Digital Transformation in a Post Covid World

The year 2020 started with usual promises of technological advancements and a global economic rally that showed no signs of slowing down. Little did we know that, in a matter of weeks, our usual lifestyle and established habits were to be completely disrupted and we had to re-think the way we live and work together.

COVID-19 had a truly dramatic domino effect since its global outbreaks in 2020. As business models were disrupted and businesses closed around the world, we will see how leaders had to step-up and use technology as a mean to re-think their operations from the ground-up. Indeed, digital technologies permeate all aspects of modern life: mobility, health, education, work, communication, and so on.

Led by Adrian Kuah and Roberto Dillon of the Cairns Institute and James Cook University in Singapore, a new book - Digital Transformation in a Post Covid World – is being published by Taylor and Francis LLC in October this year. The book included substantive contributions from industry leaders such as KPMG, Accenture, Deloitte, Vigamus Foundation and the Singapore International Chambers of Commerce amongst others. It aims to capture how giants in different fields across geographical regions around the world faced this time of crisis, how these leaders analysed the new fast-evolving scenarios around them and found the right inspiration to move forward.

To best capture the effects of the pandemic in politics, society and businesses, industry thought leaders, such as Michael Tomczyk and Victor Mills, reflect on trends, leadership and challenges arising from the crisis, particularly in the United States and Singapore. Christopher Warren of Accenture navigates how different companies have pivot their businesses in the post pandemic economy by discussing a technology roadmap. David J. Calkins of Gensler discusses the dramatic challenges his global company had to focus the dramatic shift to the home office not from a technical perspective but from a more holistic one, as he introduces the concept of the ‘20 Minute City’, which may rise as important business centres in a not too far future.

From James Cook University, Roberto Dillon joined a team of leading experts from KPMG - Lothian, Grewal and Pereira - to assess the increased exposure of companies to a variety of cyber security threats as a result of the pandemic. Caryn West et al., examine the importance of telehealth mobilised by the COVID-19, arguing why COVID-19 has the potential to negatively impact mental health and wellbeing. Abhishek Bhati et al., discuss how disruption can lead to innovation in the ways learners engage with digital content, as he sees the education sector experiencing dramatic changes.

COVID-19 also triggered considerations on how prosperity can be achieved through sustainable consumption and production.  Adrian Kuah and Jayden Kim propose incorporating digital technologies using a reverse logistics system and then creating new values with digitized service strategies such as smart remanufacturing. Stewart Lockie discusses barriers along with opportunities to develop physical, regulatory and institutional infrastructures that support socially and environmentally responsible innovation in agriculture and the future of food.

With diverse contributions from public health, technology strategies, urban planning, and sociology to sustainable management, the new book comprised 16 chapters and is divided into four sections of People, Process, Planet, and Prosperity. The Hardback, Paperback and eBook is currently available for pre-order with discount at https://www.routledge.com/Digital-Transformation-in-a-Post-Covid-World-Sustainable-Innovation-Disruption/Kuah-Dillon/p/book/9780367709587