The corona epidemic/pandemic is global and very devastating for the economy. However, the virus, officially called Covid-19, is pushing digitalisation massively. This article describes how this is happening. If you still know interesting digital solutions in this context, please contact me…

Table of contents (TOC)

1. Impact of Corona and digitalizazion: the influence of the virus on external digitisation and the digital world

1.1 Onlinetracker

Corona changes mainly the external digitalisation and the digital world. It is especially important to know how many infected people there are where (e.g. also on the basis of geodata). For this purpose there is the online tracker for Corona like Worldometers.info. There is also a map for the USA which shows the distribution. The database of the current statistics is still primarily recorded manually. However, smart clinical thermometers also provide the database for the American map. The South Korean website Coronamap shows the travel stories of confirmed COVID-19 patients. There is also the Israeli company Vocalis Health, which can recognize Corona by its voice.

For Germany there is a visualization of the latest bed capacities.

1.2 Containment of the virus through digital actions

1.2.1 Vaccine

The development of a vaccine is of particular importance for containment. The company CureVac should be mentioned here above all. It is an ultra-interesting company that wants to print a vaccine by 3D-printer (the company is still presented in separate articles, e.g. extra in the overview of Digital Transformation, because it stands for the digitalization in genetic engineering). CureVac was mentioned very often in the press, because the American president Donald Trump apparently wanted to buy the company for 1 billion. However, this did not happen, or there are different statements whether this was fake news or not.

1.2.2 Hackathon

The German government has initiated a hackathon: #WirvsVirus. Its goal was to find solutions against the virus. It was very popular, with 28361 participants and 1924 ideas. These will now be implemented.

1.3 Containment of the virus through digital technologies

How is the virus contained by digital technologies?

1.3.1 Search engine

With Coronaita, South Korea acts “like a search engine” for information about areas affected by corona viruses. The virus is to be contained by the improved information offer.

1.3.2 Big Data

The company Palantir wants to contribute its Big Data expertise in fighting the virus. In addition, many web services designed to combat corona are already based on data collection and analysis.

1.3.3 Mobile

By means of the smartphone it is possible to track who is already infected. There are already some Smartphone Apps, like the Corona 100m app in South Korea.

For tracking, the telecommunications companies are required to create movement profiles.

The German Federal Government and European governments are starting their own trial with the Corona-App on the basis of the Pepp-PT (Pan European Privacy Protecting Proximity Tracing) technology. There are also some startups that offer apps here. An overview of all apps can be found on Wikipedia: Coronavirus app.

1.3.4 Blockchain

With an app based on the Blockchain, hamster purchases should be avoided, or the specification of essential materials should be controlled. This is still in the experimental phase.

1.3.5 3D printer

3D printers are used to produce ventilators. For example, automotive companies such as Ford and GM are currently manufacturing ventilators in the USA. The 3D construction plans are provided by medical technology companies. In Germany, BMW manufactures ventilators using 3D printing.

1.3.6 Cloud

Cloud/Cloud Computing becomes elementary for the companies, especially the collaboration tools (see below).

In addition, in the context of distributed computing, there is the possibility to participate in the search for a vaccine. With Folding@home you can provide the computing power of your hardware for this.

1.3.7 Chatbots

Some also have a chatbot for Corona in use. The state of Baden-Württemberg provides the chatbot COREY here.

1.3.8 Social Media

And of course social media is a big issue. Here everything is posted under the hashtag #STAYATHOME to make life at home more beautiful despite Corona.

1.3.9 Contactless payments / electronic payment

Contactless payment is booming with Corona. Because many retailers are now very reluctant to accept cash. Payment by card is now increasingly used, and many mail order companies can now rely on even more electronic payment.

2. Corona and the Digital Transformation: Impact on internal digitalization

How does the virus change the way companies work? And how will it push the Digital Transformation?

2.1 Receipts electronically only

In companies, documents are no longer provided on paper but electronically. Some companies are even already really digital, as the documents can be processed completely by machine. Digital signatures (e.g. DocuSign or SignRequest) help here to digitalize the classic signatures.

2.2 Meetings via Web

Meetings are now mainly implemented as web meetings. This with tools like zoom, Skype and teams.

2.3 Electronic collaboration tools

Electronic collaboration tools such as Slack, JIRA, Confluence or Sharepoint are currently in great demand.

2.4 New Work, Home Office, HR

New Work in particular is experiencing a major boost from the virus. This is how you should work in the home office. In addition, meetings are now held via the web (see above).

2.5 Production

In many companies, production cannot be run remotely. This should be quickly changed with IOT or IIOT. In addition, 3D printing is playing an increasingly important role (see above).

2.6. Impact on industries

2.6.1 HealthTech, Digital Health, e-Health

HealthTech, Digital Health, e-Health are getting a massive boost in their development. Here you can see that there is a lot to be gained by making the products “smart”, as with the clinical thermometers mentioned above. In addition, use cases can now be used for product development and can be further developed very quickly in an agile way.

2.6.2 Entertainment industry and art

The entertainment industry offers – due to the prohibition of events – concerts, theatre and readings on the internet. In Berlin clubs there is the movement “United we stream“. Other cities in Germany are currently founding offshoots of this movement.

In addition, many museums offer virtual tours museums.

2.6.3 Restaurants

Now the advantages of home deliveries are becoming apparent in the gastronomy scene. At the moment no meals can be taken in the restaurants. Therefore, delivery services are now essential for Slow food restaurants. So the crisis will bring other offers of GastroTech strongly forward.

2.6.4 Retail

The importance of online shops is now also becoming apparent for retail. This is because the retail trade is currently not allowed to open if they are not system relevant (such as food). It is now becoming clear that it is important to offer products online as quickly as possible. In addition, the crisis will bring RetailTech forward strongly.

2.6.5 Logistics

Some logistics companies are currently booming (if they supply the system relevant companies). This is where the companies that built on Logistics 4.0 early on have enormous advantages. Only then can the large fluctuations after transports be efficiently managed, tracked and provided as quickly as possible.

2.6.6 Education

Many educational institutions that previously had no digital solutions now have serious problems. Schools in particular are facing a major change, as only home schooling is now implemented throughout Germany. Despite the Digital Pact for Schools, the crisis has hit educational institutions unexpectedly hard. The Digital Pact has hardly been called up and, moreover, investments have been made mainly in hardware. Many still think primarily electronically, with materials being scanned and sent by email. More promising here are truly digital documents, web meetings, online tutorials, online learning platforms (such as Moodle), etc. . There is still a long way to go before this is implemented nationwide. However, the current federal government has already recognised the need for action here and has initiated online tutorials, for example.

Universities are already working more digitally. Some universities are already able to offer their educational services completely digitally.

2.7 Cryptocurrencies

Currently, the crypto currencies, such as Bitcoin or IOTA, are lagging behind expectations.

  • Bitcoin: Bitcoin has, according to many, now been adopted as a money substitute and is now considered “digital gold”. Here was the expectation that the Bitcoin price would rise or at least remain the same in the event of a crash as the so-called Store of Value (SoV). However, the price has also collapsed by about 35% (from about EUR 9,000 in mid-February to currently about EUR 6,000 at the beginning of April).
    This was mainly due to the fact that gold shops had to close and the purchase of physical, classic gold was no longer possible.
    Almost all countries are pumping massive amounts of money into the markets in order to avoid deflation, i.e. to achieve inflation. Thus, a flight to “safer” tangible assets such as real estate, gold, etc. would have been expected. However, this has not happened.

The reasoning behind this is that – contrary to the hopes of the central banks – we are already in a deflationary phase. This means that prices will fall briefly and then rise massively. Fiat money is becoming less and less valuable. So we can expect higher Bitcoin prices again soon. At least that is currently the case with classic gold.

  • IOTA: Also other Cyrpto currencies like IOTA, which are more of a money substitute, could not score with greater usage at the moment. This is probably due to the lack of market penetration, i.e. crypto currencies are still part of a tiny user base.

3. Outlook

Corona and the digitalization: With the latest developments, it should be clear that Corona will push the digitalization very much.

4. See also

Why this is interesting for a Chief Digital Officer (CDO)?
This topic is important for Chief Digital Officer (CDO) in healthcare, HealthTech, life sciences, etc. . Maybe CDOs in other industries can be inspired.
See also (glossary Digital Health): See also (glossary External Digitalization): See also (glossary Internal Digitalization): See also (glossary Big Data): See also (glossary Cloud): See also: See also (glossary Cryptocurrency): See also (glossary New Work): See also (glossary 3D ): See also (glossary Mobile): See also (glossary Digital Mindset)):

Jan

My name is Jan Puder (LinkedIn profile Jan Puder). I am the founder & CEO of the BusinessTech-Company. Me and the BusinessTech-Company want to push the digital frontier. This is the reason, why I started this website. I want to provide information about digital businesses, especially for Chief Digital Officers.

Latest posts by Jan (see all)