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.
In an affidavit, advocate Farha Faiz on Tuesday sought directions from the apex court to refer the question of reforms in personal laws, being examined suo motu as “Muslim Women's Quest for Equality”, to the five-judge Constitution bench.
Comments
Dear SK, you said true to Shaji.
Dear Shaji read the above article.
Now the lady complains of there is another Sharia court apart from existing Federal Sharia court of India.
How can you accept Triple talaq is valid when the entire Umma rejects it. Thalaq is not a simple matter. Therefore Islam has made it very difficult and last resort when all the doors are closed to continue the life together for the couple. Then only they invoke the Talaq in different stages.
Islam has given right to both Man and women the protection of separation but it as a final one and only solution where they can not continue their married life.
The lady can also seek for divorce. Islam has Logical reason for everything. This is true religion by God, so the God has made all the practical rules how to lead the life in every aspects of the life.
Please note Islam is the only religion where women can not be forced to work by their husbands. Islam protects women.
Shaji, Mangalore ....Let us learn to accept the mistakes ( if any )....
Can you say confidently that talaq matter is rightly practiced in our society as per the teachings of Quran .....
I think this moderate Muslim woman lawyer does not know what is shariat. She needs freedom like non muslims. In this case she is free to convert to other religions where she will no issue of shariat. She may ask court to ban prayer / fasting / payment of zakat also which is not liked by her and may be facing hard to follow them. I am sure that she is not following Purdah which is a burden to her. However, how long is she going to live in this world. I reqeust her not to follow Saitan and some Munafiqs. May Allah guide her
If the Shariah laws are properly followed and implemented, then we would not have seen this situation......
Is there any sharia court in India.....am surprised???
If ant get wings, think that its final day is very near.
Is she following Shariah law? At least if she know what is Shariah law?
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