– When the situation is unusual, when we have to face a crisis, it can speed up certain processes. This is also imposed on suppliers. Just as with the remote work that was necessary, technology had to be developed quickly, Silicki added.
It is worth mentioning that the scale of implementation of remote work turned out to be very wide, as it did not apply only to office workers. More and more things can be done remotely, such as controlling autonomous robots. However, the implementation of advanced technology requires prudence to maintain its sustainability.
The serving role of IT
The discussion took a different turn when Nikodem Bończa-Tomaszewski, CEO of Exatel, took the floor, arguing that IT technologies will not help solve crises as they will not make new medicines or address the energy crisis. Going back to the roots, he stressed that IT is simply a technology for transferring information, and he only foresees intensive development until 2030. – At Exatel, we believe that the “cool factor” of the IT industry has already passed. We are no different from companies that supply electricity or hot water. Just as there is water at the tap in every home, there is access to the Internet, said Nikodem Bończa-Tomaszewski. – Furthermore, Wi-Fi outages create more panic than when hot water runs out, he said. He stressed that communication technologies and IT have a servant role to other industries. – Other sectors that will push the economy further forward in the coming decades need to be supported.
However, Jan Pilewski, senior public affairs manager for P4, Play mobile network operator, emphasised the important role of the IT industry, citing the refugee or war crisis as an example, as well as telecommunication applications in smart cities. – Without technology, for example, smart city solutions could not emerge. It is not enough just to develop IT. First of all, you need to use technology properly to accelerate development, he added.
Antoni Rytel believes that the role of technology is not to act instead of us, but precisely to speed things up. – If we were to approach the fight against the pandemic now the way vaccines used to be created before, any solution would probably not have emerged by now. With the analysis of data sets and research samples, the work goes much faster. Of course, old methods can still be used, but the digital way of doing things is simply faster, he said.
The strength of digitalisation, according to Antony Rytel, is precisely that we get access to new tools and solve problems in a different way. As an example, the health inspectorate can be mentioned, which had to quickly implement new processes during the pandemic. The new processes had to be handled by several thousand employees who had to start from scratch in a new reality. Working out the right technology was a facilitator. – We should not talk about technologies and their separate divisions. We can simply decide to implement the technology or not, Rytel said.
