2020: The year the world stayed home
2020 was a transformational year for our society. Many businesses saw a dramatic shift in their day to day operations while others saw their revenues all but dry-up. Many countries experienced mass unemployment as the private sector try their best to survive on reduced revenues. Amongst those severely impacted sectors were: In-Person Events & Entertainment, Tourism & Travel, Restaurants & Bars and Retail. Some companies rose to the occasion and swiftly pivoted their strategy to provide a reduced service online while others formed creative partnerships to reach their customers (eg Supermarket Sainsbury’s partnership with ride-hailing app Uber for food delivery service).
Teleconferencing companies ( eg. Zoom, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Hopin ) and Digital Entertainment ( eg. Netflix, Disney+ ) were all notable winners while Online Shopping ( eg. Amazon, eBay, Online Retail Stores ) and Courier companies saw a surge in demand. Other beneficiaries from pandemic are pharmaceutical companies poised for manufacturing and distribution of the vaccines ( eg. Pfizer ) and those manufacturing PPE, ventilators and medical suppliers.
The coming together
At the peak of the crisis, we saw a coming together of public and private sectors to in a way only seen during times of war. Individuals, businesses and government organisations collaborated on scale and speed not seen often.
Impact on the vulnerable
Away from the spotlight there were many more untold stories from invisible victims of the COVID-19 lockdown. As with any situations that destabilise economies some of those most impacted were amongst the poorest in society.
Low-income families that could not afford the tools and tech needed for online education struggled. Many were all but excluded from the educational system as a result of it. We will no doubt be seeing the full impact of this in the coming years. Elderly and those who are dependent on carers to assist with day to day living were isolated from their families due to their vulnerable state leaving many lonely. Domestic violence rose as tensions between spouses due to the increased risk of unemployment threatened many livelihoods and the closure of centres and social spaces for those with addiction. According to the World Economic Forum, the COVID-19 pandemic is the biggest setback to gender inequality in a decade. Not mentioning homeless and refugees who often were left alone in this challenging time.
Impact on People
While many worked from home in their ill-equipped makeshift office spaces, high priced office buildings rested empty and silent.
The fear of infections spreading, the potential impact on large scale shortages in staff due to the virus prompted as well as legal implications of employees contracting the virus at work caused many organisations to move their entire operations online, some indefinitely.
Those who commuted to work on packed routes initially celebrated but with time the blurring of the lines between work life and home life started to take its toll on many’s mental health especially in cities such as London where many share small flats. This feeling of gloom magnified in the winter months during the second and third lockdowns for many.
Parents had additional struggles as many grappled with the new unfamiliar task of educating their children remotely on a daily basis while trying to stay on top of their own workload.
Many people took to Zoom and other social media platforms for happy hours which fed the need for social interactions but it wasn’t enough to prevent loneliness. Dating took on a whole new form as many dating apps rolled out video functionality.
Conclusions: Covid as a catalyst for change
COVID-19 was neither expected nor easy but it helped catapult our society’s technological development by decades.
The big transition to online has permanently impacted education, how we work and how we participate in society. This new normal brought remote work and social engagement to the mainstream. Prior to 2020 sectors such as Legal, Government Services and MedTech were slowly transitioning to digital solutions.
But will this remain in place once the restrictions have been lifted? To what extent will jobs remain online? Will we have less office spaces, less business travel, more access to digital medical consultations? Will Government Service be more often in your phone rather than in some office building in the center of town?
Will the global acceptance of remote working make us citizens of the world and at some point will regulations follow to support that? What will be the impact on immigration, taxation approach, global phone number…
And now that we’ve discovered how to bake sourdough and banana bread and rediscovered our neighbourhoods and green spaces on walks ‘for mental health’ will we continue to take the breaks we need to function as people? How will we use our new found skills and hobbies from Coursera, Udemy, Skillshare to find new opportunities? Will we have more entrepreneurs as many had the veils of their job security lifted? As many picked up running and home workout services such as Apple Fitness+ in lieu of gyms who is protecting all our online data?
Only time will tell. It will be interesting to analyse the patterns of data sharing during the COVID-19 pandemic and learn from it. Not only how to respond to similar situations, but to understand who we are, what we can do and what we need.
What are your thoughts?
