West Virginia officials: pandemic has spurred faster technological advancements in business, education

He even likened it to World War II, saying that both events were a “shock to the whole world,” but advanced technology greatly.

“That shock (of WWII) made people think outside of the box and do things differently, and next thing you know, a few years later, we have all of these technological advances,” Deskins said. “COVID is not as big as that, obviously, but it’s similar. It’s been a big shock to the system and has made people have to do things differently, and we’re finding new business practices and technologies. Some of those are going to make us more efficient in the long run, I think.”

Deskins said video conferencing, particularly Zoom, is a great example of this. While the technology has been there for years, it took a worldwide event for a lot of companies to see the value of it on a professional level.

“Some meetings aren’t great for Zoom, but a lot of meetings are perfect for Zoom,” Deskins said. “It saves a lot of time in terms of travel and overhead costs. Zoom was around before COVID, but it was in the background and not a lot of people were familiar with it. COVID forced us to find that technology and make use of it and get used to it, and now it’s a normal thing everybody knows how to use.”

A massive rise in remote working was another direct result of the pandemic, and Deskins said that programs like Ascend West Virginia which specifically target remote workers to live in the state, wouldn’t exist at all if not for COVID-19.

He added that, even after the pandemic is over, remote work is a concept that is here to stay.

“I think (remote work is) going to be very widespread nationally,” Deskins said. “Not everyone will remain remote, but it’ll be widespread enough that it’ll be a major, long-run change in our economic system.”

Deskins added that, while remote working and video conferencing are primarily related to employer-employee cases, companies’ relationships with customers has evolved too, with the COVID-19 pandemic putting a greater emphasis on the digitization of services and sales than ever seen before.

“Companies were forced to offer more online services and shopping during COVID, and in many cases, those turned out to be changes the customers liked, and those worked out for the businesses, I think,” Deskins said. “I think it accelerated the digitization of services, and that’s a good thing. That’s a positive side effect of COVID.”

Mike Walsh, department chair and associate professor of marketing and associate dean of undergraduate programs at WVU’s John Chambers College of Business and Economics, said that the pandemic has forced technological advancement in other areas, as well.

He said that on the education front, many universities began livestreaming and recording their lectures for students to watch remotely, allowing them to quarantine during COVID without missing out on their studies.

He added that many students have grown accustomed to this change.

Fairmont State University was one of the higher education institutions to do such a thing, and Fairmont State President Dr. Mirta Martin said that synchronized classes and recorded lectures will likely stick around after the pandemic ends.

“A new normal doesn’t mean we go back to where we were, but rather, a new normal means that we take the technology that has been created as a result of the pandemic and we advance society,” Martin said. “That synchronous delivery (of classes) is critical. Not only is it synchronous, but also our lectures are being taped. It affords our students the ability to revisit the lectures of our faculty. …

“They are able to perform better by virtue of the technology we have in our classroom. When something happens that advances society, we need to embrace it. We need to be able to use it, and what we have seen throughout this pandemic is because our technology advanced … we’re able to deliver a curriculum for students who learn through various modalities.”

While the pandemic has changed the way companies and education institutions operate, Walsh said that the rapid change in such a short time has led to questions, especially on the business side.

Walsh and Deskins agreed that another problem, specifically for West Virginia, is access to broadband, and the worry that such a reliance of high-speed internet to conduct business moving forward could cut off more rural or underdeveloped parts of the state from capitalizing on opportunities.

“The parts of the state that have good internet connections like Morgantown, Charleston and Martinsburg and several other places will be fine,” Deskins said. “I don’t think they’ll be adversely affected at all, but in the parts of the state where we do have little or no broadband service, I think this is going to maybe even further push them behind.

“We’ve learned through this whole crisis that broadband has moved quickly away from being a luxury item to being a necessity. It’s a necessity for economic development, so there’s a real chance that those areas that lack in broadband will be facing even more challenges now.”

{p class=”paragraph”}In addition, Walsh said that many companies are now at a crossroads where they’ll have to determine how they’ll look and operate moving forward.

{p class=”paragraph”}{span class=”normaltextrun”}“Going forward, I think companies are struggling with what should be the workplace of the future,” Walsh said. “It’s clear that a lot of employees would prefer to work from home, and whether companies are comfortable with that, I think everyone is grappling with it. … Companies that require close collaboration with employees, I think, are the ones that are probably struggling the most with this. Can you replicate that kind of interaction with the online tools that we’ve all become very used to? …{/span}

{p class=”paragraph”}{span class=”normaltextrun”}“It’s a topic that’s continuing to evolve and change. What employees want and are seeking and what businesses are looking for is really evolving literally day by day. I don’t think it’s settled yet what this new reality will be like.”{/span}{span data-ccp-props=”{“} {/span}