Virtual Schools

Going virtual for smaller kids is more of a challenge and probably further in the future for us. But during social distancing, many parents are realizing that schools are mostly serving the purpose of childcare.

High-quality online classes and tools for teaching kids are now available. Parents who have the flexibility to work from home (see next section), are finding it more productive to teach their kids at home. There is no stress of the early morning bus stop. Kids can get more sleep. And after-school is not needed.

Of course, the social bonding with other kids will be missing. But even that can be mitigated with group activities planned by school districts that teach virtually.

2. Remote Working And Business Trips After A COVID-19 Pandemic

Businesses have also been forced to allow telecommuting for almost all employees. Once you have a sustained taste of the flexibility that comes with this option, more people will want this in their future roles.

Physical offices may stay for a little longer. But the reduced costs of renting office buildings and improved connectivity tools for online video calls and meetings, will see a future in which employees whose jobs allow them to work remotely, essentially demanding this option.

Woman carrying her child and working at home on a laptop for how coronavirus will change the world of remote work.

Business Trips

The same with business trips. Usually more time is spent travelling than in the actual face-to-face meeting. Again, with the more rapid introduction of holographic conferencing, like TelePresence, we will see fewer business trips.

During the coronavirus crisis, extensive teleconferencing is the only option for business meeting with groups across geographic locations. What happens if many start to get a sense that the remote business interactions, in no big way hindered their ability to collaborate successfully? Also, given that travel budgets will be constrained for a sustained period, this will become a serious consideration.

3. Dominance Of Online Shopping And The Demise Of Malls

Online shopping for items like clothing and electronics reached its tipping point a while ago. Brick-and-mortar stores were hanging around more for sentimental reasons.

However, the coronavirus lockdown has meant that more people have done their basic grocery shopping online as well. Expect many of them to become more accepting of future online deliveries and pickup options. Life is busy enough, eliminating a trip to the store will have its benefits.

Person holding a red credit and shopping online on a laptop.

Also, don’t underestimate the influencing abilities of the online retailers. They will be in a better position to maintain their grasp on these newly-acquired customers. Now that they have their email addresses, it will be much easier to lure them back with discounts and other marketing techniques. The foot is in the door now.

4. How Coronavirus Will Change The World Of Automation And Artificial Intelligence

Colored wheels and gears to represent how automation will change our world after COVID-19.

We’ve already seen businesses start to adopt increased automation and AI. The coronavirus pandemic will change how other companies now approach digitization and automation. They will be forced to plan for how they can increase resilience in their supply chains and have better product traceability. And using automation to eliminate single point failure in factories.

Given that most restaurants are either shut down or doing take-out only, some have now begun use robotic food service. Thus, eliminating or reducing wait staff.

5. Telemedicine In A Post-Coronavirus World

Doctor in a white coat holding out her stethoscope.

The COVID-19 crisis will surely see a shift in the number of patients choosing remote medical consultations and follow-up appointments. During the lockdown, it’s the only option for most of us.

It would have been quite challenging to convince seniors to try out telemedicine. But being the most vulnerable of the population to the coronavirus, this may be their safest and possibly the only option left to them. And many of them are now using remote consulting in place of in-office doctor visits.

UPS and FedEx have both partnered with pharmacies like CVS to deliver medicines directly to patients homes via drones. Again, this is getting increased traction because of the fear that people, particularly seniors, have to going in person to the store during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Virtual Colleges

How Coronavirus Will Change The World Permanently: Tech’s Tipping Point

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