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    COVID-19 virus making way for new working habits

    Synopsis

    Tata Communications has several flexible working policies like WFH, flexible working hours and BYOD in place.

    working-from-home_iStockiStock
    Today’s technologies can be readily deployed from the cloud and introduced to users with really minimal training.
    Peter Quinlan, Vice President of Unified Communications and Collaboration Product Management, Tata Communications on COVID-19 virus making way for new working habits.

    COVID-19 virus outbreak that has affected a sizeable number of countries all around the world and many companies have had to put their remote and/or home working plans in place. Peter Quinlan, Vice President of Unified Communications and Collaboration Product Management, Tata Communications says that as a global company with a highly distributed workforce, for some time now they have had in place flexible working policies - like work from home, flexible working hours, bring-your-own-device (BYOD) and virtual collaboration environments – as well as a variety of unified collaboration technologies widely adopted within the company.

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    But as COVID-19 virus spreads, they are taking even further precautions. “While we have introduced certain travel restrictions in the current scenario, employees have taken this in stride since collaboration with remote colleagues was already the norm, and our teams are quite comfortable leveraging chat, voice, video and collaboration tools to get their jobs done,” says Quinlan.

    ​Peter Quinlan feels it is a great time for companies to look at how they can enable and empower their distributed workforce​.Agencies
    Peter Quinlan feels it is a great time for companies to look at how they can enable and empower their distributed workforce.

    He adds that companies that find this a new experience as they respond to the threat of Coronavirus need not despair, however, as today’s technologies can be readily deployed from the cloud and introduced to users with really minimal training. “I believe the effect of this outbreak will be both an immediate acceleration of organisations’ plans for collaboration technologies and flexible work policies, as well as a longer-term shift in people’s willingness to embrace these technologies – it will become the new “normal”. We already live in a world where users are always connected through personal devices and fast internet connections.”

    Quinlan hopes that the coronavirus appears set to create a compelling event for people to change their working habits. “If it lasts for more than even a few weeks, as it appears on track to, those changed habits will become permanent. While it may be unplanned, now is a great time for companies to look at how they enable and empower their distributed workforce to collaborate, and doing so will pay dividends into the future, long after the current threat has subsided,” he added.


    ( Originally published on Mar 05, 2020 )
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