Effects of COVID-19: IT and Security
I’m watching and learning from global reaction to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. There’s no doubt that some countries have handled it better than others. Some have also had some “nasty surprises” …
The first effect that many of us may have noticed is a massive surge in demand for internet services as people have stayed at, and worked from, home (if they could). Their children have gone online for classes. Orders to supermarket and other online delivery platforms have skyrocketed. As a result, speed has slowed down for many as the “system” struggled to cope with unforeseen demand.
Teachers have had to deliver classes and courses online, sometimes with interesting results, as the Zoom class at a Singapore school found out. A very real problem was that the ability to take advantage of remote learning depends on bandwidth, familiarity of teachers with remote teaching devices and systems, pupils struggled to get access to bandwidth and even to PCs.
This creates a potentially new inequality of “internet have-nots”. Extending this from schools, other classes of people without access to internet, devices or both will also arise. The information age is not yet a universal blessing…
We can expect to see accelerated growth in the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and perhaps a corresponding increase in layoffs and furloughs as companies review their position and need for physically present workers. One sector where this is unlikely to happen is frontline healthcare.
The ability to work from home will from now on be critical. Laptops, mobiles, remote access, printer, one’s own space will be built into more corporate Business Continuity Plans. Distance working will become more the “norm” rather than the exception as it was before COVID-19 reared its head. Video conferencing will take over, (resulting in fewer business trips and less air pollution?)
On the security side, a host of cyber security issues will arise as more work remotely without the added protection of a centralised office and its firewalls, anti-virus software and on-site IT department.
With the rise in internet usage, service providers will need to work harder to ensure robust infrastructure (the servers, portals, cables, masts and other paraphernalia necessary to deliver service). The tiny country of Brunei experienced a brief but significant drop in services due to three of the five undersea cables in the region going down exactly when demand for internet services was surging...
Denials of service will also become a more serious threat. It’ll be much easier to cause significant damage by attacking “sensitive” or “critical service providers with viruses or other threats. Expect a growth in demand for cyber security experts.
With the increase in e-commerce, e-conferencing and e-interactivity generally, our increased dependence on technology will no doubt give rise to other, as yet unseen, threats. One such issue is that data gathering both for e-commerce and contact tracing may see more privacy concerns. Question: will people be more prepared to give up privacy to save lives?
Yes, we’re going to have to get used to a very different way of doing things.
It’s not all “doom and gloom”, however. but businesses that can adapt to the new “Tech-normal” will thrive. Demand for online goods delivery and for services of all sorts will increase. Online goods and service delivery will become much more common as people reduce their chance of becoming infected by ordering online, saving lives and creating new jobs.
With increased use of video conferencing and online deliveries, we should see less travel to supermarkets, meaning lower carbon emissions and a chance to repair our ozone layer.
The world is going to change – perhaps for the better?
I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With more than 20 years in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of services. For strategic questions that you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.
Labels: Crisis Management, Customer Care, Leadership, Productivity, Strategy, Teamwork
Effects of COVID-19: Leadership & Administration
I’m watching and learning from global reaction to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. There’s no doubt that some countries have handled it better than others. Some have also had some “nasty surprises” …
We’ve seen a lot of criticism (and some praise) for world governments. It may sound trite, but the spread of COVID-19 is unprecedented. The world has seen pandemics before and will see them again. What our journalists and media seem not to realise is that one plans based on the lessons of what happened before and what might happen next. The last is, frankly, unknown.
The last coronavirus was SARS and the WHO and medical fraternity did learn from that. The world was better placed to understand this kind of virus, but SARS-Cov-2 is different. Governments that locked down early seem to have done better than those who didn’t. The countries that had lived through SARS learnt lessons which allowed them to leap into action. “The most commonly uttered sentence in America at the moment is, ‘I’ve never seen something like this before.’ That wasn’t a sentence anyone in Hong Kong uttered.” said Ron Klain, the former Ebola czar.
A problem for many is that, in a democracy, one relies on the willingness of the electorate to follow what they see as “oppressive” rules (the UK and US are a case in point). Leaders also have to weigh the benefits of a total or partial lockdown against the effects in their economies - something that journalists “20/20 hindsight” don’t….
So what impacts are we seeing? To start with, persuading the population of a democratic country to stay at home voluntarily isn’t easy. Absent clear guidance from government, local officials, law enforcement agencies and businesses have been forced to take their own measures (as we were in our company).
Some want clear guidelines, then disagree with them. Some want to end lockdowns whilst others don’t. When it comes to lifting lockdowns, the advice should come from the medics, but it is government that decides. Even this is tricky, as parliaments can’t convene except by “remote”. And whatever politicians decide, someone will suffer…
As we have seen, we can expect shortages and will need to learn to improvise. Airbag makers are producing PPE, gin factories hand sanitiser, car manufacturers ventilators.
People will notice delays in issuing “government” documents, e.g. ID cards, driving licences, passports.
What will become vital is clear and unambiguous communication from government to people. The UK is seeing a number of complaints that the latest “Stay Alert” guidance is ambiguous, resulting in Ireland, Scotland and Wales doing their own thing…. Part of the problem here may also be a perceived lack of transparency in Westminster.
We may well expect to see “bigger government” in the shape of policing, loans to prop up business, price controls and mobile apps to trace people (among others). The question: will government give up its gains after the crisis?
Following bigger government, could we see more nationalisation of vital industries? Rather than privatise, government control of “essential services” (e.g. health, communications, etc) may be needed. However, in the words of Investvine (16 April 2020), “… the demonstrable need for expertise, competence, resilience, capacity and strength in government and the public sector during this time of crisis will render past clarion calls for the privatisation of all social services including public health; an unfettered private financial sector; laissez faire, free-market dominance in economic management and a conception of ‘value’ determined solely by price, to all look rather silly.”
Governments work based on a mixture of past experience, perception of a situation, laid-down administrative processes and concern for economic impact on their citizens. Some could be said to have “got it right”, others, horribly wrong. History will judge once the dust settles.
I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With more than 20 years in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of services. For strategic questions that you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.
Labels: Crisis Management, Leadership, Social, Strategy, Teamwork
Effects of COVID-19: Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
I’m watching and learning from global reaction to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. There’s no doubt that some countries have handled it better than others. Some have also had some “nasty surprises” …
We’ve all been hearing about the lack of medical supplies, along with the inevitable questions about “whose fault it is” (someone, after all, must be to blame). So what has happened in regarding medical supplies - or PPE - in particular?
According to The Economist Magazine (21 May ed.), China made half the world’s masks before the pandemic began. Because it had to close itself down, exports of PPE fell by 15%, year-on-year, in January and February 2020. Its production of masks actually increased 12-fold since the pandemic started, but much was diverted for its own use in hospitals and in factories where workers were returning to work.
Another problem was that, when demand surges, extra supply should usually be the result. Due to factory closures and grounding of aircraft, the supply of medical gear has not been able to expand at the unprecedented pace that is needed to keep up. Usually c. 50% of all air freight cargo (on some routes, up to 80%) travels in the holds of passenger planes that are no longer flying. Shipping lines, meanwhile, have cancelled sailings, dropped ports from their itineraries or cannot get into others due to fears of importing COVID-19…
Due to this, medical and care facilities are finding it difficult to meet standing guidelines for wearing and replacing of PPE as supplies are short. Some has to be changed after meeting each patient; others only after the end of each shift. Demand is said to have increased up to 20 times “normal” levels – and this is across the world, not just in any one country.
Several countries are using more conventional methods to keep hold of what they have. The European Union has restricted exports of essential goods to most non-members (some countries had even blocked exports to fellow members until the EU stepped in). The US President ordered restrictions on American exports of PPE in April, including respirators, masks and gloves. Such tactics risk starting a tit-for-tat “beggar-thy-neighbour” spiral.
As a result, we’ve seen alternative suppliers stepping in to make ventilators and PPE: for example, upholsterers and fashion labels make surgical scrubs; auto companies make ventilators, a gin factory in the UK is churning out hand sanitiser.
Adding to the challenge are reports that new shipments of PPE are substandard. Some Chinese-made equipment sent to Europe was rejected. China in response is now requiring exporters to meet importing countries’ standards before goods leave their factories, causing ever more delay.
Whilst we see first-hand the problems confronting the “developed” world, imagine those awaiting the developing and undeveloped world. With little or no domestic production capacity, they will rely on imports of PPE, rendering them hostage to producing countries’ limits on exports. Trade restrictions are also obstructing humanitarian aid, as agencies have to wrangle with governments to get equipment into countries where they are desperately needed.
The halting of the COVID-19 virus will only be the beginning. The recovery will take longer.
I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With more than 20 years in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of services. For strategic questions that you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.
Labels: Crisis Management, Leadership, Productivity, Strategy, Teamwork
