Okay, so COVID-19 is awful. Aside from the fact that the virus has claimed nearly 20 000 lives in South Africa alone, it has also cost 3 million South Africans their jobs. However, much like bad ex-boyfriends, the effects of the pandemic aren’t all completely horrifying.
Major neck-sticking-out statement there, we know. Before you bounce, here’s what we mean.
Much in the same way that totally horrendous humans who ditch you for their plain-as-paper ex-GFs can manage to teach you how to parallel park or julienne carrots the proper way before leaving you crying theatrically under a streetlight at 2AM on a rainy Saturday, COVID-19 has actually taught us all a thing or two.
For one thing, it has created major digital transformation opportunities for businesses around the world.
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ICT industry in SA boosted by rise in remote work.
Technology is one of the three main areas of the employee experience and the lockdown measures put in place worldwide to curb the spread of the virus placed this in sharp perspective as employees were forced to work from home, many for the first time.
Locally, Telkom CEO Sipho Maseko stated that despite a dire economic outlook, Telkom expects growth in the demand for information and communications technology, driven by the rise in remote work.
“This demand has been spurred by the increase in people working remotely during the various levels of lockdown and their growing demand and adoption of digital and telecommunication services,” stated Maseko in Telkom’s latest annual integrated report published on 7 August.
Digital transformation sped up by 5+ years in the UK.
This sentiment is echoed by companies in Europe, America and further afield.
A global survey by cloud communications platform Twilio recently sought to measure the impact and outlook of the COVID-19 pandemic on businesses’ digital engagement strategies. To this end, they surveyed 2500+ enterprise decision-makers (directors and above) in June 2020.
According to Twilio chief customer officer Glenn Weinstein, COVID-19 was the digital accelerator of the decade.
“Over the last few months, we’ve seen years-long digital transformation roadmaps compressed into days and weeks in order to adapt to the new normal as a result of COVID-19. Our customers in nearly every industry have had to identify new ways to communicate with their customers and stakeholders – from patients, to students, to shoppers, and even employees – essentially overnight,” he explained.
According to respondents, 77% of the businesses with which they are affiliated have increased their budget for digital transformation, putting more resources towards development strategies, driven by accelerated executive approval. This is especially true in industries like the technology, energy, healthcare, construction and retail sectors.
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According to the Harvard Business Review, digital transformation opportunities have expanded the future of work in the wake of COVID-19 by inspiring the further development of trends that were already in the works prior to the pandemic.
These include:
Expanding global value chains and the geography of jobs
The rapid adoption of technology and scaling up of digital platforms are disrupting traditional production processes, and reducing trade barriers. The decrease in the cost of doing business complements investments in infrastructure and free trade agreements, expanding global value chains and changing the existing geography of jobs.
This gives rise to exciting new business models, e.g. digital platform firms, which are able to grow and evolve quickly even without vast amounts of employees or a glut of tangible assets. Going forward, it’s very likely that forward-thinking businesses will invest even more in their ability to do business via the IoT in order to remain resilient even if more lockdowns come our way.
Boosting mixed skills development
People were already afraid of robots taking their jobs, even before the pandemic. This fear is not ungrounded – machines can do (and are doing) most low-skill, routine jobs much more efficiently and cost-effectively than humans. This, in combination with the job losses associated with the global economic decline due to COVID-19, has boosted mixed skills development along with digital transformation opportunities.
Earnings are already higher in careers that combine cognitive skills (e.g. critical thinking) with ‘soft’, socio-behavioural skills (e.g. reading and managing emotions). As this trend develops, next-generation employees are likely to focus on the acquisition of adaptable skill sets that allow them to shift and grow from one job to another.
Making work more flexible and accessible
Standard long-term contracts and lifetime employment is being phased out by offshoring and the gig economy. Top talent can now work from anywhere, which means businesses are able to leverage the input of highly prized employees even if they don’t live within commuting distance. Similarly, highly skilled individuals can put their skills out to market to the highest bidder, and most accommodating employer.
This newly levelled playing field supports the growth of companies that invest in the employee experience and focus on the development of a healthy corporate culture – great news for people who like to work in happy, productive spaces.
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