SaaS to restore primacy of software

Asoke K Laha, President & MD, Interra Information Technologies

Remember the unprecedented event of 28 March 2020, when the whole nation was abruptly shut down and people were confined to their homes for months? There were repercussions on a much wider scale, and it took some time for everyone to adopt the new normal. The market economy, educational institutions, and the industry sector took the biggest hit which still haunt and affect them today even after two years. 

The deadly pandemic hit us out of the blue when a novel virus was first identified during an outbreak in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. Attempts to contain it there failed, allowing the virus to spread worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 30 January 2020, issued the official name Covid-19 on 11 February 2020 and a pandemic on 11 March 2020. As of 1 July 2022, the pandemic had caused more than 547 million cases and 6.33 million confirmed deaths, making it one of the deadliest in history. 

With offices and schools shutting down, people took the opportunity to spend quality time with their close and beloved ones. Concurrently, Covid – 19 dealt a heavy blow to the students too. It brought significant disruptions to education across the globe. Though the initiatives like online classrooms and radio programs started, they could not match up with that of a physical classroom. 

Considering the perpetuity of the crisis, a large proportion of the workforce became unable to commute to work, to mitigate the spread of the virus. This persuaded companies to initiate the work-from-home (WFH) concept. Home working opened a new range of possibilities for the way businesses can work and structure themselves. It enabled more agility and flexibility in working arrangements. WFH also eliminated the commute hours that could be stressful for employees. 

When millions of people were being forced to stay home to help stop the spread of COVID-19, dozens of video conferencing services rose to the brim to break down the geological barriers and foster the ability to work and socialize relatively seamlessly. Apps like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet saw record-level growth during the whole pandemic phase. For the twelve months ended January 31, 2021, Zoom's revenue amounted to $2.65 billion, up more than 300 percent from just $623 million the previous year. But due to its time limitation, people started seeking alternatives. At that time, Google Meet appeared. The Meet was originally a tool for businesses and was part of Google’s G Suite enterprise solution. But as video chat apps like Zoom took off during the lockdown period, Google announced on April 29, 2020, that it was making Meet available for free to everyone with a Google account. Meanwhile, Microsoft Teams too continued to grow a lot.

The pandemic which on one hand caused social upheaval also encouraged the medical sector and the IT sector to boom. Due to the implementation of WFH, the cost of the company was reduced automatically. Even after the end of the lockdown, people are refusing to join the offices as they have become quite adaptive to the WFH environment and are performing equally well as one does at the office. This didn’t hinder the growth of the IT industry and it continued offering solutions and innovations for the domestic and global clientele. 
Even after the fall in the economy, compared to many other industries, the IT industry is expected to have an enormous market boom from US$ 131 Billion in 2020 to US$ 295 Billion in the next five years by 2025. The main reason for this increase in the economy for this industry is the increased demand for software and social media platforms such as Google Hangouts, WhatsApp Video call, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams. Due to the coronavirus, a lot of opportunities opened in the IT industry, such as the growing need for the 5th generation (5G) technology. Telehealth is one of the developing industries in the crisis. This could help people to get diagnosed, treated, and operated without the need for a physician to be physically present. A lot of apps have been built in the past few months to help achieve this. Many patients are in self-quarantine and need medical supervision and medical assistance every day, and these applications could help them achieve that. There are a few threats too, such as after the pandemic is over what would happen to the IT sector? Experts in this industry feel that it will not be able to stabilize after the downfall, unlike the 2008 global economic and financial meltdown. Back then, the central banks helped to improve the stability of the market, but now even the central banks are helpless.

The home entertainment sector is the beneficiary of all the travel bans, mandated self-quarantines for returning travellers, and social-distancing measures. Online streaming has come to the rescue as sports venues and movie theatres are shuttered. Social media influencers, immersive games, and dating apps are also gaining new groups of users as people look for more ways to interact with the outside world from home. In February, the social video app TikTok was the most popular non gaming app. It’s likely to have short-run growth, due to the demand surge; the trend already began prior to the pandemic and will continue to grow in the long run.

The crisis has increased the demand for medical supplies and care. The global outbreak has made every country painfully aware of the limits of its healthcare systems. As many people are losing jobs in this global recession, it becomes even harder for them to afford healthcare and to fight the virus. Potential lies in virtual healthcare services, especially portable, artificial intelligence-reliant medical devices and apps that will make individual healthcare and diagnosis more immediate and accessible to the public. Long-term growth may be possible if governments shift their focus to investing more in preparing for the next pandemic event. To reduce the probability of spreading the virus, no-contact practices will be championed by some in society — and that creates room for innovation and creativity in products that support no-contact and make less contact more bearable for humans. Notes and coins carry germs, and this crisis has only made people more aware that hard cash can be a vehicle for pathogens. The pandemic has led some countries to take measures to prevent people from physical exposure to cash, even quarantining money. With the World Health Organization and other experts actively encouraging contactless payments, the pandemic could be a catalyst to move us one step closer to digital exclusion and a cashless society. These technologies would also help to eradicate the travel needed to make money transfers and reduce human contact. 

Given the scale of disruption caused by the pandemic, it is evident that the current downturn is fundamentally different from recessions. The sudden shrinkage in demand & increased unemployment is going to alter the business landscape. Adopting new principles like ‘shift towards localization, cash conservation, supply chain resilience and innovation’ will help businesses in treading a new path in this uncertain environment.

While we generally focus on the anomalous levels of growth in the ICT industry, we tend to neglect the other social concerns. Like, with manufacturing and air travel grinding to a halt, the planet has had a chance to rejuvenate. The disengagement of humans and nature reduced the carbon emissions globally resulting in the return of biodiversity. Another upside of the crisis was the sense of community and social cohesion. The nations which often found ways to be belligerent with one another, came closer and showed grave concern for each other. So, in the wake of Covid – 19, while we might have witnessed the cascade of horrible events, we also witnessed a serious search for new harmony, new technology, new lifestyle which should be sustained beyond the pandemic.