It’s May 2025, and the Cognizant Center for the Future of Work is looking back at the months and years following the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. The world that emerged post-virus looks and feels incredibly different as digital transformation was accelerated and new needs were revealed.

1. Online’s Big Bang: COVID-19 digitized the world at light speed.
2. Everyone's Home is Their Castle: Houses were retrofitted with dedicated home office spaces as working from home became the norm, not the exception.
3. Business Travel Lost it's Cool: Business travel became a last resort.
4. Health Screening is Widespread: You’re now subject to “OK2GO” scans on entering buildings, governed by the newly-formed Health Security Agency.
5. Gaia and Greta Went Mainstream: The environmental agenda gathered momentum.
6. Humans in the Machine: Online interactive dinner parties, concerts, and political rallies became common and “real” versions withered.
7. The Birth of the Clean Regime: We realized just how dirty (metaphorically and literally) the Earth had become.
8. Privacy: Another Casualty of the Virus. The long-term implications of a permanent surveillance infrastructure became apparent for governments as they recognized that personal data is a new source of economic wealth.