A World Living with Coronavirus, and a Call for Industry Contributions

To prevent coronavirus (COVID-19) infections, many countries have instituted "social distancing" measures to keep physical distances between people. City-wide lockdowns and restrictions on outings have been key pillars of this approach, and in Japan and elsewhere, these approaches have yielded commensurate results, curbing increases in the number of people infected.
 
The troublesome problems are that these measures have the side effects of hindering economic activity. As a result, efforts to curb infections will worsen the economy, while efforts to turn the economy around will cause infections to spike again. In other words, we face trade-offs. To make matters worse, for the time being the risks of a resurgence in infections or the emergence of a new virus do not seem to be going away. Thus, unless these trade-offs can be resolved, the world will not be able to live with the novel coronavirus.
 
Today, expectations for industry around the world are focused on this point. In other words, reducing opportunities for contact by establishing a distance between people in the real world, in an effort to stop the spread of infections. At the same time, in the digital world there are efforts to maintain those connections between people and somehow prevent the decline in economic activity.
 
Such attempts are already underway. At production sites, for instance, the introduction of robots that dispense with labor will pick up speed. In sales settings, counter services are being mechanized, there is a shift from in-person to online sales, and cashless solutions continue to advance. Each of these advances allows opportunities for contact to be decreased without sacrificing productivity. At offices and other workplaces, it is important to lower the risk of infections for employees while commuting. For this reason, companies have to pursue the further adoption of teleworking. In the interests of breaking up crowded offices and other concerns, serious efforts are being made to shorten commutes and alleviate congestion.
 
Promoting the shift to online instruction is similarly important in education. That is because online solutions have the potential to reduce the risks of infection due to group education while maintaining educational effectiveness. Expanding and enhancing telemedicine in medical settings is another urgent issue, as this can avoid overwhelming medical institutions when infections spread, and reduce the risks of hospital-acquired infection.
 
Looking at individual industries, the service industry is in need of an awareness revolution with regard to infection risks. Whether an office leasing business or an event venue operator, introducing systems that provide adequate ventilation against airborne viruses and allow for disinfection not only assist with social distancing but also allay people's deeply rooted sense of caution.
 
In fact, providing solutions to these various issues affecting real society through digitization precisely describes what we do every day at Ricoh as a digital services company. Let's contribute to the world that is living with coronavirus.