As it’s a thread we’ve been tracking, Apple and Google have announced changes to their COVID-19 exposure tracking system, now making it easier for states to deploy exposure notifications without building their own apps. Of note, the new framework allows for interoperability across state lines – significant in areas like the DC metro area, with three jurisdictions.
Additionally, Apple released iOS 13.7 which allows native support of the notifications without an app, and Google is releasing theirs shortly.
While I’m on Apple, the company announced today that the iOS app ecosystem has created approximately 300,000 new jobs since April 2019, as entrepreneurs created new apps to address problems such as remote learning, telehealth, digital commerce, and remote ordering from restaurants.
Why do we care?
I’ve covered my interest in the exposure notifications as recently as two days ago, so I’m not retreading that territory today. If you missed it, catch that on Monday’s episode, August 31.
Today’s reason we care is about the power of making it easier to create things without code. What Apple and Google found was that asking the states, already burdened with their “regular work” of public health in a public health crisis, simple didn’t have the capabilities to do the work.
That’s true in technology in general, and why we see solutions like Zapier and Automate.IO as true integration frameworks, and why in the enterprise space there is more and more focus on codeless creation.
I’ll observe that it’s one of the key flaws of typical “RMM” solutions – -they tout automation, but it requires significant building on the part of the services provider. Those that remove that complexity are winning – look to Zoom from yesterday – and you see how ease of use and deployment is a too often overlooked feature.
Thus the lesson for providers is to emphasize this feature in their selection, because you can empower your customers faster, and it moves you further into business consulting when you offer and use those capabilities.
Source: Apple