The Wonders of Telecommunications in 2020
I read an excellent article on BBC News which poses the question of what if the coronavirus shutdown had happened 15 years ago? The article highlights just how far telecommunications have come since 2005 - pre smartphone, limited broadband availability, no WhatsApp etc. - and how they have facilitated a phenomenal amount of remote working.
The epidemic has caused vast amounts of economic damage and disruption and will continue do so for many months to come. However, there is currently a huge amount of work being conducted from people’s homes up and down the country which simply would not have been possible a few short years ago. The economic disruption would have been far, far worse. That’s before you even considering other advantages, such as online grocery shopping and banking, online education, entertainment (TV streaming services) and improved health system operations that technology is facilitating, to help us get through this.
Remote Working
It made me realise how much I’ve taken for granted being able to work remotely. I’ve had the option of working from home since I joined the company in 2010, thanks to the fortune of good broadband connections and Collingbourne’s use of secure, remote servers. I’ve been in the lucky position of simply moving form working 1 or 2 days a week in my home office to being here full time.
We’ve used online video teleconferencing since 2013, but where the quality was once patchy and usability terrible, today we have perfect sound and vision every time from a client-friendly system. It’s also incredible that despite massive increases in usage – the article mentions that Zoom has gone from almost unknown to second in Apple’s App Store chart – we’ve seen no slow down or disruption to service.
Just last year, with somewhat fortuitous timing, we were able to roll out our new online portal, MyCollingbourne. This gives us the ability to exchange information, messages and documents with clients in a secure, encrypted manner.
Furthermore, in one respect we’ve experienced a noticeable benefit; we are not commuting hours each day and we’re not travelling large distances to and from meetings. This gives us more time and energy to focus on issues that help our clients and our business.
Moving Forwards
This leaves me to ponder whether, when all of this is over, will things go back to the way they were? Will workers want to go back to commuting 5 days a week when they’ve experienced working from home. Will companies feel able or inclined to deny such requests for flexible working? Will they be as keen on sending people across the country or even the globe when they experience how effective video meetings can be?
Maybe a small benefit might emerge in the form of greater work-life-balance and a reduction in general transport pollution and congestion. As the weeks and months roll on more and more habits and ways of living and working will become engrained - hopefully some of them will be for the better.
Categories / Topics
Latest / Recent Posts