In this 2 minute read, we take a look at the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had on organizations globally and how it’s been a main driver for greater adoption of technology.
There is no doubt that COVID-19 has impacted nearly every aspect of our lives across the planet. With President Biden’s mandate on vaccinations and testing for employers and the rising prevalence of the Delta variant this summer, it’s looking like the pandemic’s impact on day-to-day life may not change in the near future. But there is one positive to come out of the pandemic, it’s that it has been a catalyst for technological adoption.
There are some obvious anecdotal examples: telemedicine had very low adoption prior to the pandemic but grew by 38x since early 2020. Adoption of telecommuting also took off during the pandemic.
Not surprisingly, but perhaps less well known, there has also been widespread adoption of new technology by employers to help manage COVID-19 and its impact on their operations and workforce. A report released by independent EHS research firm Verdantix found that 41% of companies surveyed had an increase in the acceleration of digitization due to the COVID-19 pandemic and that budgets increased beyond expectation due to investment in initiatives such as PPE management.
But managing the business impacts of COVID-19 is just one of the many challenges that businesses have to adapt to in 2021. Other trends, such as the great resignation, mean that leaders have to put even more emphasis on the needs and well being of their employees. This means that HR and EHS leaders are now being given a more strategic role in the organization – to ensure that more employees are attracted, retained, and properly trained – so that they go home safe at night. And they can’t do it alone or by brute force – that’s why more firms are investing in EHS technology to ensure their changing firms are operating more efficiently and effectively.
With emerging climate change challenges, from heat domes to hurricanes, the need for flexible adaptation and resilience will not go away. Relying on spreadsheets and other legacy systems for repetitive tasks means you can’t keep up.
Origami’s Solutions for COVID-19 Risk, Safety & Compliance Challenges
Recognizing the profound impact the pandemic would have on businesses globally, Origami partnered with its clients to develop novel solutions to adapt to new and evolving challenges in March 2020, including exposure tracking, location surveys, and disaster planning. Because of our expert service team’s ongoing dialogue with our clients, we continued to build new solutions such as exposure tracking on our flexible, configurable platform. And after the vaccine was approved and regulations went into place in late 2020, we developed a vaccine tracking and outbreak tracking tool to further expand our solution to meet our clients’ growing needs. Fast forward to October 2021, Origami now has over 150 clients leveraging our system to help them with their COVID-19 management in some capacity.
Origami built out a full COVID-19 management suite based on our clients’ needs and evolving changes during the pandemic.
In addition to winning the 2020 Business Insurance Innovation Award our COVID-19 audit features were highlighted in Verdantix’s report “The Impact Of COVID-19 On The Future Of EHS.”