Covid-19 Is Highlighting The Promise And Pitfalls Of The Digital Transformation

Covid-19 Is Highlighting The Promise And Pitfalls Of The Digital Transformation

Share to Linkedin Local residents check in before they are given the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine at La ... [+] Colaborativa in Chelsea, Massachusetts on February 16, 2021. (Photo by Joseph Prezioso / AFP) (Photo by JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images) Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, manufacturing enterprises, service firms, laboratories, schools and households across the United States were undergoing a steady, digital transformation. But the pandemic has shattered that paradigm and accelerated the pace of change unfurling across our economy and society. A Paradigm Shift to Telework In one of the most dramatic examples, hundreds of millions of workers have transitioned to telework, a shift in human behavior without precedent. Prior to the pandemic, about 15 percent of the U. S. workforce worked at least one day per week at home. However, by May 2020 - just two months into the shutdown - half of the U. S. workforce was working from home. This kind of transformation - in its scale and scope - would normally take decades to unfold. But it happened in a matter of weeks. Yet, the exciting promise inherent in this grand transformation - greater personal flexibility, a new conversation around work-life balance - depends utterly