10 post-Covid Techcelerations

Now that the pandemic is firmly behind us, it is time to assess the long-term changes due to Covid. There has been a lot of technological acceleration that is now here to stay now.

1. Ecommerce: You name it: Groceries. Clothes. Make-up. Medicines. Swiggy. Zomato. Dunzo. This took off like nobody’s business and shows no sign of declining. Who could have imagined such a large network of delivery boys crisscrossing every city and town day in and day out.

2. Online payments: If demonetization gave a fillip, then Covid was DeMo on steroids. It didn’t matter whether you were in rural areas or urban, from the middle class or a small shopkeeper, everyone has embraced online money.

3. Broadband: The number of connections along their average speed and reliability saw a huge upswing. We are now the mobile broadband leaders of the world. The 5G rollout got accelerated towards the end of the pandemic.

4. Collaboration tools: They became faster, more seamless, and useful. An absolute lifeline for many professionals. It encompasses work, pleasure and business. A new Zoom Generation was born.

5. Remote Work: The concept was around for ages. Now both the technology and mainly attitudes changed. The Great Resignation has led the employee push against the management which wants a return to the old normal.

6. Cloud adoption: No business big or small can do without the cloud. It is vital for basic customer service, upscaling, innovation and ensuring business process continuity.

7. HealthTech: Hospitals moved heaven and Earth to cope with the influx and upgraded themselves. The tech here is still a work in progress but got its needed push to escape the lethargy of 2019.

8. AgriTech: India is a farming nation, and this was overlooked when it came to vital tech tools, but all that is changing now. The number of AgriTech startups and the role they are playing is quite heartening.

9. Digital Literacy: Reading and writing literacy is passe. Digital literacy is the in thing. Indians from all walks of life are embracing technology and their digital skills are getting better.

10. Digital India: The government took a lead and rolled out Arogya Setu in record time. CoWIN was a huge success and now that is expanding to other digital health solutions. UPI has emerged as a leader in the world. Rarely has a government got its act together and taken a lead in taking a nation forward.

We can look with some positivity as India gets ready to become the world’s most populous nation with the largest global workforce and will overtake Germany, maybe even Japan in the decade to come, in terms of GDP.