Coronavirus and digital transformation

Mano a mano con Sergio García, compañero en Anteverti, he escrito un texto sobre el significado de la pandemia en el ámbito de la transformación digital. Puedes leerlo aquí completo, Covid-19 and the future of cities: 9 emerging trends in digital transformation, como parte de una serie de monográficos sobre diversos temas relacionados con el coronavirus y su impacto en las ciudades. Dejo aquí unos extractos: 

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The Covid-19 crisis has accelerated many technological adoption processes that were predicted to be more gradual. 

Two elements have fueled a shared dynamic by the countries affected by the pandemic: on the one hand, the initial successes prompted by technology-intensive solutions in Taiwan, Singapore or South Korea gave rise to an effect of imitation in other countries. On the other hand, the peculiarities of the virus have made it clear that the most successful immunological strategy – track and test – can only be highly effective if the case tracking rely on technology-mediated devices and solutions. The combination of these two dynamics has served as a multiplier and accelerator – at a higher pace than any other measure or strategy in the last decade – of a previous and already widespread trend: the digital transformation of all industrial sectors, social spheres and also, obviously, of the public administration. 

Not surprisingly, need and urgency are great allies of innovation. Most of the public institutions in charge of managing all levels of the response to the Covid-19 crisis have faced the urgent need to assess their current digital technological capabilities while facing sudden processes of technological adoption and implementing solutions that needed a deeper public assessment. In this framework, they have found themselves at a greater distance from countries such as South Korea in terms of data analytics, information integration or resource and capabilities availability for the implementation of technological initiatives. In parallel, public authorities have met with the need to find effective ways to communicate the evolution of the pandemic, the response and its implications for citizens within a complex context of social distress and information oversaturation. 

 What changes are to be expected if we want our cities to move towards a smarter management of public services and digital life? These are some of the trends that we have analyzed. 

 1 | Public Services: The Final Push for Digitalization 

 2 | Smart City Models Will Need to Be Rethought 

3 | We Need More Sophisticated Data Analytics 

4 | The Time to Consolidate Digital Rights  

5 | Public Sector: The Potential of Innovation and Intrapreneurship 

6 | Addressing the Digital Divide: A Priority 

7 | Civic Tech for a More Inclusive Digitalization 

8 | Effective Digital Communication for an Operational Leadership 

9 | Fake News: Also a Public Health Threat 

In the past few weeks, the sense of urgency has been at the core of the world’s digital response to the covid-19. In parallel, the digital society is accelerating at a pace that is difficult for our technical and political leaders to keep up with. However, if we agree that the curve of the pandemic has been flattened, the time has come for better planning and a more optimal organization of new resources. 

Thus, in this new context, local, regional and national governments have the opportunity and the duty to reshape their strategy for the deployment of technology in city life in a short- and medium-term. And this applies to the way cities work, to public services, to the interaction and communication between public administration and citizens, to our daily routine. And to the internal transformation of companies and the rethinking of their future plans. 

It is highly convenient that this rethinking process looks beyond the immediate social and economic consequences of the crisis and places people and human needs at the center of technological adoption. And that it does so by encouraging the innovative capacity of society and attaching greater importance to the synergy between science and technology for a better, more accurate decision making. This in turn must be performed without losing sight of the ethical implications of this process. In short, we are on the verge of a moment where governments, industries and companies have the challenge to move towards technological resilience. To harness technology and innovation not only to minimize the current risks, but also to anticipate possible future adversities and emerge stronger from the crisis. 

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No es fácil escribir sobre esta cuestión pero me he propuesto ordenar al menos algunas lecturas que voy sistematizando. Son apuntes dispersos y poco sistemáticos, como casi todo en este blog desde hace 12 años, pero al menos servirán para detectar algunos temas que creo serán relevantes en los próximos meses o años. 

Posts previos:

• Coronavirus: urbanismo y movilidad
• Coronavirus: cambio climático y energía
• Coronavirus: desigualdad viral
• Coronavirus: medio ambiente y sostenibilidad
• Coronavirus: algunas implicaciones de salud pública
• Coronavirus: algunos repositorios de iniciativas locales
• Coronavirus: la respuesta tecnológica, un ensayo precipitado y a gran escala 
• Coronavirus: ciudades, pandemias y la cuestión de la densidad urbana
• 6 artículos sobre pandemias y la densidad urbana
• 12 artículos sobre coronavirus y desigualdad
• Coronavirus, predicciones y escenarios: no hay plan para el futuro
• 10 artículos sobre escenarios post-Covid19 en la era pandémica 
• 10 artículos sobre los retos éticos y políticos de la respuesta tecnológica al coronavirus