Technology Trends: Life After the Pandemic

The contagion of the coronavirus ultimately led to the development of various technological solutions that helped to limit the need for in-person or physical congregations. However, as we move out of this era of quarantine, these new virtual systems will continue to remain prevalent in our daily lives because people have grown to appreciate the efficiency of the contactless services.

Trend #1: Virtual Conferencing

In response to the restrictions of the pandemic, employees have turned to remote working and videoconferencing applications in order to continue their daily work responsibilities. One platform that gained immediate popularity was Zoom as the program hosts about 300 million daily meeting participants, exhibiting an increase of 2900% since December 2019. Zoom’s ability to host virtual meetings allows individuals to discuss necessary business matters while still adhering to the CDC guidelines. While Zoom dominates the teleconferencing industry, various new startups are also beginning to emerge onto the scene. For example, Bluescape is a digital collaboration platform that gives unlimited users the ability to access the same project and work together to create a finished product.

Trend #2: Telehealth

While the pandemic has increased the need for medical assistance but decreased the ability to hold in-person visits, telehealth visits have become exceedingly more common over the last year, growing by 50%. In terms of online healthcare visits in the United States, Forrester Research predicted that the number of these meetings will reach about a billion in the beginning of 2021. Not only does these virtual alternatives allow for patients to directly chat with doctors, but they also offer A.I. avatar-based diagnostics and contactless delivery for medication. While Teladoc Health, One Medical, and Amwell are some of the leading companies in the telehealth industry, additional startups, such as MeMD and MDLive, are also working to implement innovative technological solutions to healthcare problems during 2021.

Trend #3: Contactless Delivery

In addition to telehealth technologies, contactless shipping and delivery services will continue to remain prominent in society. In the United States, individuals’ preference for no-contact services has experienced a 20% increase due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Companies, such as Postmates, DoorDash, GrubHub, etc., all offer contactless delivery through their virtual applications. In order to increase the minimization of physical connections to an even greater extent, Meituan, a Chinese delivery platform, recently implemented autonomous vehicles to deliver items to the customers. These robotic delivery methods are projected to reach the United States as startup companies, such as Mann, Nuro, and Starship Technologies, are working with artificial intelligence-based technologies to develop seamless, autonomous delivery systems.

Trend #4: E-Learning

The impact of the coronavirus led 190 countries to mandate the closing of schools throughout the nation and left 1.6 billion people without physical access to education. Therefore, e-learning technologies began to flourish as teachers used different online and videoconferencing platforms to conduct their classes. Even as we enter into a time of less restriction, educators have actually developed a preference for some aspects of online education that they want to keep utilizing as part of their curriculum. Various organizations across the globe, such as 17zuoye in China, Byju in India, and Coursera in the United States, provide beneficial online learning services and seek to continue doing so in the future.