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
Good initiative and we hope this has a wide outreach.
The activities of the fringe antisocials have to exposed for what they are and whom they serve.
By educating our youth, imparting skills, creating jobs and fostering humanity, we can ensure that harmony is sustained.
We are busy firefighting and not bothering to target and tackle the root cause, the real fire.
So pleased to see that the various sects have come together towards a better future for our beloved Mangalore.
Bravo!
Few on dias are jobless. Nice way to make living.. no income tax at all.
Easy life
Organising such an event is itself a landmark in communally sensitive city like Mangalore. It is Humanity Vs Hate & Terror. Wish this small step by proud sons of Mangalore prove to be a sigh of relief to the Peace loving general public of twin districts. Hope this will be the start of isolating BAD ELEMENTS from ALL COMMUNITIES for a Better Managalore!! Jai Hind!
Great stuff Saif.. May God Bless you... Hope all the Mangaloreans understand and live peacefully... @ Viren .. dont follow whoever you are following blindly..it will lead you no where... hatred has never brought peace no where in the world.. it will only lead to destruction.. live and let live.. Jai Hind
Hi Mangaloreans,
Thanks a million for your support and kind words.
1. Small drops make a ocean , have patience
2. Wish you the same and Thanks for the motivation madam
3. It's just the beginning and we have just started with a few , will be adding more in the future.
4. Thanks a million sir
5. The youth wing of Billavara Sangha Yuva Vahini is with us & youth from all communities are being misused
6.Thanks a million for your wishes sir
7. We are organising such events to warn Mangaloreans about trouble makers like you in all communities, we have filed a Cyber Crime Complaint and they are tracking your IP Adress , expect a call soon where you are
Jai Hind
this is a pure gimmick by both parties. In fact worship idols itself a gimmick.. all show off.. to fool people..
I think organisers forgot to include Hizbul mujahideen. hahaha.
Try involve Billavara Sangha representation. Billava youths are mostly used by the leaders of violence for their political benefits.
Most of the roudism, murder etc cases billava unemployed or uneducated youths are behind . They are the one who get killed and most they are the one who are going to the Jail.
Good Luck!
All the best.
Our twin districts known for peaceful co-existence communal harmony,love,brotherhood and trust. And also known for hospitality for guests Mangaloreans are intelligent educated smart and kind hearted people.. But now a days people are living with hatred and
insecure feelings. Few anti social elements trying to spoil the image of our districts by seeding the hatred poisons in the minds of the innocent people. It is the responsibility of all the NGO's ,politicians, religious scholars, administrative institutions to promote and uphold the peace and harmony in the society.
Major NGO's and religious organizations missing in the unique conclave.
Good move. God bless you all. God bless Mangaluru.
But when the major organisations will unite for a better cause? you can bring small organisations together anytime. Even though bunts organisations is part of the event, am sure it's for name sake.
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