How will IT industry reshape the businesses in the post COVID-19 era?

The only constant in the technology industry is change.
                                                                                                                                                                                        - Marc Benioff

Covid-19 has posed obstacles as well as a range of opportunities through various market segments. The pandemic has caused catastrophic losses to the global economy, and the loss of human life in an age of world stability has been unparalleled. However, businesses that continue to add value to their customers' lives directly or indirectly as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic will definitely thrive in the post-covid era too! 

How did the IT sector cope up with the COVID-19 pandemic? 

​Increased focus on Work from home:  

• Since a lot of Work in the IT sector is performed entirely on computers, most businesses are heavily focused on adapting to the work-from-home model with significant training and improvements on how to make it competitive and affordable for workers to work from home and stay successful. 
• There have been numerous brainstorming sessions, webinars, and literature by experts on how companies and employees should change their habits to facilitate remote Work. 

 
Addressing other sector’s needs:  

• Most companies are in a hurry to automate and digitize their business processes, employing technologies such as ERP, AI-ML, cloud computing, etc. to ensure that they continue to operate. The IT sector has been busy delivering these solutions on a wide scale. 
• Thus, the IT sector has identified and addressed the needs of all other sectors in these times and has been busy providing these solutions on a large scale. 

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​Which areas of the IT sector will keep flourishing post COVID-19? 

Edutech:

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As schools and colleges have been shut down, education has moved to online classes or lectures. So technology education has gained a lot of popularity with startups like Byju's adding students almost every day. Byju's has almost seen a rise of 60 per cent in its student population in the pandemic. The market has seen the value and will continue to flourish.

Online grocery stores:

Due to lockdown and social distancing of online grocery stores like the big basket saw a huge surge in demand as people avoided going outside and started ordering online, the demand soared that the big basket app and the server crashed for a day. Supermarket chains like Spencer’s, Big Bazaar have also been forced to set up online ordering apps. Companies with strong tech capabilities will thrive as this becomes the new normal.

 Video Conferencing:

Due to travel restrictions and the lockdown of global video conferencing apps like Zoom, the Google duo saw a huge demand in their customer base as personal and professional meetings all turned online, especially via Zoom. Moreover, the lockdowns have increased the traction to video calling apps and with the advent of new technologies, only the best ones will survive in the market.

Fintech:

Small businesses will gravitate towards fintech, instead of conventional banks, for loans, and therefore traditional banks will expand fintech collaborations to keep up with customer demands. 
 
Applications for Truck Rentals:

Applications like Lynked saw a sharp increase in their orders, as lockdown caused a shortage of logistics, especially the supply of manpower. This proved to be an opportunity for online truck rental options. The market opened a lot of opportunities for new players too. Since the quality and reliability factors surged too, so will the technology and its demand.

Video Streaming Apps:

Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar, Voot, Zee5, Sony Liv have seen a spike in their user base as people are forced to stay home with no other choice but to complete their watch list of favorite movies and TV shows. This also prompted tech giants Google and Facebook to launch video sharing applications like Google Play and Facebook Watch. With the OTT platforms making a place in the lifestyle, it is not hard to predict the future.

Social Networking Channels:

Channels like TikTok have seen quite an increase in their app use as people started making TikTok videos to kill time. With TikTok setting the trend, we saw Instagram launching Reels and multiplying traction 100x. Even Twitter, Snapchat saw a spike in their usage due to lockdown. Who know what more is in store for Social Platforms in the post-covid trends!


Conclusion: 

Although the economy has been severely affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, there are separate degrees to which different sectors of industry have been feeling the economic downturn. Certain sectors, such as hospitality and tourism, have had the worst hit, while others, such as the IT sector, have found ways to not only survive but even thrive amidst the COVID-19 situation. Further, we have noticed that the key to success in this pandemic has been adding value to customers' lives as the times get tough. And those who continue to find ways to do so will come out with flying colors in the post-covid era as well, for sure!

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