Page 21 - Kaleidoscope Academic Conference Proceedings 2020

This remains today a major issue and we can expect to see many companies roll back to the old ways
of doing business. On the other hand, a few will embrace the new way. In the long term, the latter
will gain, likely, a competitive advantage but, of course, it remains to be seen if the transition period
can be sustained.

Technologies, particularly network infrastructures and (big) clouds have demonstrated they can scale
gracefully. Other technologies, like AR and VR have shown their potential, as well as their
immaturity.
Videoconferencing has grown exponentially and a few businesses have tried out virtual spaces (like
iFrame) but they still look more like gadgets than the real thing. What has been seen is that in many
cases videoconferencing has shifted to audio conferencing since many people did not the video stream
additionally beneficial.
At the same time, people in sales have suffered from the lack of face-to-face contact, clearly
indicating that current videoconferencing is not as effective (quite far off as a matter of fact) from a
face-to-face interaction with the client. This is a space where, potentially, VR can play a role. It is not
going to be easy, nor fast. We are still suffering from a lack of devices that could support seamless
interaction.

The Digital Reality Initiative run by the Future Direction Committee of the IEEE is trying to walk
the talk and experimenting with VR for their meetings, events and conferences.

Some sectors, like healthcare have adopted (at least partially) the Digital Transformation and in these
areas it is likely to be irreversible. Remote diagnostics and prescriptions are growing and both patients
and doctors are becoming familiar with them. Not every consultation is moving to cyberspace but
triage and 90% of consultations can. Companies offering telemedicine have seen their customer base
increasing by 400% in just three months and the value of their shares have grown accordingly. This
is stimulating further investment so we may expect the strong uptake to continue in the coming years.

Education is also another sector that has moved to cyberspace during lockdown and that is now
continuing, particularly in the case of college and university education. Here we are getting mixed
signals. Educators are not overjoyed by the new normal; students are showing a preference for the
human touch that can only be felt by face-to-face education. At the same time both are recognizing
that a mix of online and in-class education can be better than just in-class education so we can expect
that part of the changes experienced will stay.
Finally, the pandemic clearly demonstrates that living our lives and having business in cyberspace is
feasible. Now, it is a matter of finding the right mix of the two, which results in economic and social
rewards.

The shift to cyberspace clearly impacts many aspects of today’s world. Take the case of Milan, Italy,
where teleworking and tele-education has resulted in vacancies in hotels and rental houses/rooms. As
of September 2020, vacancies are 270% greater than occupancy, i.e. for any room occupied you have
some three empty rooms. This results in a fall of rental prices, and is obviously strongly hitting the
economy. Unfortunately, the money saved by people who are teleworking from home is also money
not earned, as jobs have shrunk and wages decreased.

Clearly this is a transient situation but it shows some aspects of DX and its impact on market value.
In normal conditions this would result in a shift from impacted market to new markets, now it just
looks like a recession.

We have seen that DX, even in the best possible cases, brings up issues by displacing jobs and
obsoleting skills. It renders some atom-based resources, like some workplaces, as no longer needed,
or valuable. This, in the medium term, can impact urban infrastructures, such as transportation.

The conclusion, at least to me, is that DX is no longer a theory, it is something that can be done. The
big question is how to do it.

– xvii –