DIGITAL AT THE TIME OF THE COVID
MARCH 2020
It is a date that we will remember for a long time and that we will hardly forget. What happened is known to everyone. Out of the blue the whole world began to stop in front of something that appeared to be insignificant but which at the end of the day had and still has the aftermath and size of a giant.
HOW WE LIVED IT
Have you ever thought about it? I guess so, and even if you hadn’t, that’s what we basically went through on our skin. We all spent 90% of our days locked in the house connected to a device with an Internet connection. This was the only way we had to keep in touch with the outside world, with that life that was suddenly being denied and imposed on us. Do you ever think about it? What would we have done if we hadn’t had a whole series of hyper-connected devices? Surely we would have survived anyway, that’s for sure. But we could not continue to take advantage of some things of our daily life as:
- to study
- to work
- to do sport
- to meet friends and family
- to do shopping
We could do this and much more thanks to one thing the DIGITAL. Without ever having to move from our homes through a device connected on Internet. Surely for many it was not easy for lack of means, both material and cultural, because in Italy compared to other countries in the world, such as America, you still live in a state of digital illiteracy. The term digital illiteracy refers to people’s inability to operate on a computer, to read, write and critically find information on the Internet. The Coronavirus has in fact put the accelerator on a process that was already in place for a long time of digitalization of our lives. From this terrible experience we can say that we all come out a little more aware of the current and future potential of digital makes available to us and that we may not be able to give up.
WHAT HAS BEEN THE REAL BENEFITS OF DIGITAL?
First of all, the opportunity of work through the use of e-commerce. Small retailers traders managed to put up in a short time a sales system that not only allowed him to earn twice as much as before the lockdown but otherwise would have seen him close forever. An example is that of the agricultural producers who managed to deliver and sell their products online: fruits and vegetables at home, directly from the garden to our homes. The restaurateurs who, not being able to serve their tables, continued to serve those of our houses with their takeout plates. Surely if there had not been digital many of these categories would have stopped working and we would have stopped using their services. The global estimates of the last year have seen an exponential increase in sales produced by e-commerce and it is expected that they will grow up by the end of 2023 with a turnover of over $6.5 billion.
In addition to the peak of e-commerce, we have witnessed the spread of smart-working by more and more categories of professionals, employed in both the public and private sectors. They have been able to continue to carry out their work duties comfortably from home.
Education through which we have understood that it has become of vital importance to instruct the faculty and teachers to the use of the new technologies even before the children. These are just tiny examples of the infinite possibilities that digital offers us today and that will continue to offer us even after the pandemic. But it is up to us to grasp its potential and adapt to the changes in increasingly connected markets, relying on professionals who are able to follow the current digitalization process.
WHAT WE HAVE DONE IN INITALA
Initala was born digital before all this happened. In its inauguration year in conjunction with the beginning of a new decade, during and after a pandemic. We at Initala have also worked hard in this period to be able to offer you the best from our digital services so that we can guide you in the best way in your digitalization process.
And what better way than a digital agency to present it self than during such an important historical moment, with a pandemic in place and a digital acceleration of our lives.