Cyber thoughts for the post Covid world

We are living in complicated and very challenging times (Russia - Ukraine - NATO - USA dispute). The world is going through an enduring health crisis which is heavily touching the very fabric of our societies, affecting our lives, social norms, work conditions and habits, our economies, established industries and supply chains.

The virus and its mutations are spreading horizontally in every corner of the world which is more connected than ever. While governments are reacting to Covid-19 with similar policies to tackle with the downsides of their citizens health, it is important to remember that our global economies were standing on a different growth level even before the world was hit with the pandemic. This means that countries that were aiming to improve their citizens welfare, upgrade their economic status, provide government structures to enable investments and private initiatives in order to create new jobs and foster growth, are now shifting priorities until the health crisis is resolved. The parallel phenomenon of the climate crisis creates another major hurdle to face for our cities, wellbeing, agriculture, physical environments for which we need collectively to take actions very fast. 

Amidst the chaos, innovation cannot wait (crypto revolution). Humanity historically has always been through local or international economic, health, medical, social, political crises and emergencies. Science and technology were always there, confident to assist, to research, discover and come up with disruptive solutions to solve humanity’s problems, embracing the winds of change towards a better future for every human on our planet. 

Crisis as an opportunity - current trends

• People are more influenced than ever by new technologies due to the pandemic
• People feel more vulnerable for their work, job, life
• Ongoing fragile balance between work vs. personal life
• Covid-19 increased existing economic inequalities in developing & emerging economies
• Social distancing 
• Remote work - remote learning - teleconference - telemedicine 
• Tech advances applied due to safety and health reasons
• Need for new products (green, sustainable, safe, tech savvy, futuristic, cost efficient)

The aforementioned trends mean that more people will need to generate their own income in the time to come, to stay productive and creative, to not lose touch with their local or global markets due to the economic catastrophe of lockdowns inflicted by their governments and health authorities to counter balance the spread of the pandemic with restrictive social and economic policies.

As Covid-19 is altering the existing work processes and industry business models, millions of people, millions of workers have been affected by the health and economic crisis with widening income gaps. Even the middle-class in the developed world has seen its standard way of working and living, being completely changed and deranged with facing increasing risk and uncertainty.

The choices we make during this crisis will morph into new ways to provide innovative solutions for our business problems in order to grow personally and professionally.

- Efstathios Kassios

February 2022