Top 10 Post-Covid Trends to Watch Out for in 2021

admin / August 23, 2021

Post-Covid Trends

The Covid-19 pandemic put the whole world at a standstill. The death toll was scary, and not just a single country but the world was affected by it. 

Apart from the fatal casualties worldwide, businesses too suffered a lot, especially small and medium enterprises. Firing employees, shutting down businesses, and cutting salaries have become customary in pandemic days. 

While I am writing this, the second wave of the Covid-19 is still active in many countries, damaging their economies and ruining their lives. It is a disaster we never expected, which has left a permanent mark in the pages of history with blood, pain, and misery. 

However, thankfully, some positive aspects are worth discussing during these worrisome days. We have seen some technology trends that have helped businesses carry on their operations uninterrupted and helped survive during this period. 

This post discusses some of the technology trends we have witnessed during the pandemic and will rule the world in the post-Covid years. 

Let’s get started! 

1. The eCommerce industry will witness a paradigm shift. 

People were more interested in buying things online than visiting malls or shopping centers during the pandemic, resulting in a massive spike in eCommerce website visits. 

Though online shopping offers convenience, ease; and is time and cost-effective too. However, we never relied on it in the past. Having those window shopping experiences and the convenience of touching the products before buying always encouraged us to visit malls. 

Things changed drastically. However, if you want to try the product before buying, it can be possible with the technologies such as telepresence, augmented, and virtual realities. The businesses are now hiring an eCommerce development company to develop a website that offers such an immersive experience to visitors before making up their minds. 

Don’t be shocked if you find a car-selling company offering a digital, 3D driving experience to you while you enjoy coffee on the couch. It will be a regular thing. 

2. Artificial Intelligence will rule the world. 

If you are scared of AI, being a potential threat that will steal your job, relax! 

AI has no plan to play with your career, but it will support employees to perform operations more efficiently and effectively. It will encourage human augmentation at work instead of becoming its substitute. 

Different technologies such as machine learning, OCR (Object Character Recognition), Big Data, AR, VR, Natural Language Processing, and Deep Learning are technologies that we can keep under the roof of AI. 

These technologies will give insightful information and data to employees by performing throughout analyses of daily operations and business processes. As a result, employees would be able to make better business decisions with the help of AI. 

3. Significant changes will develop in retail.

Another industry that has suffered massively in the pandemic is retail. Due to lockdowns in almost all major countries, retail shops, malls, and shopping complexes were closed for nearly 3 to 4 months, affecting revenues and profits. 

However, buying online is just the initial stage of the total transformation of the retail industry. The retail industry has to offer personalized services to their customers to ensure that they look up to them while buying products or services. It can be made possible with technologies such as the Internet of Behaviors and computer vision. 

Furthermore, contactless sales mode will replace cashiers and store consultants in retail shops. Experts believe that a direct-to-direct-to-customer model will replace the intermediaries such as stores. Retail outlets and shops will develop more advanced collaboration and communication technologies to engage and interact with their customers. 

4. Welcome, clean, green, and lean energy 

Energy sustainability is a trending topic nowadays. People across the globe now understand the crucial importance of sustainable energy and its surging need. 

The co-founder and president of Dandelion Energy, Kathy Hannun, said: 

“I think there has been a shift in the way people are thinking about this, partly because while climate change has been a conversation for a long time, it is becoming very real now.”

The company recently replaced ACs and furnaces with geothermal heat pumps to cut carbon emissions and fossil fuels. 

Moreover, other companies have developed ideas and practices to make the world safer, stable, and livable with sustainable energy options. 

5. The world now takes efficient supply chain management seriously.

Explaining the vital importance of efficient supply chain management is the significant gain of the pandemic. The pandemic has just revealed how vulnerable supply chains are. We need to do something concrete to develop a highly streamlined, efficient, and effective supply chain to meet the demands. 

Supply chain and logistics companies are coming up with advanced technologies to improve the capacity and efficiency of supply chains. For example, BionicHIVE, a logistic startup, is now turning warehouses into robotic logistics hubs. 

The CEO of the company, Ilan Reingold, revealed, “The pandemic has more than doubled the inflation rate of e-commerce from 15% annually before 2020, to almost 40% today, with significant impact across the supply chain. As a result, supply chains must evolve in efficiency, capacity, and agility.”

Logistics companies use cognitive learning, AI, and robotics to make the supply chains more intelligent, agile, and quick. 

 6. Digital and Contactless Payments are new cash. 

Do you remember how people hesitated to touch cash when we offered it to them during the Covid-19 pandemic? The popular belief was that money might carry the virus. Though many banks take specific measures to ensure that currency notes are sanitized before they go into circulation, contactless payments will rule the world after this. 

Credit and debit cards, e-wallets, and other digital payment methods will surely take charge of transactions. People can make online purchases, pay for their goods and services and receive funds in their accounts easily with these digital payment methods. It is one of the most noticeable technology trends we have seen during the pandemic. 

However, as per the World Bank report, more than 1.7 billion people don’t have bank accounts. Furthermore, digital payments also need an active internet connection, mobile or desktop devices, and a network. So we need to do something about this to make it familiar. 

7. Remote Work is the new working approach. 

Thanks to various technologies, the new work from home concept was possible during the pandemic. Tools and technologies like Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), Voice Over Internet Protocols (VoIP), cloud computing, communication and collaboration tools, virtual meetings apps, and others have been helpful to make the work from home concept successful. 

Remote working was a new concept when launched, but it has become the norm in many companies. Businesses now understand that the idea can work well in their favor as they don’t have to spend on office overhead costs. 

It will surely bring more flexibility to the working pattern. But, in addition to that, it is a welcome concept that also offers employees a chance to spend more time with their loved ones. 

8. Distance Learning is a new norm. 

As per the report, 191 countries closed down their schools or universities due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It affects 1.57 billion students across the globe. 

However, the good thing is that they have started distance learning programs for students to ensure uninterrupted education. 

Some facilities have taken the help of digital technologies to facilitate their students with distance learning, and some hired an e-Educational development company to make their learning education software. Technologies that helped the distance learning concept are communication and collaboration tools such as Zoom and Google Meet, Virtual reality, augmented reality, 3D printing, 

AI-enabled robot teachers. 

9. Telehealth is a growing phenomenon. 

The global healthcare industry is focusing on Telehealth which has been one of the biggest technology trends. Pharma and healthcare companies invest billions of dollars in developing telehealth solutions that help contain the spread of Covid-19 and reach out to patients with immediate care. 

Furthermore, enough research has been carried out for healthcare data recording and sharing seamlessly among stakeholders to offer immediate healthcare solutions to patients. For example, advanced wearable personal IoT devices are developed to track body vitals and exchange data among doctors or hospitals. 

10. Online Entertainment

People turned to online entertainment when malls, amusement parks, theatres, cinema halls, and other luxuries were out of reach. As a result, on-demand Over the Top platforms such as Netflix has seen a massive spike in their subscriptions. 

Also, there are museums and international heritage sites that have started offering virtual tours to people. Even online gaming traffic has seen a surge during the pandemic.

One thing is for sure. People love entertainment, and when they can’t go outside, they will find other means to have their entertainment dose.  

Conclusion 

We have witnessed ten technology trends in this Covid-19 pandemic that will keep ruling the world in the upcoming years. 

Some of these trends were unknown before the pandemic struck us but now have become an integral part of our lives, such as virtual meetings, work from home concept, and many more. 

These technology trends have helped people and governments contain the coronavirus while performing our day-to-day operations easily and conveniently. 


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