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
Thank u raj. Wish u all the best in your study and search for truth. May Allah give u hidaya.
I had given link for second answer but it wasnt posted. Check this out https://islamqa.info/en/118698
Or \118698: Consensus that the Earth is round\" in google or islamqa.com"
Mohammed thank u for one answer. According to all religion. The best religion is islam without a doubt. I started studying islam. After eating halal and non halal meat i cooked them both. Non halal meat is hard not that tasty. Halal meat was juicy soft and delicious
Sai baba. Says sab ka maalik ek hain. But people started worshiping him.
Dear Raj, It's not stoning the devil . There is nothing in Islam called stoning the devil. It's called Ramyul Jamarah in Arabic which means throwing the pebbles. This is done to symbolize the three places where Prophet Ibrahim was approached and tempted by Satan to turn away from Allaah's command.
There is no devil there and every Muslim knows that.
Mr. Raj...
By knowing answer to only two questions , do not change your religion...first study know about creator , and think whether you worshipping Him or not ? then try to know which religion presents true qualities of creator , after that you may go for change...
regarding pelting stone , no muslim is worshiping stone as hindu religion..those worship , they never throw stone at them but they pour milk & flower on them with 'aastha'... mena stoning is a symbolic ritual remembering stoning of prophet Abraham (PBUH) to devil , when it prevent Abraham (PBUH) of sacrifice...
Mujahid.
Is the devil stone. Man made. Or who made it.
Mr mujahid.
Quran 79:30. It says he expanded the earth. No where does it says it is egg shaped. I downloaded quran app in english translation.
No translator says so. Where did u get it.
Where is the point ? We are not worshipping that stone, rather its symbolic representation that we follow the commandment of Allah SWT.
Stoning it remembers us the our forefathers, and its strengthen our belief.
Where did you find Islam tels earth is round? U got wrong information.
Quran clearly explain the shape of the earth.
“And the earth, moreover, hath He made egg shaped.”
[Al-Qur’an 79:30]
The Arabic word for egg here is dahaahaa1 which means an ostrich-egg. The shape of an ostrich-egg resembles the geo-spherical shape of the earth. Thus the Qur’an correctly describes the shape of the earth, though the prevalent notion when the Qur’an was revealed was that the earth was flat.
Universe 12.5 billion years ,earth 4.5 billion years,black stone and stoning the devil 1400yrs.How many more years you guys need to get rid of the devil.Please don't get duped by the mullahs and be brain washed,realize, repent,and wash of your sins,follow a dharma that is a way of life and attain moksha.
Its just a stone. Where is the devil. Same as we hindu. Worship stone we think god exists in the stone we created. Tum kare to chamatkar. Hum kare thi balatkaar.
And if u show me earth is round in islam.
If i get a these 2 answers iam ready to convert to islam.
Add new comment