By now we are all accustomed to the ‘new normal’. This drastic change in everyone’s lives globally has mainly made difficult for most to cope with their daily lives. The impacts of recurring lockdowns imposed throughout the world are various – people’s mental health being affected, organizations shutting down or laying off employees are some of the negative outcomes of this pandemic. Amidst this pandemic, there are those organizations that can afford conducting their operations remotely without having to compromise on a lot. Granted it requires investing more effort to get the work done remotely, but some people prefer to work in their comfort, while saving on commute expenses.
Challenges imposed by Covid-19
Distribution and manufacturing are some of those industries that have suffered a great deal from this pandemic, and these are those industries that have been carrying out their operations manually ever since their inception. There are countless organizations whose suppliers are located overseas, leading to their orders being delayed or canceled. In this case, the parties at loss are both – the manufacturers and the suppliers. However, with the advent of this pandemic, such organizations are pushed into adapting automated solutions – that’s where an opportunity rises for the IT industry.
Opportunities for the IT Industry
There has been a drastic rise in demand for telecommunications app such as Zoom, Skype, and WhatsApp for a plethora of reasons – some of them being requirements for working from home in order to stay connected to employees and provide updates regarding work. On the other hand, people also utilize these apps’ services to stay in touch with their loved ones due to the ongoing lockdowns.
We can take an example of Zoom. Not many people were aware of this app, neither was it a mainstream one. However, thanks to the pandemic, most of the world knows about this app, thereby the developers of this app benefiting from it. Similarly, a lot of new food/grocery delivery apps have been developed and are now replacing the norm of visiting the store to make a purchase.
Now that most organizations are demanding IT services to automate their production process, the IT sector will require more workforce to cater to its clients timely. Once majority of non-IT industries adapt to this, eventually the need for faster communication would rise – and that is where 5G will have to be implemented throughout the world in a short span of time.
Threats faced by the IT Industry
Despite the ever-growing demand for IT services, there are still some organizations that cannot be helped, such as the telecommunications industry. It is expected that the production of smartphones will decline in the near future due to delay in supplying the raw materials. Ultimately, the prices of smartphones will increase due to higher demand.
Most IT companies would be on the lookout for talented developers, which could be a bit difficult than said. This is because due to the pandemic, most universities are conducting classes online, and as per most students, they are not learning as well as they did in physical classes. Having said that, finding the right candidate for the IT companies would be another issue faced by the IT companies.
Although the sudden growth of IT Industry is overwhelming, and that it will require some time to stabilize, however this bloom in the industry seems temporary so long the pandemic still exists. Nonetheless, the pioneers of the IT industry should have a backup for the future as well – since once the pandemic is over, most organizations could return to their conventional practices rather than following the automated process (applicable for most developing countries).