Info Image

Leveraging Technology to Mitigate and Manage Through This Pandemic

Leveraging Technology to Mitigate and Manage Through This Pandemic Image Credit: Keysight Technologies, Inc

For better or for worse, technology has been playing a significant role in the current COVID-19 pandemic. First by driving physical connections worldwide, and then by supporting virtual human connections and remote medical response.

Take, for example, the technological innovations of the 20th century that helped drive physical connection and supported broad community prosperity. Advancements in electronics, automation, and IT systems in the mid-1900s helped spur the mass production and creation of infrastructure in support of global transport technologies like the automotive, commercial aviation, cruise and high-speed rail industries. These technologies made access to far-off places more viable for the everyday person and the world became a seemingly smaller place.

In the latter part of the 1900s the Internet enabled data connections across the planet, and the advent of the World Wide Web, with the first Internet search engines, brought global data access to the masses. This enabled easier worldwide communications and helped speed global business expansions.

These 20th century technologies propelled globalization and prosperity and eased the path toward prolific business and personal international travel. Unwittingly, it also aided in developing an environment more conducive for the spread of viruses, like COVID-19, into global pandemics through physical connections and international travel.

The good news is that 21st century technologies have played a monumental role in helping to mitigate and manage through this pandemic. Mobile, wireless, high speed networks, virtual reality, and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies have enabled new ways for humans to connect, to work, and to access basic services, in addition to playing a part in helping efforts to identify treatments.

Network and mobile communications, for example, have been critical in enabling online medical consultations to mitigate the need for in-office visits, providing first-responders high speed telecommunications to route support where most needed, and disseminating important information around the globe to enable local governments to make informed decisions related to the health of their constituents. These same technologies support the underlying infrastructure for work-at-home and eLearning models, and serve as the backbone for keeping social connectivity with family and friends in lieu of being able to gather physically together.

Artificial intelligence, virtual reality, automation, and data management technologies have also played a critical role in everything from tracking the outbreak and providing scenario planning, to helping to quickly build needed medical devices, and even supporting research in finding viable treatments for those that are sick.

Technology companies, along with many other private sector organizations, have also stepped up to today’s challenges by opening their products and services in ways that support the global community. Some mobile network operators are forgoing data limits, high speed data networks are being made available to all, and software companies are providing access to their tools free of charge for a limited time in support of current needs and continued innovations.

Keysight Technologies has followed suit. Their customers are leaders in technology that virtually connect and secure the world, and as such are critical in today’s pandemic response. On its part, Keysight is accelerating their breakthroughs by providing leading-edge design, test, manufacture, and optimization solutions. In response to COVID-19, the company launched Innovate Anywhere to help customers maintain productivity and minimize disruptions as they adapt to working from home. Innovate Anywhere features complimentary 90-day software licenses for several powerful PC-based design and test products alongside resources and technical support to get customers up and running quickly and smoothly. As a result, Keysight is helping the engineering community and IT professionals maintain critical services today, and continue to innovate for the future.

Speaking of the future, our experiences today will undoubtedly lead to new technological advancements that will further aid, or maybe even alleviate, the impact of any subsequent pandemics. As always, it’s an exciting time to be in the technology industry!

Author

Michele Robinson-Pontbriand has 30 years of experience as a strategic leader in the technology sector with multifaceted experience in organizations sized from start-up to large global enterprises, and across a broad range of business disciplines. She has held roles in marketing, corporate identity, channel management, eBusiness management, merger and acquisition integration, crisis management and IT. Currently, as the Director of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) at Keysight Technologies, she manages the company’s global, enterprise-wide CSR program strategy in support of environmental sustainability, social impact, and ethical governance.

PREVIOUS POST

The Legacy of IEEE 802 - Keeping the World Connected During a Crisis

NEXT POST

4 Ways Operators Can Leverage RCS Business Messaging to Grow Revenue, Reduce Costs