IoT Impact: The pandemic propeller effect

With the advent of the pandemic, we notice some its laminating effects on technologies that are on the rise. More optimistically, we can begin to see the silver lining COVID-19 has had on technologies – more specifically the positive impact on the Internet of Things (IoT).

The year 2020 will set out to be a case study for years to come, that exemplifies how the pandemic can rapidly increase the development and deployment of technologies.

We now take a close look at how the coronavirus IoT impact.

IoT powering work from home (WFH)

An IoT system is comprised of four main components, Sensors, Networks, Cloud, and Applications (SNCA), the current pandemic has propelled the implementation and adoption of IoT with the shift towards WFH.

While we moved our offices to the security of our homes, the technology supporting us was none other than IoT (not to discredit any other tech) as it enables workers to perform vital tasks remotely – without having to be physically present.

This opens up companies and employees to a plethora of new features such as saving up time on home-work commuting, allows companies to save physical space, and broadened recruitment making anyone from any part of the world a potential recruit.

Moving forward, IoT connected devices will certainly prove to be a bedrock foundation for WFH especially with working from your pajama is the new norm now.

Blockchain and IoT: Wish you made it sooner

Blockchain allows for the sharing of any transaction or information to occur in real time, between the concerned parties that are represented as nodes in the blockchain in a secure method.

Let’s assume that the World Health Organization had deployed a blockchain network prior to the pandemic, WHO would have had the ability to represent countries as nodes, whereby all hospitals in said country would be connected allowing for the real time sharing of information about any disease.

This would have greatly aided us in picking up on the pandemic initially, furthermore we would have probably seen improvements to travel bans and restrictions freeing up airports sooner than expected.

What is currently happening is every country is fighting the pandemic independently, what would have happened is the pandemic would have been restricted to fewer countries and on a much smaller scale. 

IoT impact in this case would have potentially saved us all a lot of pain and suffering.

IoMT

Probably the greatest IoT impact during the pandemic is witnessed explicitly in the rise of telemedicine. The strenuous pressure placed on healthcare systems worldwide helped highlighting shortcomings that were properly addressed.

Globally, healthcare institutes are experiencing difficulties in giving medical care while reducing the risk of exposure – enter IoMT or the Internet of Medical Things.

IoMT bundled together with all the nifty tech such as cloud technologies and AI can offer the ability to help healthcare professionals in remotely monitoring their patients, accessing medical data, and offering treatment from a remote location.

This is all made possible with devices such as smart thermometers, wearables, track and trace apps, and smart medical devices.