There’s always blessing in disguise, which is what I learn from theory. But when it comes to the implications of COVID-19, I know that blessing is always in disguise, but not without a partiality.
As someone who’s been working from home almost for four years now, I didn’t feel any significant shift in my daily routine since the work-from-home policy kicked off. If anything, what I experience for the past one and a half month is superiority because I’ve been doing this far longer than all of the other amateurs (ha).
Suddenly, 2020 is the year where people are forced to make do with the technology they have been taking advantage of. More than before, we’ve collectively come to the realisation that our lives have become dependent entirely on technology today and we’ve been making too light of the matter.
That’s also one of many reasons this whole matter is still a blessing in disguise, solely for people with access to the internet and proper computers.
For an underserved community, that’s not the case. The virus has left them debilitated and technology has impaled their livelihood and for children, their education.
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development released its analysis that maps the changing digital landscape since the last major global calamity, the 2008-09 financial crisis. It looks at how a digitally-enabled world is working for some, but not all equally.
How coronavirus puts digital gaps on the surface
According to its analysis, COVID-19 reveals the need to bridge the digital divide. The coronavirus speeds up the transition to a digital economy while exposing the digital gap between countries and societies.
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The analysis also notes that the global crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic has pushed us further into a digital world, and changes in behaviour are likely to have lasting effects when the economy starts to pick up. But not everyone is ready to embrace a more digitised existence.
Since the 2008-09 financial crisis, the world has started to look at how a digitally-enabled world is working for some, but not all equally. The inequality still continues today, and isolation made things hard on people with no access.
According to the analysis, the coronavirus crisis has accelerated the uptake of digital solutions, tools, and services, speeding up the global transition towards a digital economy.
However, it has also exposed the wide chasm between the connected and the unconnected, revealing just how far behind many are on digital uptake.
“Inequalities in digital readiness hamper the ability of large parts of the world to take advantage of technologies that help us cope with the coronavirus pandemic by staying at home,” said Shamika Sirimanne, UNCTAD’s Director ( Technology and Logistics).
Those who thrive
The analysis provides snapshots of how technology is being used as a critical tool in maintaining business and life continuity.
Measures to contain the coronavirus pandemic have seen more businesses and governments move their operations and services online to limit physical interaction to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Digital platforms are also thriving as consumers seek entertainment, shopping opportunities, and new ways of connecting during the crisis.
“There are incredible positives emerging that show the potential of a digitally transformed world,” notes Sirimanne.
Digitalisation allows telemedicine, telework, and online education to proliferate. It is also generating more data on the expansion of the virus and helping information exchanges for research.
There has been a leap in teleworking and online conferencing, amplifying the demand for online conferencing software such as Microsoft Teams, Skype, Cisco’s Webex, and Zoom, the analysis says.
According to Microsoft, the number of people using its software for online collaboration climbed nearly 40 per cent in a week.
In China, the use of digital work applications from WeChat, Tencent, and Ding took off at the end of January when lockdown measures started to take effect.
Other benefits include using Artificial Intelligence to help find a cure and a significant shift to e-commerce, benefitting small and big businesses alike.
Those who suffer
However not all technology companies are profiting and there are some serious consequences of the rush to online platforms. These include mounting security and privacy concerns, according to UNCTAD.
The fast-paced shift towards digitalisation is likely to strengthen the market positions of a few mega-digital platforms, the analysis finds.
This finding is concluded in UNCTAD’s 2019 Digital Economy Report, which pointed out that the world’s top seven digital platforms already accounted for two-thirds of the value of digital platforms globally in 2017.
They have benefitted from network effects and from their ability to extract, control, and analyse data, then transform it into digital intelligence that can be monetised.
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“This situation will now be amplified as more people come or are forced online due to the coronavirus crisis,” said Torbjörn Fredriksson, UNCTAD’s digital economy head. “Those that do not have access are at risk of being left further behind as digital transformation accelerates, especially those in least developed countries.”
The least developed countries (LDCs) are the most vulnerable to the human and economic consequences of the pandemic, and they also lag farthest behind in digital readiness.
Economists of the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (INDEF) said in a piece in The Jakarta Post that, based on its gross national income (GNI) per capita and parameters of social development, among other factors, Indonesia should still be considered a developing country. Although not in the LDCs category, the fact that Indonesia’s GNI (Gross National Income) per capita of US$3,840 in 2018 — compared to high-income economies that are at a GNI per capita of US$12,376 — makes Indonesia to still be considered a lower-middle-income economy.
In most developing countries, well below five per cent of the population currently buys goods or services online. This poses questions of how the rest of 95 per cent of the population copes with the COVID-19’s limitation.
Lack of Internet access at home also limits connectivity, cramping, for example, the possibilities for students to be connected if schools are closed. “The education gap may also expand in developing countries, compounding inequalities,” said Sirimanne.
Low broadband quality hampers the ability to use teleconferencing tools. Mobile data costs also remain expensive across the developing world.
Hope for development
The coronavirus pandemic’s ability to show fractures can, hopefully, be turned into an opportunity, said Sirimanne. “More developing countries are exploring e-commerce and other digital solutions that can help build local resilience to future shocks.”
The main policy takeaway from the analysis is that much more attention should be given to bridging existing and emerging digital divides to allow more countries to take advantage of digitalisation.
However, doing so in such a short amount of time while containing the outbreak is something that’s next to impossible. What all of this restriction and the possible impact to the technologically vulnerable are what can prepare us next to make sure there’s even distribution for connection, because digital disruptions are the new normal today.
New policies and regulations are needed to ensure a fair distribution of the gains from digital disruptions.
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“If left unaddressed, the yawning gap between under-connected and hyper-digitised countries will widen, thereby exacerbating existing inequalities. As with the coronavirus crisis and other development challenges, the world will need a coordinated multilateral response to deal with the challenge of digitalisation,” she added.
“This situation has significant development implications that cannot be ignored. We need to ensure that we do not leave those who are less digitally equipped even further behind in a post-coronavirus world,” Sirimanne concluded.
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Photo by Rene Bernal on Unsplash
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