How IoT & mobile workforce will help in the post-Covid world

Have you ever wondered how the post-Covid world would look like? How will you grow and survive with coronavirus? A world where we would be forced to maintain distance and cannot be in public places the way we once used to be. It’s scary to even think about it at the moment. But as the famous saying goes ‘Life moves on’ and so shall we. To live with corona, we will have to embrace IoT and digital technology, says Udit Agarwal, Founder & CEO TrackOlap.

After the lockdown of almost three months when governments are pushing towards unlocking, and coronavirus cases are multiplying at an intense rate—Is it an indication that “We should learn to live and grow with Coronavirus.” Importantly, when an organization like WHO says that we might never get rid of COVID-19, it is a clear indication that we should prepare ourselves for the post-Covid world where things are going to be different—a lot different.

In the post-Covid world, our way of leading life and performing economic activities will take a 180-degree turn. Work from home, online education, virtual meetings are a few changes that we would have to endure in the world where corona infection is going to live with us. To survive and grow with the COVID-19, we need the help of some dynamic technological forces such as IoT devices.

Why is IoT called post-Covid technology?

Lockdown and social distancing are two weapons to beat the coronavirus. But, unfortunately, these two weapons have completely tarnished the shreds of the world economy and brought the First World nations on their knees. When developed nations like the USA and UK are struggling to sustain their economy, the fight for survival of developing countries like India becomes more intense as the Indian economy is expected to hit the lowest mark of 2.5% in 2020.

In this situation, where coronavirus and economy have to survive together, technology is the best solution to beat and grow in one shot. Internet of Things is one such technology that could be used as an essential tool to fight the spread of such pandemics and contain it with minimal economic loss and disruption.

So what exactly is this technology that we are talking about? IoT is a mobile workforce system of interlaced computing devices, digital equipment, and mechanical objects to provide unique ability to transfer data over a network without any human intervention. Data is collected by sensors or signals from computers installed on the user end, which is sent to cloud servers to make decisions. The feature of ‘being omnipresent’ connectivity is the foundation of IoT.

In the post-Covid world, IoT’s ability to transfer data without human involvement can help in creating an environment where the economy will boom, but without human touch. The benefits of IoT can help in creating a progressive environment with coronavirus in multiple ways.

The benefit of IoT in the context of COVID-19

IoT is one of the powerful futuristic technologies to overcome coronavirus because from controlling infection to a growing business with coronavirus—everything can be achieved with IoT devices. Let’s understand how the power of IoT technology can help us in living with the coronavirus in multiple ways…

Regulating life: Monitoring, controlling, and treating is a critical part of the world with coronavirus. The government has to aim to cover the economy gap, maintain the supply chain, and create policies for daily wage labor, students, businesses, and agriculture. In the process of getting back life on the track, the mobile workforce system empowered by IoT devices can help the government re-establish its governance. It will be like maintaining a register for all important movements around all departments, but without anyone physically monitoring it.

Maintaining essential supply chain: Due to lockdown panic, the problem of hoarding and stock limitation has occurred. But, if stores invest in digital payments, E-commerce, and IoT apps, the question of maintaining the essential supply chain won’t be an issue. It is important to understand that being online is the future of any developed nation, and hence the faster we embrace IoT, the easier it will be for us.

Education Sector: The schools and colleges have been shut down since the first knock of the pandemic, which has severely affected the studies of students. By using the blockchain-based application to track students' performance and learning strategies, educational institutions can create a virtual learning environment easily. Moreover, they can conduct tests online and issue digital certification as well.

Compliance of Rules: To keep the infection under control, numerous governments around the globe have laid down some ground rules like no large gatherings to prevent the communal spread of the virus. Thus, to ensure compliance with the rules, governments can track down the smartphones of their citizens and establish better governance.

Rolling the Economy: After getting back regular life on the track, the next phase towards making the post-Covid world is to get back the economy. From the past few months, big industries to small cottage businesses—all the economic activities have been on hold, which has resulted in unemployment, job cuts, salary cuts, and so on. The situation of daily wage labor has become a significant problem for the nation. Involving technology in small and large-scale businesses is the need of the hour.

Overall, the economy needs a pump to grow and bloom with coronavirus. From all the advanced technologies to overcome a post pandemic world, IoT technology can become a boon for the industries to grow their business. Benefits of IoT in economic revival can be seen in multiple ways…

Work From Home System: For the companies where the majority of employees work from their desktops need to shift their work environment. They need to set up a system where their employees can efficiently work from home while following social distancing norms. The centralized employee efficiency tools based on IoT technologies can help employers in monitoring and controlling the workflow of their remotely working employees. From assigning tasks to recording attendance of the employees—everything can be quickly processed with the smart time tracking platform like TrackOlap.

Virtual Meetings: Due to lockdown, face to face meetings with clients won’t be a feasible solution anymore. Thus, redefine your business structure and conduct virtual meetings with your clients using the numerous tools. Nowadays, IoT and AI-empowered applications can help business owners share their desktop screen with their clients so that they can effectively conduct business presentations. Moreover, there are plenty of different group meeting apps like Zoom, GoToMeeting, and Google Meet available to attend virtual meetings properly. Once you start using these tools, geographical borders will practically disappear!

IoT helps in living with coronavirus

We can’t forever live in the lockdown, and the vaccine of coronavirus is nowhere ready yet. Experts predict that we have to practice social distancing till 2020 for sure. If that is how our future looks, let us all find a way to live with corona and even grow. IoT is one of the booming technologies that can make it possible. From controlling coronavirus infection to working in the coronavirus crisis, one can overcome all the challenges thrown by a pandemic with just one technology solution.

Automation is the way to live with coronavirus and create the post-Covid World. IoT and mobile devices can make that position, so be ready to see a wave of automation and digitalization in the upcoming days.