Do we need a pandemic to innovate and empathise?

Do we need a pandemic to innovate and empathise?

The global pandemic has forced businesses and governments to speed up digital transformation – in many cases, completing in weeks what may have in the past taken months or even years.

In the UAE, the launch of the ALHOSN UAE app was swift and effective in helping protect the nation at a time of uncertainty. The app was designed to help limit the spread of the virus by locating and identifying people who either tested positive for COVID-19 or have been in contact with a patient.

And according to new research from IBM, nearly five in ten organisations in the UAE are increasingly prioritizing their digital transformation over the next two years due to the disruption the pandemic caused across all facets of business and day to day life. This sense of urgency needs to carry over to any company's most valuable assets—its people—as the users of that technology.

The free app is a combination of the Stay Home and Trace Covid apps previously launched by the Department of Health

In its new research, on COVID-19 and the future of business, IBM surveyed more than 3,800 C-Suite executives in 20 countries, including the UAE, and 22 industries. We found that even as companies have