1goodThe corona pandemic radically changed the world as we knew it within a few weeks and the consequences of the crisis are so far still unpredictable. But gradually we are moving into a new normal, in which a lot is different than before, and even a few positive things happened.


All-embracing digitization of today’s working life

The corona crisis has greatly accelerated the existing trend towards digitized work processes. Remote work is suddenly no longer an exception, but the new standard of cooperation. From a team meeting to an international conference, the crisis has shown that shared experiences and communication are possible in a completely digital way. We have learned that technologies and digital platforms can bring people together and empower us to stay connected despite a global lockdown situation. Accordingly, these experiences will change the way we live and work together in the future. As a positive side effect, for instance, the number of business trips fell sharply, which led to a reduction in CO2 emissions. After the crisis, we will definitely continue to question the purpose of business trips, since remote work is established now. In a nutshell this means that we look forward to a more climate-friendly and sustainable way of working together.

Trust has taken on a new role

Changes didn't just happen in the outside world: values, attitudes, and principles changed, too. Trust, in particular, has taken on a new role in the lives of many people - both towards others and towards the media. The need for trustworthy information during the lockdown has increased significantly due to many dubious sources and false reports swirling around, many have become aware of the importance of high quality, honest journalism, and appreciation for it has increased.

The crisis has shown the importance of cohesion and how small gestures can make a big difference. The lockdown has changed the way we want to work, live, and be entertained in the future. Interesting new perspectives have emerged for the working world of how collaboration can be achieved and maintained in the future.

New technologies have shown their potential and found more and more acceptance, because people used more digital services and channels than ever during the shutdown. The majority will continue using them after they realized how convenient, easy and (almost always) secure the digital tools are. This familiarization effect with virtual environments and platforms paves the way for a future in which remote work becomes the norm. 

Creative ideas and innovative technologies emerge

Initial skeptics may be amazed at how quickly and smoothly the move to the home office worked and how consistently high the quality and productivity of the employees has been from home. The lockdown impressively demonstrated what is possible – especially in the areas of innovation and technology. Creative teams around the world have developed virtual solutions at record speed to ensure collaboration, exchange, and bringing people together, intensively working on the development of innovative technologies through virtual reality, augmented reality or 3D to raise common digital experiences to a new level.
Based on augmented reality, training and support can take place on-site without physical contact. At the same time, new media formats are being created in digital environments that enable real-time virtual collaborations. The lockdown has accelerated talks about connectivity and virtual mixed-reality experiences, and in this context 5G has also become the focus.

During the lockdown, we learned that meetings do not necessarily have to take place locally, virtual events are just as easy and more accessible. The physical limits of the pre-corona era are dissolving, because online we can also exchange, network, and cooperate well and productively. For creative people, it offers a great new playground for new formats and innovative offers.

The cultural sector in particular, which was probably hardest hit by the crisis, developed a multitude of creative, digital formats in a very short time to continue bringing people and culture together: e.g. in the form of virtual museum visits, art exhibitions, fashion shows or concerts. As a result, the acceptance and attractiveness for digital cultural events has increased significantly.

By Daniela La Marca