At the time of writing in April 2020, the global economy has been thrown into chaos as human movement around the world has become restricted, and the movement of global goods and services has come to an abrupt stop. According to ILO ( International Labour Organization), while the longterm effects of the pandemic are not yet clear, current estimates predict that up to US$10 trillion, or 1/8th of the global Gross Domestic Product, is at risk, 200 million jobs have already been lost, and the lives of 2.4 billion workers have been disrupted. One of the clear messages from the outbreak is that ICT technologies can play a critical role in combating the epidemic, and the need for Digital Transformation in many if not all industries are more apparent than ever. While videoconferencing solutions have been the clear winner so far (As of April 2020, Zoom Video Communications now has a market cap of US$35 billion) there are several other technologies which have proven important in the battle against the virus and new use cases are emerging. The exhibit below summarizes some key technologies being used during the outbreak and their use cases:
Digital Payments – Businesses around the world are increasingly shunning cash as physical ATM transactions and in-store purchasing force people to break social distancing suggestions, and it remains unclear how long COVID-19 can persist on physical surfaces. Governments in some countries such as China have already had to quarantine or even destroy banknotes from highly infected areas. As such there has been a flurry of activity for retailers to offer e-payment options such as Apple Pay and Google Pay. Facial recognition technology as a payment mechanism is offered by companies such as NEC and is expected to get a massive boost from the COVID-19 outbreak as it offers a completely contactless solution.
Edge Computing – Edge computing is taking an active role in identifying potentially infected people, and there is now soaring demand for connected cameras which can immediately identify someone who could be sick. FLIR has recently launched a Wi-Fi-connected thermal imaging camera which uses edge computing to instantly recognize individuals with elevated skin temperatures. Many large businesses are rushing to install these devices, which can replace handheld thermal scanners and hence put workers out of harm’s way. For example, Amazon has already started to install such devices in its warehouses and Walmart is also doing so in its retail stores in the United States.