How did the Covid pandemic change the way we use IT? (part 1)

27th June 2025

We may have been locked down, but our IT expanded like never before!

A little over 5 years on from the start of the initial 2020 Covid pandemic, we wanted to look back and discuss the impact it had on our IT systems. While it was a difficult period for a lot of us, it did force us to review the way we were working and make changes, so that we could continue to do everything we needed to, even when under lockdown.

Remote work: with offices shut, remoting working tools like Zoom or Teams became essential as part of collaborative working. VPNs, cloud desktops and secure remote access were also made easier to use, allowing workers to access all of the files they needed, even when working from home.

Today, we still use a lot of these technologies: more meetings are done over video call applications than in person, saving on the costs and logistics of getting to another location. Additionally, with workers able to work from anywhere, more flexible work is encouraged, reducing the cost of using an office space for a lot of businesses.

Cloud: as everyone was working remotely, updating servers or installing new ones became more difficult. Subsequently, services like AWS, Azure and Google Cloud grew to allow more business to remotely support their operations and change scale without inconvenience.

Now, more and more businesses are moving to a cloud only environment, or at least a hybrid cloud setup. Easier to implement, reduces costs, better for the environment: the pandemic really opened the IT industries’ eyes to the potential of cloud.

Shift to digital: during the lockdown, people had limited access to in-store services. As a result, everything had to be moved online – things like digital payments on websites, virtual services such as online stores, all of these needed to be available to people remotely. Automation and AI helped to streamline these processes, helping businesses to get up and running online quickly.

In 2025, we are still using automation and AI to assist us in setting up complex digital processes. Web based services and more personalised, accessible, and up to date with the latest upgrades and trends, proving that a lot was learnt from the change to digital during Covid.

As you can see, the Covid pandemic altered the IT landscape in a drastic way and helped the industry to innovate and improve, embracing technology that makes work simpler. However, there is more to come as this is only the first part of the full article: check in soon for part 2!

If you would like to know more about how remote working and cloud computing could have a real benefit for your business, please contact Interfuture Systems.