Cisco reports the pandemic has forced local companies to accelerate their technological transitions overnight.

As the pandemic creates new working patterns, including remote work, business demand for technologies that help streamline operations in line with these new patterns are on the rise, says network technology giant Cisco Systems.

“Over the past several months, we’ve seen major disruptions to many industries from the pandemic,” said Vatsun Thirapatarapong, managing director of Cisco Systems Thailand and Indochina, at a recent virtual conference via Webex Meeting. “Businesses that laid out a digital strategy for the next 1-3 years are being forced to push forward with these initiatives overnight due to the crisis.”

He said businesses are gearing up for transformation to serve new customer behaviour.

“We see business demand increasing for IT tech to support flexible working conditions because of the rise of remote work,” said Mr Vatsun.

According to the company’s internal survey, before the pandemic more than 90% of employees worked in the office.

During and after the domestic outbreak, the ratio of people working from home surged to 65% and those working at offices fell to 30%. The remaining 5% work on the go.

“The pandemic accelerated the rise of the gig economy where temporary, flexible jobs are commonplace and companies tend to move towards hiring independent contractors and freelancers instead of full-time employees,” he said.

To meet this demand, Cisco recently rolled out DNA Spaces, a cloud-based service platform that leverages WiFi to provide insights and drives business outcomes.

The technology can determine worker density in the workplace to ensure social distancing and the location analytics system can be used to see heat maps of workers in the facility as well as buyer traffic in retail space.

Cisco’s Webex video conferencing tool could help support workflow, such as for those in telemedicine and manufacturing sectors. Augmented reality and smart glasses can be integrated in the system, which could facilitate cooperation between experts and those in the field.

With intelligence integration, Webex can proceed with facial recognition in meetings and determine the size of meetings to ensure social distancing. The platform also provides encryption for high levels of security.

Mr Vatsun said the pandemic is expected to affect the macro-economy outlook in the second half this year, particularly in tourism-related sectors such as air transport. The health care, government, bank and education sectors are still expected to keep investing in digital services, he said.

‘‘ Businesses that laid out a digital strategy for 1-3 years are being forced to push forward with these initiatives overnight due to the crisis. VATSUN THIRAPATARAPONG Managing director, Cisco Systems Thailand