Innovative Keys for Businesses
Ready for the Future According to scholars (Taalbi, 2017), a large number of recent and past innovations and technological advancements are enabled or created by distinct occurrences or disasters, allowing for novel technological possibilities. For instance, the United States Department of Defense developed the internet during the height of the Cold War because it was concerned about Soviet dominance in space technology (Lemonaki, 2020). After the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, notable changes were made to the housing system, protective gear, and healthcare systems, as well as innovations in great art and music as a result of previous plagues or pandemics (McDonald, 2020). In addition, innovations like the commercialization of penicillin, advancements in trauma treatment, skin grafts, blood transfusion, and technological advancements in microwaves, radar technology, ENIAC computers, among others, were made in the wake of the Second World War (National WWII Museum). The modernization of research in fields such as robotics, advanced manufacturing, digital technologies, and artificial intelligence, as well as the incorporation of their equivalent applications into conventional industries and activities led to the outbreak of the coronavirus (Zimmerling & Chen, 2021). The pandemic has imposed restrictions that have had an impact on daily life, stopped educational activities, and affected both large and small businesses as well as governmental organizations. Researchers have predicted that the pandemic will be an impetus for global innovation and the new normal, with some of these innovations demonstrating the potential for long-term changes (Zimmerling & Chen, 2021). Innovative Change for Businesses Ready for the Future The global community is currently exhibiting signs of acclimatization to the new normal. However, it is essential that it examines current innovations in a variety of businesses and industries that have the potential to cause a long-term technological shift, as has been demonstrated by previous crises and pandemics (Zimmerling & Chen, 2021). 4.1.1 Tools for the Digital Age A general pressing need to maintain a sense of sanity and normalcy during the lockdown prompted the innovative implementation and utilization of digital technologies by means of the restrictions and guidelines requiring workplaces, businesses, schools, and other non-essential organizations to retire (Hsiang et al.). 2020). Telemedicine is one digital tool that has benefited from these events (Ohannessian et al.). 2020). According to Ohannessian et al., telemedicine, which was once thought of as a shared virtual communication between a patient and a healthcare provider that used software and visual and audio devices, has evolved into a means of providing ongoing healthcare and reducing the risks associated with the pandemic. 2020). Innovative approaches to expanding the scope of telemedicine, such as virtual visits for mental health, have emerged as a result of the pandemic. Ohannessian et al 2020). The mitigation and monitoring of the virus have been enhanced by combining these ideologies with digital platforms and devices (smart wearable healthcare, SWH). States in nations like China, Israel and Italy has utilized these advances during the pinnacle of the pandemic; with China utilizing cell phones, facial acknowledgment cameras to screen and distinguish infection with a populace (Brem, 2020). Digital technologies have also made internet streaming and virtual communication applications much better. This has changed videoconferencing, online education, online exams, online gaming, and so on. (Brem, 2020).