How cloud can accelerate post-Covid-19 economic recovery

In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic has had a major impact on people’s lives around the world. In response, many enterprises are accelerating digital transformation and maintaining business and production continuity through remote work and online collaboration. Cloud-based collaboration software became ubiquitous during the epidemic, allowing billions of teleconferences to be held worldwide every day. Technology is critical to the survival of businesses, according to a new study by research institution Global Data, with more than 80 per cent of executives saying cloud computing and networks are key to helping their businesses get through the crisis.

In fact, the perception that is emerging is that entrepreneurs have experienced a ‘digital enlightenment’ during the epidemic. In the post- epidemic era, all industries will accelerate digital transformation, either actively or passively, to better adapt to future market challenges.

Healthcare has always been an important industry for everyone, especially this year. Cloud computing and AI technologies have been widely used by medical staff in the fight against the epidemic. Researchers are also using cloud computing-based AI technologies to analyse vaccines in the US, Europe, and Asia, which can effectively shorten the vaccine development process. With increasingly developed communication technologies, patients can access the healthcare cloud anytime and anywhere to obtain transparent, customisable, and cost-effective solutions and evaluate outcomes. Cloud computing is helping the healthcare industry move towards value-driven and consumer-centric patient care.

The transport industry is also a very typical example. Under the tide of economic globalisation, large cities are becoming an important part of the world’s urban system serving as production hubs, science and technology centres, educational and cultural hubs and world trade centres. However, with the influx of population, large cities face more and more challenges in traffic management, which are difficult to solve by traditional means.

In many large global cities, traffic management departments are trying to improve the situation by using various technologies, including updating intelligent traffic sensing devices to obtain clearer and more accurate traffic data. Building a unified traffic management system based on a cloud computing platform can coordinate the handling of traffic signals and emergency cases.

Using multiple connection technologies, including 5G, will also optimise data connections between traffic sensing devices and the traffic management system, ensuring that massive data can be aggregated and analysed in a timely manner. Advanced AI analysis algorithms can, in turn, analyse and support decision-making for congestion prediction, route analysis, and traffic signal control, and decision-making suggestions could be sent to the traffic control department and frontline traffic police through the network. The integration of these new technologies effectively improves the urban transportation environment.

In addition to improving benefits for traditional industries and large-scale enterprises, emerging digital technologies such as cloud computing and AI will also provide new opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises to improve operation efficiency, promote innovation, expand market and financing channels, and facilitate remote operations during the epidemic. In the Middle East, SMEs account for more than 90 per cent of the total size of enterprises and contribute 70 per cent of GDP. Helping SMEs accelerate digital transformation will bring significant benefits to local economic development.

Post-pandemic, as businesses move towards driving sustained growth, they must focus on the three main areas that shaped the trend this year: remain consumer-oriented; gain business independence, and ensure intelligent delivery. These trends will have a greater impact when combined, and businesses must focus on meeting social and individual needs around the globe for optimal practice.

Digital transformation is entering the next stage as “intelligence”, which is the key strategy for the future development of global cities, industries and enterprises. Research by Gartner shows that the need for business resilience has never been more intense. CIOs are trying to adapt to changing circumstances and design future-oriented businesses. This requires that the organisation be sufficiently intelligent, reorganised and reformed.

The intelligent business architecture and ‘anywhere’ operations mode that is implemented based on the cloud computing platform, AI, 5G, and IoT technologies is the key to future enterprise development. Only companies that take advantage of the combination of these technologies for continuous digital transformation will have the chance to thrive over the next few years.