The Covid-19 crisis has had its winners and losers, with businesses that didn’t rely on human-to-human interaction emerging as the victors. At Old Mutual Alternative Risk Transfer Limited (OMART) we work with many start-ups and insuretech providers who operate at the more progressive end of the industry and who had already embraced technology to effect digital distribution. They were able to respond very well to the crisis and maintain their sales by using both digital and direct channels
.As I’m writing this, South Africa is at the height of the crisis, and it sometimes feels like things will never go back to normal – but they will, eventually. Businesses that have an agile mindset will adjust quickly. It won’t necessarily be certain industries that will benefit more from the disruption; it will be those that are able to make a plan.Think of your local restaurant that changed into a deli and found distribution channels that weren’t previously there. Insurers, including Old Mutual, moved the vast majority of their team off site in a short space of time. The crisis therefore provided an opportunity to introduce change.
I’ve always encouraged my team to consider working remotely for parts of the day or week, but many simply didn’t feel comfortable trying it. Now that we’ve all been forced to do it, I think we’ll see some fundamental changes in how we work. The biggest shift may be in the mind of the employer who has seen that, despite working remotely, everything can still be done and motivation levels might actually be higher.
Of course, you’ll always need the face-to-face human connection to build and maintain a strong culture – and businesses will have to find a way of balancing the two approaches. Work may become a hybrid, with employees spending two days a week in the office and three days a week working remotely.However, the key question is: how will you use technology to enhance – and advance – your business? Technology in and of itself is not the answer; it’s about using it in a way that augments your processes and enhances customer experience.
South Africa is not far behind the developed world in this regard. There are no borders to digital technology, as long as you have a device to access it, the ability to transfer payments, and the data to execute. In developed markets there are more opportunities around that, but technology itself is easily transferable. It’s not restricted by borders.
As Wesley Diphoko, Fast Company magazine’s Editor-in-Chief, puts it in his opinion piece below, we are entering the fourth phase in the evolution of computing.
The world is undergoing a seismic shift. In simple terms, it can be defined as the end of the old and the birth of the new. Covid-19 is also bringing an end to old business models while at the same time giving birth to new ones. This is both a curse and a blessing; a curse for many businesses that operated with traditional business models, and a blessing for those that are embracing modern business models driven mainly by technology.
Accelerated adoption
The technology industry has been waiting for such a moment. Traditionally, the adoption of technology takes time. The moment, however, has accelerated the adoption of technology in our daily lives.During the first half of 2020, we moved from attending physical events to attending virtual events, from buying goods in person to buying them online, from learning inside designated buildings to learning online. Video calling grew at a level never seen before.Most of these technology solutions have existed for years, but people have been slow to adopt them across all areas of their lives. Now, new tech businesses are being established at great speed, and traditional businesses and institutions are becoming technology-enabled businesses and institutions.
Virtual revolution
These changes present challenges and opportunities for tech companies. Where they used to serve a smaller audience, they are now experiencing rapid growth that has placed significant pressure on their tech infrastructure. For some, this spike in demand has impacted their quality of service.
Yet the societal changes induced by Covid-19 also present a huge opportunity for tech companies. All of a sudden there’s an increased appreciation for digital, as people move from the physical to the virtual world.
This creates an opportunity to replicate the physical world in the virtual space. In the past, especially in Africa, it would have been difficult to convince people to live online and to do the things they do in the physical space virtually. Now there’s an understanding that meetings can occur online, learning can be conducted online, and that buying and selling can be done virtually. Tech products and services, even those that might have seemed futuristic barely six months ago, are now taking centre stage.
The fourth phase of computing
In small and big ways, our world is about to change. Just in the first six months of 2020 we have seen more dramatic changes than we’ve experienced in decades.
Technology had undergone three major evolutionary phases before now. The first was the beginning of personal computing using a text-based interface. In the second phase, graphics and colour capabilities were included. Movement and mobility were added in the third, in the form of mobile phones.
We are now entering the fourth phase, which involves spatial computing, and is inspired by the transition from a physical to a virtual space. Spatial computing comprises all software and hardware technologies that enable humans, virtual beings and robots to move through real or virtual worlds. This includes artificial intelligence (AI), computer vision, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), sensor technology and automated vehicles. The industries that will be most affected are transportation; technology, media, and telecommunications (TMT); manufacturing; retail; healthcare; finance; and education.
As life continues to move online we should expect a couple of changes in the way society operates. Already most businesses are impacted by the move towards working from home. More than ever, it will now become possible for employees and contractors to work for any company in the world without leaving home. For businesses it will mean that they can now source skills across the globe.
Responsible leaders have no choice but to adopt new thinking if their organisations are to survive in this new era.