Pandemic Is Here To Stay

With global conditions evolving day by day, strong alliances among the technology OEMs has to be in place and are critical to ensure your employees and customers have the resources they need to respond.

Businesses across the board are rethinking their strategies as global economy is shaping towards COVID-19 and anticipating on a huge market shift. The current COVID-19 situation has not only increased moments of anxiety and stress for a large workforce, but has also triggered conditions of mental wellness that need to be addressed.

COVID 19 has made us witness disruption in the business model  with a huge impact on the Global as well as on the Indian economy. China discovered evidence of this pneumonia-like illness in December and ordered its scientists to destroy samples. China dragged its feet when it came to informing the public. It kept the information on human-to-human transmission behind the carpet.

The US suffered the world's highest death toll. The Corona virus has breached more than three million confirmed cases in 185 countries. More than 250,000 people have lost their lives, though the true figure is thought to be much higher as many of those with milder symptoms have not been tested and counted.

With this the global economy is confronting turbulence on account of disruptions in trade flows and attenuated growth. The situation has now been aggravated by the demand, supply and liquidity shocks that COVID-19 has inflicted.  Only after it is controlled, the speed of recovery in the US and China will be the key factors determining the nature and traction of global economic recovery.

The Corona virus has forced us to rethink the way we work. Technology plays a huge role in that transformation. With many employees working on laptops and using their own devices, it would seem that from a technical standpoint, working from home is easy to support. Yet, it’s not as simple for some industries. For instance, companies in the insurance and financial sectors work with sensitive data that can’t be left on their own internal servers, with some companies use proprietary apps that can only be offered from their office networks.

Though remote workers may have access to corporate virtual private networks (VPNs) that allow them access to office networks, but everyone working remotely requires more network bandwidth and expanded hardware to encrypt the connections.

 
Earlier projection on the Global market for Digital Solutions is pegged at around $ 1 Trillion in next couple of years. Countries like India have immense Solution providers, many of them are Small, Mid-Size and Start-up companies. The damage caused by COVID-19 is not confined to only select pockets of businesses but it is a widespread malady that is expected to keep the economy sick for a longer time.

Market experts are of the view that aviation, retail, financials, realty, automobiles and media/entertainment and tourism industries are the seven sectors that are at the front among the sectors that are smarting under severe pain now.

With the lockdown getting extended, many sectors will have a serious liquidity crisis which will raise questions on their survival. Even after normalcy returns, it is expected that there will be a longer period of slowdown in some sectors due to travel restrictions and even after the lifting of lockdown travel activities will be very slow as people would still avoid travelling for some time. The extent of the impact is difficult to quantify, as the sales are expected to hit further.

Globally India is above the Corona-Politics and the government has imposed several restrictions on the investments of countries such as China so that they do not capture Indian companies. India will definitely benefit from the blow to China in world trade. Overall, during the Corona crisis, India's image has risen in the world.

According to reports it is very encouraging that many multinationals with manufacturing plants in China are looking to shift operations out. The Centre has set up a committee of joint secretaries from different ministries and departments to see how to attract foreign investment in these trying times. A couple of States too have got into the act. According to Sources, the US Government will support companies contemplating India as an alternative to China.

I hope you are staying safe and getting accustomed to the new normal due to the COVID-19 outbreak. In these times it is imperative to keep ourselves motivated and ensure business continuity.

Let’s see how these PSU’s will help India to go digital.

S Mohini Ratna, Editor, VARINDIA