Pandemic accelerates digital industries

THE coronavirus pandemic has fasttracked industry and markets into the digital world. Companies have had to find creative alternative methods to counter pandemic limitations, leaning towards app and web development for solutions.

Founder of the Sendra delivery app, George Sibotshiwe, said the pandemic has given rise to an on-demand sector in industries.

“Consumers are now demanding goods to be brought to them, instead of them going out to seek goods and services. This has given rise to an on-demand sector in industries.”

Sibotshiwe said the pattern of consumption has drastically changed in the past year due to the pandemic. Commerce has rapidly transformed and accelerated the world into a digital era, creating a boom in business for web and app development.

With more and more citizens having access to smartphones, and data becoming more affordable, Sibotshiwe believes digital stores will become the main component of companies.

Founded in 2016, Sendra was inspired by the Uber-model and is now an app which allows companies to have their products delivered to customers. Anything from medication to lunch is delivered to a customer’s doorstep, obviating physical encounters.

“The pharmacy for Clicks uses our app, they instruct a driver on our app to deliver medication to a patient in 90 minutes. The model is efficient, immediate and done through an EFT transaction.”

Sibotshiwe said he was optimistic for South Africa’s future in the digital era, as in terms of the business environment, the nation is “shaping up in a good way”. Big commercial actors in the global market such as Amazon are taking note of South Africa, and he believes that in roughly five years South Africa will be competing with first-world markets.

Chief executive and main developer of Cybarete, Dale Sparrow, said that the web and app development had been opened up to industrial-sized implementations. Web development, which used to be associated with creating small apps, now has the potential to capture, deliver and control data for huge companies.

“Web development and apps can penetrate almost any industry and sector. Sectors such as agriculture have also evolved to technology. Things that used to be done manually, such as measuring and monitoring the growth of a sheep, can now be done more efficiently on a website.”

Sparrow said that web development offers solutions to companies and organisations by improving communication and control methods, which results in business being run more efficiently.