While the majority of the world is fighting tough against the COVID-19 outbreak, it has definitely taught us a thing or two.
With the worldwide lockdown of the economies, directives released to maintain social distancing, ban on traveling and gathering in large numbers, people have to work towards becoming more digitally advanced to maintain the last essence of normality.
From education to offices and entertainment, the need to digitally transform our workspaces is imperative and the spread of the virus has made it pretty clear.
The companies that are compelled to offer work-from-home options are diligently looking forward to get an upper hand on technology that allows their employees to stay connected.
The business that does not participate in the race to become technologically advanced must suffer from being behind the competition in strong measures.
The Work from Home Option:
The work cannot be stopped and work from home is the only option. Even the most rigid businesses that were against the idea to have a workforce diversified and distributed have to resort to the work from home model.
Reports suggest as little as 3% of the total workforce of the countries worked from home before the virus outbreak.
Only significant organizations like Google, Twitter, JPMorgan, and other significant IT companies or apps development companies allowed the work from home model.
In the current scenario, the companies which were against allowing work from home, are lacking behind because of the unavailability of the right infrastructure and technologies.
This is the time when the importance of fast-tracking digital transformation is getting due attention as it would have gained several years before.
Even one of the biggest economies like China was forced to shut down and adapt to work from home model.
It is believed that after the pandemic is over, most of the companies will try hard to transform digitally while some will still regain their office-centric working style.
The current situation will have many realize the importance of having work from the home facility and its related digital infrastructure available.
Telehealth:
A handful of countries focused on making their health and medicine systems digitally abreast.
This is the reason that now when the COVID-19 rage has become reckless, more and more governments are looking forward to strengthening their telehealth facilities and make themselves available to the patients through smartphones and other digital devices.
The general public, which is not affected by the virus but needs medical assistance for a range of other ailments, seek medical health through physical mediums which expose them to greater mobs and overcrowded lines of patients.
The medicine and health industry must ensure that it focuses on digitally transforming its systems as soon as possible post the COVID-19 pandemic.
E-learning:
One of the biggest sectors that have been hit hard by the COVID-19 is the education sector. Schools, colleges and universities are shut down to prevent large gatherings and thus the spread of the lethal virus.
While some of the advanced universities have resumed their courses through online mediums, many are lacking behind.
The lack of digital setup at most of the universities is making it impossible for them to offer e-learning facilities to the students.
Universities and institutions like Harvard Business School and others have a strong infrastructure in place to offer an e-learning experience.
The employees (teachers, professors, etc.) as well as the students have access to the technology and can maintain to offer and receive information through virtual learning.
However, those who never saw the dire need coming still lag behind in offering virtual assistance to their students.
Virtual Events:
Recently, the G-20 summit on the Coronavirus outbreak was held online. Similarly, several organizations and government events, which were earlier canceled because of restrictions on meeting in person, are planning to take them to a virtual platform.
A number of conferences are being canceled due to the virus and are instead resorting to the online platform. From small-scale organizations to large worldwide summits, all the major events are being held on the online platform and hence having the right infrastructure is yet mandatory.
Business owners and conference organizers must consider arranging digital tools and technologies as a priority and ensure that no such pandemic can hamper their progress towards success.
Technology:
This is the perfect time when you can grab the best of the technologies available.
Most of the top brass companies have come forward with easy, affordable and effective offers that allow you to grab the best technology to promote your digital infrastructure. Some of the technologies and companies that you can make the best advantage of at this pandemic time include:
Microsoft:
Yes, the biggest software company Microsoft has offered a free six-month trial of its top tier of Microsoft Teams to several organizations, the target customer is schools, hospitals, and businesses.
Google:
Google has been very considerate and has offered free access to several advanced features. The facilities provided by the company include Hangouts Meet to all G Suite and G Suite Education and the free access will last for months.
Zoom:
Zoom allows you to conduct online video conferencing and due to the pandemic and followed lockdown, the demand for the option has risen significantly.
The free basic plan, which was earlier permitted for 40 minutes has now been extended to an unlimited time period.
Cisco:
The WebEx service from Cisco has been strengthened and made available to the companies that are looking forward to fighting the pandemic effects. The tool offers 24/7 assistance to businesses for smooth functioning.
LogMeIn:
The video conferencing tool is proving itself very helpful to healthcare providers, educational institutions, and non-profit organizations. You can easily organize GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar using the tool.
It is imperative that businesses understand the importance of work from a home model and have the right tools and technologies in their reach.
By strengthening the digital infrastructure at this time, companies can ensure that their work does not get as much affected as it would without technological access.
It is the right time to wake up from your long-term hibernation and get started on strengthening your infrastructure.