The COVID-19 pandemic completely changed how we do business and one of the consequences is that it made working from home an official thing. This is clearly shown from data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) about trade of ICT equipment in the country.
According to the KNBS, spending on telecommunications equipment (computers, laptops, networking equipment) between April and October of 2020 was Kshs 16.290 billion.
This is an impressive number by itself but it gets more impressive when you compare with the same period in 2019. In 2019 between April and October, the spending for such equipment was Kshs 10.207 billion.
That is a massive 60% increase in spending on this equipment year on year and it can be attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic forced a number of people in certain industries to work from home indefinitely and that meant procuring computers and networking equipment. The investment has been done to set up remote work stations at home.
Companies have also invested in IT infrastructure to enable remote working and meetings, so meetings via Zoom or Google Meet or Microsoft Teams are the norm now.
During that time, telecommunications providers like Safaricom doubled speeds of their fixed data offerings so that people will ease up with the transition of working at home. The government also facilitated other measures for people working from home and kids at home by introducing partnerships like remote 4G connectivity with Google Loon.
