Digitalization is our modern-day social distancing tool

The COVID-19 pandemic changed the course for all businesses in the world. The pandemic is in itself, created a path with which businesses and organizations should follow to achieve their desired goals; not only on big business but also a good impact on small and medium businesses too.

Organizations that respond to this call will remain in business and those not will surely fade out in the not too distant near future. What is it all about that the pandemic has brought and what changes are businesses and public health advocates forced to adhere to going forward?

When the pandemic hit the world in 2019, news from other media houses was that grocery stores became ghost towns, drivers and conductors of commercial vehicles had their lives at the gates of our cemeteries because they were receivers of different kinds of contaminated currencies from passengers; and their constant communication within the enclosed vehicle was troubling, simply because one could spread the virus within close range.

The business industry which has to do with one-on-one meetings got scrapped; both necessary and unnecessary international travels of government officials on state purse got reduced drastically – guess what! The same meetings which our officials say, cannot be done virtually actually turned out to be false. Zoom meetings were the order of the day and same negotiations and resolutions were reached just like in person meetings.

Digitalization Post Covid-19 is the way forward

There is no disputing fact that Covid-19 is pushing businesses towards digitization. The lockdown of Ghana during Covid-peak is in itself a testament to promoting digital businesses as processes by the use of a few taps on your mobile handset gets your transaction through with ease. During the lockdown of countries, the global economy was badly hit and the only way out of the woods is digital technology. There was the need for people to socially distance themselves with extra protective gear -- nose marks. It is realized that no matter how social-distancing individuals have observed, the virus turns to penetrate through. So the best way is to digitally distance ourselves.

Work from Home Policy

One major hurdle Ghana has been through during the covid-peak-days till date is the lack of capacity and technology to have a larger portion of the workforce work at home. Without digital competency, the government can’t institute a “work from home policy”. Without such a policy, productivity will be affected. For instance, during covid-peak-days teachers were asked to go home; schools got closed down and students stayed home for months without tuition.

In countries where digital technology takes lead in their policy formulation, teaching and learning would go on uninterrupted because of digital technology. I have always been an advocate for digital technology to lead the way in our national policy discourse and truly, we must all come together in support of the government’s drive to digitalize respective sectors of our economy. As much as some of us are in a haste to see Ghana fully immersed in the digital world, we need not lose side of the “demons and principalities” interrupting the digital space for their own interests.

Digi Health

The healthcare industry is a critical sector that has seen a rise and companies having productions and services in the industry have hit more profits during covid-peak-days than ever before. However, the cost of digitalization kept many businesses from achieving their feet during such a troubling and booming time as well.

Digital technology will help the sick to identify nearby healthcare centers which have space to accommodate a patient; people will be able to book and get a bed assigned before getting to the hospital; booking appointments with a doctor will be made easy and getting prescriptions and purchases of medicines are all made simple through digitalization. This, in itself, is a social distancing tool to curb the spread of Covid-19.

In a world of digihealth, provisions could be made for doctors to get patients treated in their homes through a property address system. This will help in no small way to curb the pandemic. Digitalization provides a way to make a business more productive by increasing operational efficiency. Examples are: Smartsheet, Bamboo HR (which allows SMBs to track important employee data and store it in a human resources information system) A1 tracker (for Incident Reports) Process Street (business process management tool that allows businesses to create, track, and manage workflows) and many more.

No doubt that digital technology has created a phenomenal impact all over the world. Digital transformation will stick after post-Covid-19. Without digital competence, all other to-dos are highly inefficient, because of misunderstandings and emotional tensions due to different points of view.

For Ghana to have a smooth leapfrogging space towards immersing herself into the digital world, big changes have to be made and they require wise political decisions coupled with the participation of all well-meaning Ghanaians.