2020: Welcome To The Virtual World
“We have entered a new era.” — Jeff Goldblum, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
So as some of you may have heard, half of the country is already beginning to open again. The US is opening and trying to get the stock market to get back to its feet. Vietnam is already in this stage as they open schools slowly.
In my country, the government has announced that we will be able to go back to offices on 22 May 2020. Some people are excited, some are not.
Since the very first Corona case, everyone is forced to learn and work at home. It doesn’t matter what your profession is, we are forced to earn a living online. Take a look at social media or other platforms, we are doing everything online. From schools to work, because we had no choice.
But once this pandemic is over, will the activities we used to face be like it was before? Will it even be called normal again?
I spoke with a couple of my friends and acquaintances about this and I noticed something. With this pandemic, we have been doing something we have not been able to do for a long time, especially employees.
Once this is over, there will definitely huge changes. Particularly in these three…
1) Online businesses will double
Without even looking at the news, it’s actually everywhere now. I went to social media and everyone’s stories or posts are about their products, particularly food. Most of these people that I know aren’t even in the food business and suddenly, they are now.
I have friends who are doing this as their side hustles online and so far I have a feeling that they are doing far better than their actual work. I have no doubt that at this point, they have made a brand by themselves, making themselves known to the world. By the time this pandemic is over, I won’t be surprised that they will submit their resignation letters to the company.
Companies themselves are also doing what individuals are doing. They try to sell things virtually, work with other online shops, and just do what they can to keep the business alive without meeting with people face to face.
As for consumers, we too will find that buying online saves more time and costs rather than just travel to that place. We will have more and more people shop online, face to face may decrease, depending on the product.
And because people have found out that they can still make and spend money at home, then this will no doubt arise something else, leading to my next point…
2) More work from home
Now that everyone has a taste of what it’s like to work from home, no doubt that there will be more people asking whether they can do it again.
Before the pandemic, there were people asking to work freely. A survey was conducted by Zippia stating that 51% of workers prefer to work at home rather than come to the office. Now, imagine how this would increase after the pandemic. We know what it feels like, we would probably want it again. I certainly do.
We save costs and time when we work from home. For instance, I don’t have to wake up early and change to a fancy dress to the office, I can just wake up whenever I want and do the work whenever I please. So in a way, for people who didn’t open a business, it’ll feel like it is their business because they are free to make their schedule.
I am certainly one of these people. I prefer working at home rather than going to the office. I find myself more creative and productive in doing so, I don’t want to go back to the office. Why? Here is an article I wrote about it…
While at home, we are free to do things ourselves as long as the result is there. Plus, we get to spend more time on ourselves. In fact, studies have shown that people who work from home are more productive than the ones who do.
3) Web securities will be in demand
Of course, when the sheeps gathered, that’s when the wolf strikes. Crimes have shifted to cybercrimes.
Just a few weeks ago, an online website from Jakarta, Tokopedia was hacked. More than 15 million accounts were hacked, exposing the private data of users, particularly on bank accounts. Even Zoom became a suspicious platform to use, afraid that hackers could gain access to what we show to the user on the other side, especially financial statements.
When the two things stated above increased, then so will the hackers in the world. As things are getting into the virtual world slowly, the number of cybercrime will also increase. I had to change my password so that these hackers wouldn’t come back. I made sure that I kept my debit cards out of the system.
If you are a programmer reading this, be prepared to create a program that can ward these hackers off. I guarantee you guys will earn big bucks in the process. You will be in demand.
Overall…
Notice that everything depends on technologies:
- Online business will double.
- More work from home.
- Web securities will be in demand.
We don’t know when will this pandemic be over. However, it certainly shifted the way we behave already. Many of us had to go through extreme changes to get through this.
For business owners, I don’t think I have to point out that you are all relying on the virtual world as I write this. However, after this pandemic, if you want to keep your employees, you may want to keep these in mind.
Remember, a company can stan because there are humans working on it.
Some people had already taken the blows from these effects, and it didn’t exactly come pretty. Some went out of business, some are unemployed, the economy is ruined, everything just paused. And we don’t know when will we be able to press the play button again. Thus, we rely on technologies to keep ourselves alive.
And because of the pandemic trauma, we are entering a new era. An era where if we don’t use technologies at its fullest, we won’t be able to catch up.
Welcome to the Virtual World.
I hope you learn something here.
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