Earlier this year I reviewed the development of the top 12 ITC suppliers worldwide. Convinced that our industry can do a lot to help in a time of crisis I’ve had a look at each company’s response to COVID-19, which I outline below.
Apple launched a new app and website to inform the public about COVID-19 in the US. Has closed its stores. Covers the issue on Apple TV+. Along with partner Goldman Sachs it has allowed Apple Card users to defer their March payments. It has donated $15m to date to help the sick and lessen the economic and community impacts of the epidemic. It has reopened all of its stores in China. Apple News has launched a COVID-19 section. Production of iPhones has slowed considerably as its contract manufacturers Foxconn and Pegatron had to close due to the virus.
Samsung has paused its manufacturing in South Korea and closed stores in Canada. ‘We’re here to make home work for you’ and are offering ‘free shipping, no-touch delivery and extended return and phone trade-in windows to make things a little easier’. It has donated $29m in funds and goods to governments and communities most affected by the virus. Despite the outbreak it stillexpects the demand for 5G enabled smartphones to grow in 2020.
Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg has issued a statement. In the US is giving first responders priority access to its network, implemented a work-from-home strategy for the majority of its employees, but is keeping its global community connected with essential workers in the field. Has closed many stores and limited opening hours. It has waived late fees for residential and small business customers. Has launched Pay it Forward Live to support small businesses.
AT&T has launched a cheap $15 plan, has created a $10m fund to support parents, teachers and parents when schools have been closed, has given a 20% bonus to front-line union employees. It has closed a number of stores. Is enhancing its FirstNet network for first responders and is reporting double-digit usage of its networks.
Microsoft (with Google and Palantir) is building a COVID-19 dashboard or the NHS in the UK. It has asked its employees to work from home if they can and giving $1m anchor donation in Puget Sound, USA. Has launched an interactive COVID-19 map on Bing and is making its academic resources available with any data that can help stem the advance of the disease. It is offering a free Teams subscription for 6 months.
NTT in the US has partnered with Enli to deliver a health management system for patients at risk on who have contracted COVID-19. NTT Ltd has issued a statement ‘responding to COVID-19’ outlining 3 steps, which are providing continuity of service for clients, protecting and enabling its people and helping clients respond to the disease.
HP (Inc.) has taken a number of proactive steps to protect its employees, customers and partners – increasing the cleaning of its facilities and screening practices, limiting travel, allowing more staff to work from home, as well as changing conferences from physical to virtual events. It is working hard to keep its supply chain working to deliver products to customers, enhancing its global support website, has released a guide for customers and partners (including information on how to clean PCs and printers and reminding users of an expected increase in cybercrime. It has donated $1m to provide medical supplies to affected communities and has donated PCs and printers to hospitals. HPE is helping the US government through supercomputing to accelerate scientific research. Aruba is donating $50m in secure connectivity kits to support pop-up clinics, testing sites and temporary hospitals in the US, Canada, the UK and EU. It has launched a dollar-for-dollar matching campaign for charitable donations. It is also working with its partner Curated Pathways to Innovation to provide its AI and machine-learning platforms to select schools to help with distance learning.
Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile) is working with Orange and Vodafone and five others to share mobile phone locations anonymously with the EU to help measure the reach of the disease. Reopened some of its shops in Germany from March 31st.
Dell (Technologies and VMware) have withdrawn their 2021 fiscal guidance as a result of the pandemic. It has also shifted its planned conference from physical to virtual. It describes its 2 main priorities during the outbreak as ‘caring for the health and safety of our team members, their families and our communities, and doing everything we can to take care of the needs of our customers and partners’. It donated surgical masks to health workers in China and funds to the Hubei Center for Disease Control and Prevention. It is also matching the amount its employees wish to donate. The University of Texas and other institutions in Hong Kong, France and China have used its TACC Wrangler system to analyse device location data in China. It has provided TGen with access to its Zenith supercomputer to help identify the various strains of the disease circulating. It is encouraging its Alienware PC users to lend computing cycles of their machines for Folding@home’s efforts to simulate the proteins of the disease. It is also active in the UK’s Ventilator Challenge UK activities.
IBM (Institute for Business Value) has launched a COVID-19 web page including an action guide and sections on CIO challenges, loneliness and aging, how data can help improve access to mental health resources and an offer to connect through email. Its Summit supercomputer installed at Oak Ridge in the US is being used for research into the potential use of existing drug compounds. It has turned its Think conference from a physical to a virtual event. Its Weather Channel has launched a Coronavirus map and app.
Vodafone is among 8 wireless mobile device operators haring location data anonymously with the EU. Has a Web page outlining what it is doing to help people stay connected during the outbreak including free online learning resources, new technology to help healthcare professionals in Germany, its use of visual support to help engineers fix customer problems remotely. Its 5-point plan covers maintaining the quality of network services, providing network capacity for critical government functions, improving the dissemination of information to the public, facilitating working from home for small and micro businesses in its supply chain and providing insights into people’s movements in affected areas.
Telefonica announced measures on March 10th related to COVID-19 including its priority of keeping people connected, helping people to work from home, increasing data for its Fusion and Movistar mobile customers, enhancing its online learning platforms and sharing customer location data with governments.
I’ve only been able to précis above some of the top vendors reactions and support activities above… and there are of course millions of other things these and other ITC suppliers are doing to minimize the effects and hopefully shorten the length of this dreadful outbreak.
Like all of us this is a time to try to help – as JFK said, ‘ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country’. As a global industry we provide the platform to keep people connected virtually when it has become physically impossible. Although some sectors of our industry will do better than others (especially Telcos, cloud and other service providers), this is not a time to pursue the growth of market share or aggressive competitive activities; especially as many companies in the travel, live entertainment, hotel and shop-front retail sectors will struggle to survive at all. I encourage all suppliers to do as much as they can to help. This is a time to use the innovation we are so good at to be used for a wider purpose and to learn from others to provide appropriate support as the virus spreads from country to country.
Information Technology and Communications research
