‘More digital’ is the answer to the Covid recovery

The Airship team from left: Rob Marcer, Andrew Whiteley, Oskar Marcer and Dan Brookman.

Digital has been a route to success for a long time. But the crisis has fast-forwarded two years’ progress into 10 weeks.

It was helping manufacturers become more efficient and develop new products faster.

Now it is also playing a big role in disaster and recovery planning and highlighting supply chain weaknesses so companies can make themselves stronger.

It is helping hospitality firms make money despite being closed: Sheffield software business Airship has made its ‘Toggle’ online giftcard service free - with free technical support.

The Devonshire Arms at Middle Handley has raised £25,000 selling vouchers that can be redeemed for food and drink when it reopens. It is one of 700 hospitality companies now using Toggle, allowing regulars to ‘pay it forward’ to support their local.

And it is digital which is allowing tens of thousands of Sheffielders to work from home, firing off emails, instant messages, and WhatsApp invitations like there’s no tomorrow and having Zoom, Hangout, Teams and Skype meetings for business and fun, as though we’d been doing it for years.

Other companies, like Hydra Creative and City Grab are doing so well they are donating thousands of pounds to charity.

And many are hiring, like website firm Razor which this week took on two - while games firm Sumo has just snapped up yet another company.

In a very real sense digital is keeping the economy going. It is time to acknowledge the central role it will play in the recovery and fully embrace a ‘more digital’ ethos.

For bosses in business and in the public sector that means doing long planned digital projects now, or as soon as possible.

But it is where digital meets manufacturing that Sheffield can really make a name for itself. Digital can add rocket fuel to the manufacturing skills the city is famous for.

Razor boss Jamie Hinton was one of the first to understand this and has very successfully been working with Sheffield University’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre and a ‘global aerospace company’ he’s not allowed to name.

These are just a few examples which show the answer to our recovery is ‘more digital’.