Impact of Covid-19 on the Software industry

The Covid-19 outbreak resulted in a global health emergency and drastically dislocated financial markets. The majority of businesses all over the world were forced to take a break or even to shut down until the situation is contained. In the software development and IT industries, many are faced with the challenges brought about by this unforeseen outbreak. 

How Covid-19 Impacts Office Work

Employees in the IT field and developers of the software have to share the same space with several teams and members. The typical scenario in a software development company is designers, developers, programmers, engineers, and QA personnel physically interact in meetings and attend meetings if required. Anyone diagnosed with the virus could adversely and dangerously endanger others. 

The widespread nature of the virus has caused and continues to cause challenges for the IT industry, and most have been evaluating its ill effect in the business sector. 

Covid-19 could:

  • Cripple the ability to work.
  • Lower quality and productivity.
  • Impact customer requirements and deadlines. 
  • Result in revenue losses and incidentally impact trust as well. 
  • Hamper daily operations and service deliveries. 

The field of software development is extremely globalized, with a lot of titans in the industry having R&D facilities in areas most affected by the virus or under quarantine and lockdown. The first problem is the travel restriction. The majority of companies in the United States, and even in other parts of the world outsource and travel to the location of the service provider regularly for a face-to-face meeting. 

Fortunately, modern technology makes it possible to hold virtual meetings via Zoom or Skype, yet is not a substitute for being there. Typically, a software development company has a physical location, such as an office. However, they could not come together due to the virus. Without a remote work strategy in place, this could cause several problems indeed. A software development company based in New York City that makes a Cisco phone migration tool, will not be renewing its office lease, asking their employees to go fully remote.

Usually, software outsourcing developers are prepared for any operation disruption, therefore there should be no issue in shifting staff around. Most companies, as far as the development phase is concerned, continue their normal processes, even if sales are lesser now. They understand and are optimistic that sooner or later, the whole thing would be blown over, and the world would be free of Coronavirus. 

Impact of coronavirus on Software development

With most organizations adopting no travel policies, software development firms can adapt to the current situation much faster than others. This is because the remote work form is a factor that could be handled easily by employees with a capable digital workforce

There are however several factors that without doubt impact performances. A person working from home is bound to face more interruptions compared to working in an office setting. Moreover, even if work from home is easily attainable, working as virtual teams is rather hard and collaborations are also affected. 

With the growth in online traffic, the demand for software development service providers is increasing and is likely to remain so in the future. Coronavirus, therefore, has given and given the industry a big market as more and more businesses and organizations now are tapping the online platform to establish their brands. 

Small and medium businesses are the ones greatly impacted by the pandemic. Thus, these companies would be the market for the software industry. All small and medium businesses that have not yet established their online presence need the help of software service providers. 

There were cancellations of major events because of the spread of the virus. Thus, annual conferences in the software industry were canceled to maintain social distancing. In the current scenarios  and response to these circumstances, some organizations opted for virtual conferences. 

Software Industry Economy

Today, for the software industry to reach out to more clients, it should reach out more and more and adapt to virtual advertising. Meaning that there would be no need to install new ad strategies while maintaining social distancing. The industry however needs to understand that the pandemic is leading to an economic downturn. 

 The economies in the world are now going downhill. Thus, even if many businesses are approaching software development services, the future remains unpredictable. Chances of an economic downturn loom and businesses surely would minimize their ad spending and thus lesser clients in the future. 

This is similar to a constant war between the need to be online versus the lack of money to approach tech companies. In situations like these, the industry should identify which are new prospects fast to tap them with their newly developed virtual team. 

Another important factor that without a doubt is affecting the industry is that most critical parts of a software system come from China. Because of the lockdowns, and halt of supply, the industry is severely affected. In this situation, a lack of resources is inevitable. 

The software industry therefore should be on the lookout for other options and alternative sources since nobody knows how long the situation would be, and the future remains uncertain. There is also the possibility of prices to shoot up in the future, and the following year is bound to be tough. 

Technology makes a more successful remote work

  1. The development team could be empowered with team-based chat applications, like Google Chat, Meet, Slack, Cisco Spark, Microsoft Teams, and so on, enabling employees to communicate constantly through persistent messaging. 
  2. Another way of fostering communication among business owners and employees is video conferencing. Regular conferencing could reduce costs and commute times considerably. 
  3. Device security and data are paramount in a remote work setting. You could enable firewalls and VPNs to protect data from misuse and intruders. 
  4. Embrace the document-sharing features to remain updated with what’s happening with the remote team. Two terrific options include Office 365 and G Suite to enable a secure sharing of documents. 

Conclusion

When it comes to the impact of the pandemic on the software field, it is thus always important to plan ahead of time to deal with unforeseen disruptions in the process. Remote teams ascertain that the process would not be disrupted, and deadlines are met with enhanced quality. 

In these uncertain times, it’s important to keep in mind that for any business, being proactive and adapting is the only choice. Software service providers should analyze and react immediately all the time, and stay safe.

About the Guest Author

I’m Eric Jones is a Content Strategist at TatvaSoft Australia, which is providing Software development Services in Melbourne. He would like to share ideas on technological trends, with  5+ years of experience He has been exploring the area of technology to produce interactive content on various subjects, including mobile apps, software development, and design, tech, etc.

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