security. All good – except when it’s stressed. A classic “multiple-points-of-failure” scenario.”  

The case for investment in technological infrastructure might well be clear but, as Andriole notes, this crisis also opens up a fundamental debate about how we see the internet. Is it a right or a privilege? It’s a question that has been raised before but has now gone mainstream – and global. When we rely on the internet for banking, teaching or ordering food doesn’t it become more than just a ‘nice to have’ convenience? And, if so, what does that mean for the provision of services, the companies that provide this service and, ultimately, the end users.

By laying the foundations for ‘working from home’, knitting together otherwise isolated workers and pioneering new inventions to meet the needs of the coronavirus, technology is rising to the challenge these times present. It now remains to be seen whether infrastructure and legislation can keep pace with those times too.