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5 Tech trends accelerated in the post-COVID-19 world 2 July 2020 
The technology sector has made leaps and bounds over the last decade as characterized by the Fourth Industrial Revolution or Industry 4.0 – a topic which we wrote about back in September 2019.
Read more here: Dot-com bubble 2.0 or Industry 4.0
In that article, we wrote about how in a short span of 10 years since 2008, technology companies such as the US FAANG stocks (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix & Google) as well as the Chinese BAT (Baidu, Alibaba & Tencent) are starting to take centre-stage, gaining prominence not only amongst consumers, but also investors for good reasons. This is also evident in the S&P 500 broad market index which has seen the leadership of many long-standing household names such as Exxon Mobil, General Electric, Procter & Gamble etc, replaced in the top 20 by technology heavy weights such as Amazon, Apple & Alphabet (Google).
Following the recent COVID-19 pandemic sell-off in March this year, we have also witnessed technology stocks recovering much faster than other sectors as they are not only less impacted by nation-wide lockdowns and stay-at-home orders, but in fact beneficiaries of it. Technology giants have led the recovery due to their relatively strong balance sheet positions compared to their traditional peers – an advantage to withstand the stormy climate ahead.
As economies around the world begin to ease lockdown measures and move into a low-touch, “new-normal” way-of-life centred around social distancing – likely for the foreseeable months ahead, we highlight some of the tech trends that may continue to accelerate in the post-COVID world.
1. E-commerce & on-demand food and services In recent years, e-commerce has been gaining popularity against their traditional brick-and-mortar counterpart and people are increasingly getting warmed up to the idea of consuming more goods and services online, especially in the on-demand space.
Consumers who have traditionally purchased groceries at the supermarket are trying out on-demand grocery deliveries; dine-in or takeout meals that are usually purchased at restaurants or eateries are being delivered right to your door-steps by an army of Grab, Deliveroo & FoodPanda riders via contactless delivery in 60 mins or less; and even recent innovation such as telemedicine – consulting with your doctor via an app is also gaining traction.
While these services are initially borne out of convenience, they have evolved into almost a necessity for urbanites during this pandemic. Not only that, merchants who were initially reluctant to jump on the technological bandwagon but preferred to rely solely on their in-store sales are being forced to adapt or face zero revenue – there is simply no alternative.
Post-pandemic, there is a possibility that merchants may realize having an online presence will not cannibalize their existing business but instead, continue to help generate an additional source of revenue for them.
2. Digital contactless payments
Cash might carry the virus, so central banks in China, US and South Korea have implemented various measures to ensure banknotes are clean before they go into circulation. However, that may not be the most effective solution and the recommended payment method to avoid the spread of COVID-19 is via contactless digital payments either in the form of cards or e-wallets2.
In an effort to accelerate digital transformation and boost e-payment adoption during the pandemic, the Singapore government is also choosing the nationwide e-payment service Paynow as a preferred mode to distribute its stimulus package to eligible citizens3, and have seen a sharp increase of more than 50,000 businesses adopting Paynow Corporate since April4.
3. Remote working & home-based learning
As companies ask employees to work from home and governments shuts schools and move into home-based learning, virtual private networks (VPNs), voice over internet protocols (VoIPs), virtual meetings, cloud technology, work collaboration tools and even facial recognition technologies are the key enablers2.
While existing web conferencing systems such as Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex gained traction, a relatively unknown player in the pre-pandemic period such as Zoom became a household name in 2020 suddenly, with users across industries using the platform for holding classes, webinars, meetings and even large-scale events – leading to its skyrocketing share price from $68.72 in January to $204.15 just six months later5 and being included into the Nasdaq 100 index in April6.
Bucking this long-term remote work trend and to bolster its enterprise offerings is telecommunications giant Verizon, who jumped on the bandwagon by announcing in April on its $400 million acquisition of video conferencing service and Zoom competitor, BlueJeans7.
4. Robotics & drones
COVID-19 makes the world realize how heavily we rely on human interaction to make things work. Labour intensive businesses such as retail, F&B, manufacturing and logistics are the worst hit. In recent times, robots have been used to disinfect areas and to deliver food to those in quarantine2. 
Crowded factories may also eventually become a thing of the past as seen in China’s renewed urgency to deploy robots amidst the coronavirus outbreak that affected supply chains as well as the lack of staff due to the quarantines, isolated periods, road blockages and checkpoints8.
Additionally, as wages in China are no longer cheap, there seems to be an inevitable push to robotics that can work 24-hour shift. Apple supplier Foxconn has been moving to automate 30% of its one million factory jobs in China by 20208.
However, what this means is that while new jobs will be created in the process, many blue-collar workers could be displaced in the near future and policies must be in place to provide sufficient training and social welfare to the labour force to embrace the change2 .
5. Information & communications technology (ICT)
All the 4 key trends mentioned above rely on continued development in core areas of emerging information & communications technology. 
In the aspect of high-speed and affordable internet, 5G network technology is acknowledged as the future of communication for the entire mobile industry, providing super-fast download and upload speeds (5 times faster than 4G capabilities) as well as a more stable connection10.
One of the many applications of Internet of Things (IoT) will enable us to predict and treat health issues in people even before any symptoms appear through various IoT devices. In 2019, there were about 26 billion IoT devices and it’s estimated that this number will increase to 30.73 billion in 2020 and 75.44 billion in 2025, with an estimated of 15 IoT devices per person in the US by 203010.
COVID-19 crisis has revealed a general lack of connectivity and data exchange built into our global supply chains. Future resiliency will depend on building transparent, inter-operable and connective networks and blockchain technology may be the answer to that10.
During this period, one of the more interesting images that we came across is a question asking people who led the digital transformation of their company? Was it the CEO, CTO or COVID-19. 
While many companies have already embarked on their digital transformation journey or are working on one, most companies were not far enough along to make COVID-19 a non-issue. The arrival of COVID-19 seems to be a wake-up call for senior management to recognize the importance of digitalizing and to commit to it.
Imagine a pandemic like COVID-19 struck the world 10 years ago, where recent technology which we take for granted were not as developed as they are today, where our mobile phones are still running on GSM and aren’t exactly smartphones, where e-commerce was still at its infancy and there’s no such term as “on-demand services” like Netflix and social media like Facebook and Instagram. More people will probably fall into depression due to the boredom of cooping up at home.
Contact tracing to stem the spread of the virus might have been more difficult and would likely resort to be a tedious, inefficient and manual process. Businesses will struggle to have employees work from home and productivity will be severely impacted – possibly resulting in a more prolonged downturn.
If you believe that technology will continue to take the lead in the post-COVID world and want to be a part of it, yet don’t know how to separate potential winners from losers, explore our range of unit trusts within the tech sector by using our intuitive Fund Finder and filter “Tech” under the “Industry sector” section or simply start exploring our full range of funds.
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Sources:
1. https://seekingalpha.com/article/4207762-top-20-s-and-p-500-companies-from-2008-didnt-need-babysitting-all 2. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/04/10-technology-trends-coronavirus-covid19-pandemic-robotics-telehealth/ 3. https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/eligible-singaporeans-care-support-package-cash-payout-june-18-12802582 4. https://www.finews.asia/finance/31857-singapore-government-pledges-support-for-e-payments-in-new-stimulus-package-fortitude-budget-covid-19 5. https://jumpstartmag.com/covid-19-tech-trends-accelerated/ 6. https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/stock-alert%3A-zoom-video-up-3-after-added-to-nasdaq-100-2020-04-24 7. https://www.businessinsider.com/verizon-acquires-bluejeans-to-expand-b2b-ecosystem-2020-4 8. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/02/the-rush-to-deploy-robots-in-china-amid-the-coronavirus-outbreak.html 9. https://www.forbes.com/sites/blakemorgan/2020/04/05/is-covid-19-forcing-your-digital-transformation-12-steps-to-move-faster/#351825a2617b 10. https://www.bbvaopenmind.com/en/technology/digital-world/8-key-tech-trends-in-a-post-covid-19-world/
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Information is correct as of 02/07/2020.
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