How Cloud Platforms Are Helping To Fight The Covid-19 Pandemic

New technologies are reshaping the way we live and work, writes Li Shi, regional president of Huawei Cloud and AI Business Group.

- Li Shi

The world has been severely affected by the pandemic triggered by Covid-19. All walks of life have been forced to overhaul their lifestyle and work habits, including nearly every industry within the Middle East. Such transitions would not have been possible without the proliferation of cloud-based services, which have enabled enterprises to swiftly alter their business models to catch up with the rapid pace of change.

The new epidemic has changed people’s patterns of production and life, and it is a paradigm revolution. In the past, we often talked about promoting informatisation, from internet access to clouds and chains. This epidemic is a social phenomenon, which has forced production and life to change its mode. The situation has made it necessary to look at new technologies, industries and new business models in real scenarios. Many inflection points of business models have been reflected, such as e-learning, online healthcare, remote working, and digital conferencing.

Imagine just for a moment if there was no cloud. The lockdown would likely have kept many businesses out of operation. Working from home would have been extremely tough. Online streaming services such as Netflix would not be entertaining so many people while delivery services also would have restricted reach. Instant messaging might have also had limited functionality.

Behind the scenes, all of these real-world applications and services require robust cloud infrastructure to keep things running.

Moreover, cloud-based services do more than just let people live as “normally” as possible amid these unprecedented times. The power of cloud has been shown in a wide range of scenarios, including complex tasks requiring a combination of AI and cloud computing.