While it makes perfect sense for IT employees to work from remote locations via video conferencing and collaboration tools seamlessly - especially in the case of tech giants like Google or Microsoft -- workers from the non-IT companies and small and medium enterprises (SMBs) are the worst-hit in India as most of them have little or no clue about how these messaging and collaboration tools work amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Small companies -- from corporate to education verticals -- are scrambling to get their act together as new coronavirus threat has reached their premises, prompting them to send employees home who have age-old laptops, poor network and connectivity with no UPS backups and little knowledge about how to handle group chat and collaboration software like Zoom, Google Hangouts Meet, Microsoft Teams and Flock etc.
Instead of halting operations, however, businesses can choose to shift towards remote working methods with teaching non-IT staff on how to use the latest digital software to connect and work, say industry experts.
The training will take some time and may hamper productivity in the short run but is a win-win situation for the non-tech companies in the long run, in case any such global emergency arises in the future.
According to a latest report by Gartner, 54 per cent of HR leaders have cited that poor technology and/or infrastructure for remote working is the biggest barrier to effective remote working.
Sandy Shen, Senior Director Analyst, Gartner, says that with COVID-19 disrupting the business landscape, CIOs should relook at the digital fulfillment of market demand.
"The value of digital channels, products and operations is immediately obvious to companies everywhere right now. This is a wake-up call for organisations that have placed too much focus on daily operational needs at the expense of investing in digital business and long-term resilience," warned Shen.
Businesses that can shift technology capacity and investments to digital platforms will mitigate the impact of the outbreak and keep their companies running smoothly now, and over the long term.
"Videoconferencing, messaging, collaboration tools and document sharing are just a few examples of technologies that facilitate remote work. Additional bandwidth and network capacity may also be needed, given the increasing number of users and volume of communications," informed Shen.
The IT industry's apex body Nasscom has asked the government to relax norms for a month to allow work-from-home for technology and back-office employees as a measure to deal with the spread of Covid-19 in India.
Networking giant Cisco said that it has seen "significant growth" in the usage of its web conferencing and video-conferencing service Webex in India.
According to Muneer Ahmad, Business Head, ViewSonic India, due to COVID-19 pandemic, the corporate and educational sector is severely getting affected in the country.
"ViewSonic IFP has a cloud-based software which help teachers and corporates to connect through video conferencing to multiple people at the same time and can split the screen into six screens. It can also connect with various tools like Skype, Cisco WebEx, Zoom, Google Hangouts and GoToMeeting," Ahmad told IANS.
Co-working sector has also taken a hit and the industry is looking at several measures to tackle it -- from ensuring supply of juices rich in Vitamin C to supply of disinfectants and giving work from home facilities.
"The scheduled visits of the clients at our co-working offices have been postponed. Few of our clients have cancelled their outstation meetings and have now started audio/video conferencing for virtual meetings," said Nakul Mathur, MD, Avanta India.
According to reports, India has approximately 1,000 co-working locations (as of September 2019) and is the second-largest market for the co-working industry after China.
As India's first licensed B2B Virtual Network Operator, CloudConnect Communications offers a collaborative platform that allows companies to overcome the COVID-19 threat while maintaining seamless business continuity and optimum employee productivity.
"We offer a secure, robust, reliable, scalable and trackable mobile-first unified communication infrastructure that aids remote teleworking so that businesses can continue operating even under any unforeseen circumstances," said Gokul Tandon, Executive Chairman, CloudConnect Communications.
Comments
Naren
terrorism started from Sikhs not Muslims and till today your people only following it. No need to teach matured person like you so understand the logic of your people.
Is constitution said to make illegal relationship with ladies without marrying them to fulfill your desire? Is your community got the message from constitution to rape in the bus and to kill innocent girl? Constitution made for good will of the citizens not to torture them.
there is no deference between you and Israel but remember we fear Almighty.. Not you or them!
rikacha , nimma root navare kanri , foot alla ... hahaha ...
You cannot expect more than these goondas who dont heistate to worship anything. they don't know what is God
Here we cant show patience or silence.
When justice fails, then Tit for tat is only the ultimate solution.
constitution dont say u can marry 4 , constitution dont say u can do terrorism , killings , rapes , but ur community does it . then whats the problem in telling this ... first of these three rogues are not indians , they look like pakistanis ...isis barodakke they are creating launch pads , but nationalist indians are there to protect hindus , sikhs and christians ..nam deshadalli yaava kumda salafist backed isis nadiyalla ... anybody questions our nations integrity will be strongly dealt with . Muzzies are thinking by doing this they can bring down modi from PM post . no ... not at all possible . there is a deep polarisation even in villages it isnow being felt . by 2024 , India will be hindu rashtra for sure . to amend constitution 2/3 majority needed and all states if we make congress mukht we are done . with coopearting with israelis , defintely we can achieve this . ummah is so weak that it is already divided , no body has guts to speak against India if it does so ... even if they speak , millitarily they are not on par with India .gulf countries want USD from India , for their cheap petrol . hahaha
No one can change the faith by forcing anything.
bitter truth for RSS
Very dangerous for the future of India. Rising intolerance, forcing others what one practices, poking nose in other's matters, dictating what to eat what to wear, all these will eventually lead to sectarian fights, genocides, civil war etc., India may end up in situation similar to Iraq and Iran. BJP sarkar and Sangh parivar must control their bhakts before it is too late.
Constitution even did not say to eat or drink :P
By looking at their face they look very papa, but they raised voice against what other side party asked. strange but true.
What if they call Jai Mata Di or not?
accused must be punished who are they to beat the innocents.
my foot....
Its Their Wish any constitution dint asked all the citizen to call anything particularly.
Add new comment