Why going digital is the need of the hour in epidemics

These are really tough times for mankind. We are amidst arguably the worst humanitarian crisis since world war II. To make things worse, many health experts predict it’s going to be worse for the next few weeks or up to months. The present situation looks like straight from a Hollywood movie. As the governments across the globe are taking various measures and people are following social distancing and lockdown guidelines, there are certain ways in which going digital can help people during these difficult times. There are many things where you can use modern apps to perform various tasks.

All the banks now have their mobile and web apps using which you can do various activities just by sitting at your home. Digital Banking can take care of all your banking transaction related needs. Almost all the banks are promoting their digital channels and asking users to use their respective digital banking platforms as much as possible. In case you face issues while using any of these, there is help and support available via chat as well as on-call. So rather than you going to bank, now your bank is on your finger-tips.

Nowadays, Many of the big supermarket chains or shops provide the facility to place orders online and based on the available slot they can deliver items to your home without getting in physical contact with you. Online orders for grocery and other daily need items can be helpful. This is one way of taking safety measures. Less you go out to buy things, lesser the probability of catching the disease.

Online classes and eLearning is another thing which is quite useful in present times. For students, academicians to working professionals, there are many online platforms that are getting used to conduct classes and learn new things. Most of the educational institutes are taking their courses online. That way the loss of time into regular classes can be prevented and people can keep learning new things and collaborate. People are benefiting in a great way of using all these tools.

You can easily pay for your electricity bills, phone bills, gas connection bills using various mobile apps without worrying. Most of the Utility bill payments can be done via various apps and online platforms. Many government agencies are accepting payments through digital platforms. You can book a gas cylinder just by doing a few clicks on the gas provider website and even make online payments. Most of the payments can be reflected either immediately or within a couple of business days.

On the front of health, Aarogya Setu, a mobile app developed by the ministry of electronics and IT to help citizens identify their risk of contracting Covid-19 (coronavirus), has notched up more than 10 million downloads within few days since its launch. The app is there on both Google Play (for Android phones) and Apple App Store (for ioS). It is available in 11 languages — 10 Indian languages and English.Aarogya Setu is designed to keep an user informed in case s/he has crossed paths with someone who has tested positive. The tracking is done through a Bluetooth & location-generated social graph, which can show your interaction with anyone who has tested positive.

Author Name – Manish Kumar Singh
Info – Writer is a software architect with expertise in digital transformation, cloud systems and information security.
Email -manishsingh.architect@gmail.com