How 5G and AI will lay the digital foundations for a post-Covid world
By Huawei
We look at how these tech have birthed new approaches to working, and the importance of cross-industry partnerships in this time.
Image: Hospital Clínic de Barcelona - CC BY-ND 2.0
Remote education, telehealth, and robots will be part of the new normal, believes Huawei International CEO Nicholas Ma. As we emerge from the pandemic, tech such as 5G and AI will reshape and transform our lives as we know it.
Already, these tech have formed the bedrock of several industries’ Covid responses. The healthcare, education and finance sectors have redesigned their services to continue helping their customers amidst these changing times.
Organisations will need these tech to be able to adapt post-Covid. We look at how they have birthed new approaches to working, and the importance of cross-industry partnerships in this time.
Realising the possibilities
5G, AI and the cloud have put some industries on the path towards the future. In healthcare, for instance, one hospital in Singapore used a video tool to conduct remote consultations, so doctors, nurses and patients can communicate effectively across segragated zones.
In Concord International Hospital, medical workers caring for coronavirus patients in the quarantine zone used the video tool to discuss treatments with experts in the non-quarantine zone. Doctors and nurses in the non-quarantine zone could also check on patients remotely.
The tool, Huawei IdeaHub, allowed the hospital to deliver treatments efficiently while keeping patients and staff safe. Digital collaboration tech like these present new ways of working that could help hospitals in the battle against the virus.
Schools have adapted quickly to the pandemic as well. Educational institutions across many different countries were ordered to close as part of the government’s safe distancing measures. Some have turned to online lessons to minimise the disruption to students’ learning.
One example is Universitas Muhammadiyah Jakarta, Indonesia. It launched an e-learning system that allows teachers to continue interacting with students in class, despite them being in different rooms. The university found the system a great addition to their curriculum, as “ICT-based classroom activities are a necessity in increasing the quality and competence of the academia,” said the university’s Vice-Rector IV, Dr Mahmudin Sudin.
Besides allowing lessons to continue, tech also presents new ways of enriching the learning experience. Singapore will host its inter-school National Chinese language skills competition on the same e-learning system, which was developed with Huawei’s cloud and edutech company ULearning’s AI. Participants will complete a preliminary round online, and the grand finals will be livestreamed on multiple digital platforms.
The finance industry is another sector that has benefited from the use of emerging tech during the crisis. When the pandemic hit, Singaporean bank DBS found that it needed more capacity to build new services on its cloud, shared Jimmy Ng, the bank’s Chief Information Officer, at Huawei’s recent global fintech summit, “DBS has been and will keep shaping the future of banking with 5G, IoT, AI & Blockchain, and powering DBS smart offices from anywhere.”
Going far
If you want to go far, go together - this is Huawei’s principle for ushering in the next phase of digital transformation. Collaborations between strong players will be key to spurring change, and the tech giant has sought out more than 28,000 partnerships worldwide in a bid to fuel this change. These partnerships contributed to 86 per cent of its enterprise business group’s revenue in the past year.
Singapore will continue to be a core driver of digital transformation, believes CEO Ma. “Singapore, with talent as its critical asset and competitive advantage, will most likely become a leader in the future intelligent era,” he says. Huawei has committed to upskilling local talents, with the 5G-powered AI Lab launched last year, and an upcoming virtual AI Academy that will equip both professionals and students with AI development skills.
In these times of crises, most organisations may be looking inward to find ways to weather the impact of the pandemic. But it may be even more important now to reach out, band together and discover new opportunities.
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