Will CoronaVirus change our way of life?
Most companies and businesses seem to be redefining how they work and gradually embracing remote work. But before 2020 it was not so.
As with many innovations, is the spread of CoronaVirus about to influence our way of life? With this pandemic, concepts like remote work, e-learning, internet conferencing, events, and meetings are being encouraged.
But what is more interesting is that even non-tech companies and individuals are sourcing for new ways to reduce physical interaction. It has never been this way.
Last week, my friend shared a situation they had in the office with me. Someone from China was to travel to Nigeria for a meeting with his company’s management. It was his non-techie boss who requested for Microsoft Teams. They had to pay for it immediately to avoid physically meeting with the Chinese. They have never shown much interest in such products before then. I believe this is the time cloud products will record its highest sales.
And like Stephen Johnson rightly stated in his book, “How we got to now “, — he said, “when an innovation or cluster of innovations in one field ends up triggering changes that seem to belong to a different domain altogether.” It’s called the Hummingbird Effect, only that, in this scenario, there is no innovation as Coronavirus is NOT innovation. But nevertheless, as an event, it has effected the kind of changes that occur from Hummingbird effects.
I hope the virus doesn’t spread beyond this, but if it does, we will experience a surge in the number of users on social media.
God forbid it continues further, AR and VR will become a thing. This also means that Facebook’s plan to grow its SPARK AR platform this year was timely. Museums and individuals will start looking into VR/AR tourism.
You may be asking, how possible are these changes to happen? Following the invention of chlorinated water in the 1900s, the effect it had was not just on purifying water or saving lives. It also had an effect on the way humans had fun, It impacted fast fashion. Nudity became widely accepted. Hence, between 1920 and 1940, new designs of women clothing sprung up and wearing bikini became a thing. Before then, a lot of cultures had excuses to justify why women shouldn’t wear such dresses, but as a result of the invention of chlorinated water, women now had valid reasons to wear them.
The same thing is happening with CoronaVirus. Products that require less physical interaction are getting more popular. This also includes e-commerce platforms, as long as the lockdowns do not affect the supply chain of the business.
Who knows, this may just be the right time to launch those products you planned, if they meet the above conditions.
……This article was first published on Linkedin by Oluwatosin Olubiyi.
