Editor’s write — No turning our backs on technology
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a dramatic impact, not just on our health but on the way we live and work.
It has forced us to implement ways to protect against the spread of the virus among our family, friends and co-workers.
The positives include the greater use of technology to maintain contact with those we hold dear. The home office has now become all too familiar, as people juggle work with care for children, who have been out of school for months.
The tools we have all quickly learnt to use will forever be a part of our lives.
The significant adjustments place the strongest emphasis on technology.
For example, we have all had some reservations about embracing online banking. Instead, hundreds were prepared to stand in long lines waiting for a chance to interact with a teller.
COVID-19 has led to an immediate reduction in the number of bank branches and a significant push for online banking to become the preferred option when paying bills, making transfers and receiving funds from abroad.
The insurance industry is another prime example of the shift to online transactions. One of the region’s major insurance companies has gone further by having customers interacting with staff who are in home offices.
Government agencies also joined the technology revolution by encouraging greater use of their online services. This move reduces the long lines seen at several key State agencies and speeds up service.
Even call centres recognised the value of working from home when the epidemic spread fastest among the cluster of workers in the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector.
This clear pivot to technology has opened the door to new entrepreneurs offering help to companies which found themselves below the technology radar and hesitant about the investment.
And the immediate requirement to provide customers with the ability to transact business at the speed of the Internet has forced business leaders to invest in more tech.
There is no doubt that our lives have been changed by this pandemic. And, it has changed for the better.
