COVID-19 and the Remote Working Collaboration Paradigm Shift
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments, businesses, and individuals around the globe continue to grapple with the new normal of how we work. Working remotely has not only become a nice to have but “must have” capability and while adjustments are still being made, especially for those teams who are accustomed to working together in the same physical location, it really is possible to get more work done and even higher quality levels when the same team is distributed, and working from home.
The key is in the tools being used, and in the progressive management styles, modern organizations have already been deploying for years. Those who have invested in secure, scalable and accessible from anywhere online collaboration and productivity platforms are finding it easier to naturally keep work flowing so they are able to seamlessly pivot to virtual meetings and calls as a natural extension of working in “the office.”
In ordinary times, individuals who work from home may enjoy more freedom over their time and location, and additional productivity and economic benefits such as not having to spend time and money commuting.
![Screen Share Unified Communications screen-share-](/sites/default/files/screen-share-unified-communications.png)
In these highly uncertain times, it also provides a safer environment to work in.
Businesses around the world are being increasingly impacted by the changes that are the result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The explosion in the number of employees working from home not only means that they are collaborating remotely with colleagues, but it also means working with customers in the same manner – so virtual working and collaboration extends way beyond internal teams to external customers, partners, vendors and consultants.
Ribbon is proud to be a leader in delivering not only efficient and convenient online working environments through our Unified Communications (UC), Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) and Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) solutions which make it possible for teams to gather virtually and rally to keep projects moving. Unlike consumer services, our solutions work on extremely secure networks and when accessed via the internet, WIFI, Enterprise or mobile networks. allowing teams to safely work digitally in virtual private domains.
Unlike Internet-only platforms, because the service providers we partner with provide premium business and enterprise network services to go along with our productivity and collaboration platforms, everything is exponentially better: voice is clear, video resolution is high, and tools and analytics make it possible to record, share, analyze and improve every distributed meeting as needed.
Millions of people around the world are finding themselves in a new business reality over the last month. Workers are being quarantined in their homes or faced with major travel restrictions, and we are proud to help those individuals and their companies continue to operate smoothly and not let this pandemic keep them from achieving their goals.
To help in this regard Ribbon introduced our Work@Home offering, which delivers advanced remote working capabilities to enterprises and contact centers of any size. Our Smart Office platform, which is a key component of the Work@Home offering, provides screensharing, HD video, whiteboard, group chat, conferencing and more on both desktop and mobile clients. Fully functional licenses are available from select partners free of charge until June 30, 2020.
In fact, we believe this crisis will prove a true test of whether people can be as productive and happy as the evidence shows while working from home for extended periods of time. We have invested in theses platforms to develop and expand our secure collaboration and communications technologies, with major roll-outs to not only commercial enterprises but many of the most demanding military and government agencies on earth.
It is at times like these we begin to see the depth of value as enabling new working paradigms is not only making life easier and more productive, but more importantly, potentially saving lives.