by Hiromi Noma, Senior Executive Researcher

 

(The original article in Japanese was posted in December 2020)

 

Information technology (IT) surely played a big role in the current COVID-19 pandemic. Especially, use of the Internet having been generalized and widespread is one thing to be grateful. Under the circumstances where coming and going is restricted, online meetings or online interviews prevented economic activities from being stopped to some extent. What if this pandemic had occurred a few decades ago, before the Internet technology appeared? I am appalled.

Taking our company as an example, when the COVID-19 infection began spreading, I was seriously concerned about the chance that news gathering activities via interviews in person, which are our main business activities, are suspended. However, there was no need to be worried at all. Many news gathering activities have been conducted online and now our business almost works as usual. The same applies to sales activities such as selling reports. Even if we cannot visit our customers, reports can be shared with them online or business meetings can be conducted online. Although online communication is a bit inconvenient, we are now able to use both of offline and online interviews relatively smoothly depending on the situation. Further, online meetings with many participants as well as those between our branches/offices are becoming normal in the whole company. In addition, each of the employees commutes or telecommutes depending on the day.

In the industrial field of store systems to which my work belongs, the “new normal” of life with coronavirus utilizing IT is expected to progress steadily. For example, the work of check-out counters is mostly being switched from cashiers’ role to customers’ self-role, which is becoming more common. There are many supermarkets and convenience stores employing the self-checkout system by customers. Actually, this system had been already adopted in the store system industry as a measure against the shortage of cashiers even before the COVID-19 pandemic started, and the main purpose was to make customers do the checkout on behalf of cashiers so as to ease the burdens on stores as to securing of cashiers. However, in the current situation of the pandemic, both of store clerks and customers feel positive about this self-checkout system now since it reduces the contact time between a clerk and a customer.

Also, people now tend to think positively about self-ordering using devices at restaurants that results in the reduction of contact time, which is an effective measure against the spread of COVID-19. This system has been one step ahead now as further advanced one that not only the store’s devices but also your own smartphone can be used for ordering regardless of the place, inside or outside the store. According to the vendors of such devices, the number of inquiries received has increased rapidly due to the coronavirus pandemic.

IT minimizes person-to-person contact between people in various industries. However, seeing these examples of utilizing IT that weakens human relationships to some extent makes me once again keenly realize the viciousness of the coronavirus disease. The condition of human relationships becoming shallow that has been getting worse and worse so far for a long time, especially in large cities, will be presumably accelerated by this virus.

On the other hand, there have been some opinions that development of every kind of online system restrains the over-population in large cities, which brings opportunities for small cities that had been in a difficult condition to be revitalized. However, is it really the case?

It is true that, in theory, we can engage in a certain measure of work from anywhere thanks to the advancement in the technology that enable various economic activities to be done online. For example, what some people said is that relocation of residential area to smaller cities is encouraged if regular work is done living in a small city and meetings are held online. The number of job opportunities on the premise of telecommuting or remote work has been increasing, including some jobs whose working conditions require the workers to come to the office only once a month. Moreover, the news of Pasona Inc.’s relocating its head office to Awaji Island in Hyogo Prefecture gained public attention. However, will companies and people in Tokyo really move into other smaller areas? Regarding the example above, will the one who must commute to the headquarter in Tokyo dare to live in Awaji Island? I do not think people who have been living in Tokyo will move into the place further than and beyond suburban areas in Kanto region that is not very far from Tokyo. I can hardly think that the improvement of online systems easily gives a boost to vitalization of small cities where depopulation has been considerably serious.

On the other hand, most of regional offices of major companies especially having quite large size of business are sales bases. Branch offices, service offices, or sub-branches are established since the employees must visit the customers in these areas. Therefore, if online working is substituted for the function of these offices, even employment of sales jobs in these areas may also be lost.

Whether the unprecedented big changes in society due to the COVID-19 pandemic result in a positive or negative element depends on the fundamental principle whether attractive areas in which many people want to live can be made or not.