Impact of covid-19 on Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) Market Size, Share, Industry Analysis and Regional Forecast 2020-2027

The impact of COVID is accelerating digital connectivity trend and it will influence the growth of the Information technology market in the near future.

The Coronavirus pandemic has been causing social stress and cataract economic disruptions across the world. With the closure of several production facilities, plants, manufacturing, and other industries around the globe, the unemployment rate has increased dramatically.. These outpouring effects of COVID-19 are potentially leading countries as well as the global economy towards recession. Governments across the world are emphasizing on balancing this economic displacement, for which they are introducing economic relief bills to fight against the adverse effects of the pandemic. In the aftermath of the COVID-19 situation, governments and industries are likely to invest more in technologies. Modern technologies such as big data analytics, Internet of Things (IoT), artificial ntelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR), and augmented reality (AR) among others. These technologies are beneficial for the environmental situation, early detection, and diagnosis of disease, analysis of data, mitigating risk of economic crisis, etc. Further, investment in these technologies will support industries and governments for tech-savvy smart living, smart infrastructure as well as increase the usage of online platforms, industrial automation, and smart logistics.

In this battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, digital technology, transformation, and connectivity have become an essential medium or solution to enhance economic and societal resilience. Emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), 3D printing, internet of things (IoT), and robotics are being utilized in the pandemic. For example, AI and ML are used for mapping and tracking COVID cases in real-time, whereas 3D printing technology is also predominantly being used in this situation for the production of medical equipment.

KEY MARKET INSIGHTS

The adverse effects of the coronavirus include a decrease in digital spending among the industries around the globe. The overall technology spending in 2019 accounted for around USD 5.06 trillion. However, global IT spending is anticipated to decline by 2.7% due to the COVID-19 according to the IDC.

Further, IDC states that the overall ICT global spending will decline by 1.6% and reach around USD 4.1 trillion. Whereas, telecom spending is likely to be less impacted. Moreover, the spending on infrastructure as a service (IaaS) and cloud computing technologies projected to increase in the near future. Similarly, as the enterprises are shifting towards a distributed work environment, the cloud-based solutions are empowering the workforce to collaborate and stay connected. Several companies are also emphasizing on enabling the organizations to securely manage the data, and support remote working in the COVID-19 pandemic situation.

Based on the analysis of Fortune Business Insights, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is anticipated to boost the demand for the cloud storage in 2020. The global cloud storage market is projected to reach USD 61.20 billion by the end of 2020.

Impact of COVID would drive usage of following platforms owing to technology advancements:

E-learning 

During this pandemic, digital technologies such as e-learning, over-the-top among others are experiencing an increasing adoption among the industries and applications across the countries. Along with IT and healthcare industries, education, telecom, and media & entertainment industries are emphasizing on adopting digital technologies to carry out their business operations. Among these, the educational sector is seeing significant adoption of e-learning or online learning platforms and solutions. Additionally, private and public education institutions are also adopting and promoting e-learning education. For instance, in January 2020, Empower Education Online Ltd. (EEO) based in Beijing, China experienced 200,000 daily active users (DAU) and 30,000 Concurrent Users (CCU) amid the pandemic, whereasby February 2020, Empower Education Online Ltd. (EEO) reached 1.6 million DAU and 350,000 CCU. Similarly, universities such as the University of Michigan, University of Virginia, and Harvard University among others are moving their classes online to avoid spread of Coronavirus.

Cloud-based Services 

Cloud-based service are set witness a huge adoption during this pandemic, as enterprises across the industries are highly dependent on remote working.

• In March 2020, Microsoft Corporation announced that its team’s communication platform “Microsoft Teams” reached 44 million users.


• Also, Zoom platform users have been increased for corporate meetings, conferences, management of work, and others.

Considering the support offered by cloud-based services in the COVID situation to the industries, there will be a growing demand for cloud-based solutions and services in the near future.

Big Data Analytics

Implementation of big data analytics has helps analyze, tracking of infected individuals, strategic planning of coronavirus, and forecast its spread around the world. The big data analytics platform is helping scientists, healthcare, government to analyze the situation of COVID. Furthermore, big data has supported prediction, analysis, and strategic planning for national governments and national health authorities.

Artificial Intelligence 

Artificial intelligence has played a major role in the hunt for a solution during the COVID pandemicIn South Korea companies have made use of AI to develop COVID-19 test kits were manufactured in a very short time. Etihad Airways has announced that post-COVID, it will useAI to screen passengers for signs of COVID-19. AI is also helping the healthcare sector to provide solutions and analysis of data to resolve the situation of the pandemic. Industries such as retail, airlines, and hospitality are also planning to implement AI solutions and services for automated workflow and predictive analysis in the organizations. However, despite the growing demand and adoption of these technologies, digital spending is expected to see a decline in the short-term due to the transition of the world towards the economic crisis and recovery time required post Coronavirus outbreak.

Based on the analysis by Fortune Business Insights, the COVID-19 pandemic is projected to affect the digital spending of the retail industry and adoption AI solutions in 2020 in short-term. The year-on-year (Y-o-Y) growth of AI in retail solutions is expected to decline from 33.2% to 25.9% in 2020. The global AI in retail market was anticipated to reach USD 4,075.0 million in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic, is now projected to seize USD 3,795.4 million by the end of 2020.

Augmented and Virtual Reality –

The adoption of virtual and augmented reality is expected to rise in a short period, as this technology has helped organizations  manage work virtually during the pandemic. AR/VR technology has provided manufacturing, education, healthcare industries to enable training, demonstration of a product, virtual classrooms for students among others. Further, the healthcare sector will adopt augmented and virtual reality technology for medical education, surgery, and medical training, etc.

Smart City 

Post the COVID-19 pandemic, governments across the world are likely to increase spending in the development of smart infrastructure. Further, some government is rising fiscal spending for the development of a smart city. In India, several aspects of smart city development such as improved infrastructure, robust IT connectivity, digitalization, improved e-governance in more than 100 cities are proving to be beneficial in COVID-19 situation. In addition, the government of India is depending on smart city investments to respond to COVID-19. More than 45 cities are operational under the Integrated Command and Control Centers (ICCCs) set up under the smart city mission. These cities are under ICCC deployed web portals, drones, control rooms, sensors, surveillance cameras, public address systems. These deployments are to coordinate activities related to COVID information, management, predictive analysis among others. Globally, smart city investment is likely to increase after COVID-19 pandemic, primarily  to develop smart infrastructure and improve facility systems.

Following are some of the prominent industries which draws large population or crowd are majorly affected by the COVID-19 which are expected to adopt advance technologies post-COVID-19 crisis and offer lucrative opportunities for the vendors –

• Airlines


• Cruise and Shipping


• Gambling


• Hotels and Restaurants


• Manufacturing


• Movies


• Oil and Gas


• Retail


• Sports and others

Apart from this, a wide range of technologies and solutions would be having significant impact on the growth rate and revenue generation. Following are some of the markets that have strong impact due to the current pandemic;

Furthermore, some of the products might have mixed impact in the market due to COVID-19 pandemic. These markets include video surveillance market, beacons market, web hosting services market, retail analytics market, AI in retail market, and streaming media devices market among others.

The report developed by Fortune Business Insights across different information and technology media markets will answer the following questions

• What is the impact of COVID-19 across different information and technology media markets?


• What is the impact of COVID-19 on the demand in major regions and countries?


• What is the impact of COVID-19 on the segments of each of these information and technology media markets?


• What are the opportunities offered by the COVID-19 pandemic across different information and technology media markets?


• What are the factors that are driving the impact of the of COVID-19 on the across different information and technology media markets?


• What are the steps being taken by companies to minimize the impact of COVID-19 on their business units / revenues?


• What are the steps being taken by the government/industry to minimize the impact of COVID-19 across different information and technology media markets?


• What are the key industry developments in response to the impact of COVID-19?