In this Community Chat, and with members of the Caribbean tech community, Allison James and Amit Uttamchandani, the panel discusses ICT and COVID-19 (the coronavirus): some of the challenges that are being experienced, ways it can be better leveraged, and emerging opportunities.

 

This episode is also available in Apple iTunes, Google Play Music and on Stitcher!

It is perhaps less than 100 days since COVID-19, most commonly referred to as the coronavirus, has grabbed the world’s attention. Over the past several weeks, the world has had to grapple with the emergence of a new coronavirus, which – unlike some of its well-known predecessors, such as SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus) and MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus) – has become a global pandemic in less than three months, with almost every country reporting at least one confirmed case of the virus.

In order to reduce the rate of infection, and among other things, countries have closed their borders, have closed schools, have instructed that offices be closed, and have cancelled major cultural and sporting events. In most instances, and at the time of writing, those measures are expected to be effective for about 2 to 4 weeks. However, the experts seem to be of the view that the interventions will need to be extended for at least a few months, in order to keep the rate of infection low. However, this may mean that life, as we have known it, will be irrevocably changed by the time we get a handle on this epidemic.

So, with people travelling less, students out of school, large social gatherings being prohibited, and employees working remotely, for this our March 2020 Community Chat, we are discussing the impact of the coronavirus on our societies from a ICT perspective.

At the time of recording, on Friday, 20 March, there had been over 250,000 cases worldwide. At the time of publishing, the number of confirmed cases had jumped to nearly 435,000, with the Caribbean region reporting over 500 confirmed cases. Hence, it is opportune for us to be examining the subject, especially since there is now an even greater reliance on telecoms and ICT to fill the void created by the loss of travel, and of in person contact and interaction, which is being constricted, in order reduce the speed of ‘community-spread’ of the virus.

 

Introducing our guests

For the discussion, here are our guests:

Allison James, who has been on the Podcast before, is a Manager at KPMG for Barbados and Eastern Caribbean countries, and is based in Barbados. She has a hybrid background as a Chartered Accountant and a Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA). As a CISA, Allison specialises in Information Security and Data Analytics.

Amit Uttamchandani is Cybersecurity Sales Specialist at Fujitsu Caribbean, and is joining us for the first time. Amit is based in Trinidad and Tobago, and is an experienced technology and business professional. He has worked in various roles and sectors across the Caribbean. Currently, and by day, he works for Fujitsu Caribbean, by night, he is the founder of caribbeansignal.com, a blog covering topics that are typically ignored or rarely noticed by traditional media.

 

We would love to hear from you!

Do leave us a comment either here beneath this article, or on our Facebook or LinkedIn pages, or via Twitter, @ICTPulse.

 

Select links

Below are links to some of the organisations and resources that either were mentioned during the episode, or otherwise, might be useful:

 

 

Image credits:  Gerd Altmann (Pixabay); A Jamres, A Uttamchandani

Music credit:  Ray Holman

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