DRIVING A NEW WAVE OF ‘DIGITALLY-AGILE’ INNOVATIONS AS A RESPONSE TO COVID-19

COVID-19, the current global pandemic that has created greater chaos, forces every individual and organisation to think out-of-the-box. When chaos is in the spotlight, two scenarios will be up for grabs: for those who can adapt as the opportunities will be countless, and for those who cannot, it could be a disaster. In such a context, businesses need to position their rationale to be on the front foot, prioritising ‘Digital Agility’ in this time of uncertainty.
From new ways of working remotely to building detectors that identify people without masks, we are talking about a new cultural revolution that COVID-19 has brought forward. This revolution is significantly enabled by an outpour of creativity, which ushered in a new era of ‘digitally agile’ innovations.
These new solutions are showcasing what human ingenuity is capable of in the face of adversity. Any period of volatility can create opportunities that businesses can leverage if they are prepared. In the case of the COVID-19 outbreak, organisations that take a more assertive and longer-term approach through
IT agility can spark innovations. During the pandemic, companies have been creative in driving their organisations towards innovative thinking within their businesses; it also enforces the fact that organisations must be ready to present increasing digital capabilities and experiences for their customers to produce inspiring and digitally-agile innovative responses.

DIGITALLY-AGILE SOLUTIONS TO FIGHT THE PANDEMIC
As a business that follows modern agile technology practices, Arimac Digital utilises digital service offerings and create solutions for different stakeholders—be it for citizens, governments or industries—to improve and augment their experience.
We had the privilege to be a part of the government’s ongoing operations in their battle against COVID-19, offering our expertise on using smart innovations to help tackle this current challenge. The creativity and ingenuity we bring through agile digital operations helping local organisations and global private and public firms. All these projects were carried out free of charge to support individuals and companies to stand on their feet at this challenging time.
Below are some of the critical projects we have been proud of spearheading as a team, during the last two months:

Developing a Contact Tracing App
Taking proactive measures is the most vital component in our conquest to stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Together with the Presidential secretariat task force that was established to combat COVID–19, we developed “Together WeCan” app. The app is designed to identify both the proximity and the duration of the encounters with nearby users via Bluetooth Based Tracking.

Web Solutions that provide real-time information
Our talented team has worked tirelessly with the Ministry of Health in Sri Lanka and the Health Promotion Bureau (HPB) to revamp their official website. We created a portal where individuals can get verified and accurate data, symptoms of COVID-19, hotlines for emergencies, prevention methods and FAQs on COVID-19. To add more value to the partnership with HBP, we created a public forum/community group through Viber to generate awareness on key safety measures and providing verified data on the situation of the virus. Furthermore, the studio division of Arimac created informative and fun-filled animations and posters to build COVID-19 awareness through an interactive learning process.

Open APIs playing a pivotal role
Arimac identified the lack of a verified data source on the COVID-19 situation in Sri Lanka, and by collaborating with HPB, we created an API that is publicly open to developers with accurate LIVE data for any entity to extract the latest and accurate data. This is being used presently as Sri Lanka’s main source of information regarding the pandemic.

An all-new COVID-19 dashboard
We have created a sophisticated dashboard to monitor the COVID-19 situation in the country. This dashboard comes with several features which allow the users to get live updates and analyse the situation.

Games to build awareness
We have designed engaging games to attract the right target audience to spread awareness of this pandemic by utilising Facebook. Arimac is also currently creating an awareness-based game on COVID-19 for the World Health Organization (WHO), which will be made available through the social media channels of WHO.

Apart from these projects, we are also involved in discussions with Maldives, Algeria, Laos and Qatar to enable these countries with state-ofthe-art digital solutions to combat COVID-19 in their respective countries.

A NEW PATH FOR DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
COVID-19 is a dark cloud, but even within that obscurity, there is a bright, silver lining that is the spur of effort and spirit for digital innovations. With numerous digital developments taking place, many firms have become more conscious of the need for a strong case of digital transformation. When businesses start to recover from the aftermath of this pandemic slowly,
business priorities will gradually shift, making a digital transformation a case of ‘when’, not ‘if’. When developing digital government strategies post COVID-19, the focus should be on improving data protection and digital inclusion policies as
well as on solidifying the policy and technical capabilities of public institutions. Public-private partnerships will also be essential for implementing innovative technologies and tailoring digital solutions to countries’ needs. The COVID-19 pandemic has emphasised the importance of technology but also the pivotal role of an effective, inclusive and accountable government. At times of crisis, it is really important that private sector companies bring about innovations or integrate the already existing technology to make it more disruptive and convergent – not solely to capitalise on it, but to pay more attention on how it can benefit society. Agility, or the ability to respond promptly via technology, not only helps the country to be aware of the current situation but, in the future, will also be able to prevent an oncoming issue in the foreseeable future.
To reemerge from the challenges and constraints imposed by COVID-19, organisations like Arimac will come forward on a much bigger scale to support the government in reviving the economy and rebuilding the society by sharing technologies, tools and  expertise. In the long term, the government would also need accelerate the implementation of innovative digital technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and Internet of Things (IoT). We have in-house experts on these technologies where we would like to engage with the government to create long-term roadmaps as these technologies can tremendously support the future resilience of Sri Lanka’s economy.