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It does not have to be a yacht or a large sailing boat, it could simply be your 12 foot inflatable. As long as you have internet you can work and many are doing it instead of sitting in traffic, on trains or busses.

The digital nomad has grown to include more groups of people including corporate heads and even call center people. Work where there is access.

A nice read in the Post.

Paul Hanaoka on Unsplash">

A lot of press lately surrounding office spaces and the return to normal. Many employees have learned to work flexibily and have enjoyed the freedom it brings. Companies, long an opponent to such have now also followed suit in supporting a more flexible work solution.

A recent report by JLL “Worker Preferences Barometer” shows that workers want these types of solutions, office spaces will be more available than ever before.

Small towns who have benefited the most from Covid19 and workers either moving to or working from have fueled many local economies while bigger cities like New York and Chicago have been shuttered. Is a fine balance in where workers from in our future?

We seem to think so. Companies will likely shrink their “campuses” down, saving them money and increasing work from home options (flexibility) for their employees providing a better work life balance. Smaller cities like Hartford, Conn. , Worcester, MA and the booming Tampa Bay area have seen housing prices increase, new talent moving in and a boom in development. Small cities provide many of the amenities of the big city but in a much smaller and more manageable footprint.

Q: Will these thrive Post Covid19?

A: The answer revolves around how much flexibility companies will provide their workers. Some companies will go mostly remote while others will have team days at the office. This provides much needed local income to former bedroom communities while providing more than during Covid19 income to larger cities.

It all depends on that plus how much and how trusting people are in using mass transit, being potentially exposed to Covid 19 variants.

Video conferencing services providers have spent decades teaching the benefits while Covid19 forced these benefits on most people. Finally companies have realized the value and seen that productivity is not dropping off.

It has been a super busy time as we prepare for the launch of our new services and website .. but I found this article on the web about a cool coworking space in the UK that shows how operators of coworking spaces are planning for the Post Covid era.

A snippet from the article with the link below for more reading.

Since first launching in 2017, UK-based Clockwise has kept a laser-sharp focus on anticipating the needs of its members and their companies. Providing permanent flexibility, ongoing support, and proactive service, the team at Clockwise take the time to get to know their members, including where they’re going and how they’re growing.

From the coworking operator’s modest beginnings in Glasgow, Clockwise now has locations up and down the UK with many more openings planned for this year—including its first in London at Wood Green and its first in continental Europe in Brussels.

Post COVID-19 Shift?

As restrictions are lifted and we begin to emerge from lockdown, there has been an increase in the number of people looking to get away from working from home. As a result, we have seen a large number of enquiries for Clockwise Club membership and dedicated desks as well as one and two person private offices.

Many larger companies are now looking to work in a more flexible/hybrid way, with offices providing the space to introduce a rotation system for employees or fitted out with lounge and meeting spaces of their own. This provides us with an exciting opportunity to create bespoke solutions.

Whilst many companies will have reduced office campus footprints many others including startups due to Covid necessities will I believe begin to migrate back to coworking spaces. Many of these will not be only in downtown metropolises but in small towns across the world providing social spaces for workers of all types and all industries to again socialize and collaborate.

Video conferencing has become the communications tool of choice, far beyond the phone call and at the same level as chat / messenger. This is the last integration bridge that will in time work seamlessly together and not one being an add on to the other. Stay tuned www.visiplevc.com is about to give you the real modern meeting!

For more reading please see:

As we are deep diving into our latest services offerings that will blow your mind and based on feedback from you our customers and our partners (thanks by the way) the Team at Visiple will take down this site and launch a brand new look and feel that should truly resonate with you and our message… The Modern Meeting.

While I cannot give you any snapshots and sneak peaks I think you will be very happy. If you have any suggestions until then please “ping” us. We also welcome your comments after we launch our new site and services.

What we will keep is our product offering and info page, blog, and about us. Our products will be easier to order, try and administer, our blog cleaner, lighter (covid-19 diet) and more up to date.

Our Social Media team (ping them here) is fast at work at bringing more people with a similar interest to us via our social media platforms. Look for updated Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram and shhh… some new platforms for us as well.

I do not often cite local newspapers for their stories on anything but local news like those on historic sites, local renewal or redevelopment plans but this appeared in Connecticut´s The Day newspaper that I found interesting.

Some are itching to work somewhere other than home; others love it

Before the pandemic, Jessica Hullman did not like to work from home.

A computer science professor at Northwestern University, just outside Chicago, Hullman, 40, drew energy from her students, she said. But away from campus, it dawned on her that the same students who fueled her also drained her focus with their frequent interruptions. In her mostly male department, she was often too aware of what she was wearing and how she appeared.

"It's almost like everybody takes up the same amount of space," she said. "What I realize is that I feel much happier working from home."

Hullman is in no rush to return to the office.

Ok it was written for The Washington Post but much to my shock it was picked up locally leaving me thinking..”wow does this small town newspaper and its followers finally get it?”….

The entire article can be read here: ARTICLE

COVID-19 pandemic, remote work revamps IT investment priorities

According to a PwC and Qualtrics survey, leading IT organizations stepped up security and privacy, cloud and engagement investments.

A recently published article on ZDNet highlights the improvements the video conferencing industry has made in lightning speed during the Covid19 pandemic and where investments have been prioritized. The team at Visiple has prioritized many of these areas for some time. Others with a lot of media coverage, less so. However we see the need to continue re-enforcing our commitment to having a safe and secure video call.

Will Corona Change How We Work Forever?

Nearly 9 months have passed since the Covid-19 pandemic. Most of us have been forced to work from home, while others have lost their jobs. Will the world of work change forever? Here is what some experts and the team at Visiple think.

How will we work, live and thrive in the post-pandemic future? How is Covid-19 reshaping our world – potentially, forever… or atleast for the coming period of time.

Looking at the issue of work: how the pandemic has normalized remote work, and what that might mean for all of us. Will we go to the office again? How we will communicate, connect, socialize and create? And what will work mean if our offices are virtual and we lose those day-to-day social interactions? Will we be more productive? or will we transform in to Wall-E type characters?

Can we learn from Covid-19 and build better safety nets for the most vulnerable workers, those that have to be present? And if the future is digital, how do we make sure swathes of the global population aren’t left behind? which they are already and modern society is moving almost already beyond their reach.

Work will never be the same, even if we don’t yet know all the ways in which it will be different but judging by today… it will be remote, more flexibile and in some if not many cases lead to longer “work” days and less commuting essentially sacrificing hours from the daily grind of commuting to working more hours.

If we can move past 9-to-5, office-centric work, there’s an opportunity to retain the best parts of office culture while freeing ourselves from bad habits and inefficient processes, from ineffective meetings to unnecessary bureaucracy, and delays caused by last second tasks.

Employee perspective: the shift is huge. People are making new choices about where they want to live and creating new expectations about flexibility, working conditions and life balance that can’t be undone. We saw the draw of millenials moving to places they can walk to work, meet and eat out with friends. This shift has only been pressed even harder as cities like New York and Boston have seen not only the millenials but all ages move to smaller towns, more affordable, and safer that will even after the pandemic is over afford them a place to go, meet and see their friends.  Future Forum research of 4,700 knowledge workers found the majority never want to go back to the old way of working. Only 12% want to return to full-time office work, and 72% want a hybrid remote-office model moving forward. WOW!

All this change in our methods will go hand-in-hand with a change in our tools like Video conferencing, file sharing, project management tools like Trello and Slack. Of course, we think Slack has an important role to play as a new kind of headquarters for a digital first world, but the opportunities for digital transformation are expansive and wide-ranging. Businesses that do it well will drive engagement, achieve organisational agility, maintain alignment and empower teamwork across all disciplines and locations. They will have a competitive advantage in this new era of work but there are 1000s of new companies entering this very space. Unknown to most today, giants tomorrow…

Image via Pexels

It seems like there is always news of a big company experiencing a data breach, including Equifax, Yahoo, Marriott International, eBay — the list goes on. However, it’s not just the large corporations that get hit with cybercrime. Small businesses are the target of 43 percent of cyberattacks, and the percentage keeps rising. The main reason for this is that most small businesses are not adequately prepared to defend themselves, and attackers know it. 

While data breaches and other types of cyberattacks can hurt the big companies, they can have a devastating impact on small businesses that are dependent on cash flow each month, especially as we’re dealing with a difficult economic environment as a result of COVID-19. Therefore, if your company has been breached, it’s essential to take immediate steps toward recovery. The information below can help you get started with a recovery plan, as well as help you prevent data breaches in the future. 

Recovering from a Data Breach 

The first step of recovery is to stop the breach quickly. If you have a solid security infrastructure in place, or if you hire a cybersecurity expert, you may be able to isolate the system(s) that experienced the attack. Then, you can shut down that department, disconnect any breached user accounts, and take other steps to prevent the breach from spreading further. 

Next, you will want to assess the damage that the breach has caused your company and figure out how the attackers succeeded with the breach, as this will help you prevent future attacks. After you’ve evaluated the situation, it’s time to notify the people affected by the breach. This includes customers, clients, third-party organizations, and anyone else who could have had their information compromised. You can notify affected parties through email, phone calls, or any other channel of communication that your company regularly uses. 

Then, you will need to perform a security audit. In short, a security audit means that you evaluate your current security systems so that you can develop a future recovery plan. During an audit, a security expert will analyze the situation and propose policies and fixes that can help prevent future attacks. 

Once you have your information from the security audit, you should have an idea of where your vulnerabilities lie, as well as how you can modify your recovery plan for the future. Changes to the plan might include things like providing data security training for your employees, drawing up new privacy policies, and enforcing new policies with third-party businesses and consultants. 

Preventing Future Data Breaches

Hackers, former employees, or anyone else with access to company information can be the culprit of a data breach. Whether you are recovering from an attack or haven’t experienced one yet, it’s essential to take steps to protect your small business. 

Usernames and passwords are typically how a cybercriminal will access your company’s operating system, so start by ensuring that each worker’s passwords are complex and strong, and change all passwords and usernames each month (or even each week). 

Be sure to take precautions when it comes to your company’s communication. Making sure passwords are updated regularly will help protect sensitive information contained in emails. To keep your conversations over video and audio conferencing private, use Visiple’s safe and secure Video Conferencing. Our encrypted cloud-based solution ensures that your team can collaborate over a secure connection, protecting your client and business data from being breached.

Also, make sure you are using a secure internet service provider (ISP), quality anti-malware software, and reliable encryption measures. Lastly, be sure to provide access to certain information only to the employees and other parties who need it. And consider blocking unnecessary sites that are prone to carry viruses and spyware. 

In an article from Raj Choudhury in The Harvard Business Review he dives in on the ability to work from anywhere. The articles starts off “Before 2020 a movement was brewing within knowledge-work organizations. Personal technology and digital connectivity had advanced so far and so fast that people had begun to ask, “Do we really need to be together, in an office, to do our work?” We got our answer during the pandemic lockdowns. We learned that a great many of us don’t in fact need to be colocated with colleagues on-site to do our jobs. Individuals, teams, entire workforces, can perform well while being entirely distributed—and they have. So now we face new questions: Are all-remote or majority-remote organizations the future of knowledge work? Is work from anywhere (WFA) here to stay?”

The team at Visiple has been a champion of remote and work from anywhere initiatives since our inception in 2015 and prior to that while running another global video conferencing as a service company through one of the earliest remote work initiatives out of Canada called "Work Shift”.

As companies and management realize team members can be productive if not very productive while working from anywhere and in many cases being more productive than “in office”. The time used to commute 30 minutes to 1hr or more x 2 is now used logging on, handling customers etc… for a minimum netgain of 5hrs more per week or more.

Companies are also realizing “AGAIN” the campus model is nice but not needed at least at the same size as today saving leasing costs and more while providing their employees with more flexibility. Companies that understand remote working models do provide (in a pre and post Covid-19) onsite team building, strategizing and pulse meetings as “belly to belly” is still the best way to do business and create better relationships within teams.

Working from anywhere also cuts the brain drain down in smaller communities allowing people to work and live in the same community which is also a bonus for the environment and wallet. Covid has not “taught” many companies on how to allow work from anywhere but has forced companies to do so to the benefit and safety of everyone.

#workfromanywhere

#covid19

#remotework

#WFA

#visiple

#videoconferencing

STAY INFORMED WITH SMS TEXT INVITATIONS

SMS Text Invitations simplify how meetings are arranged, hosted, and joined from any device.

We know the most of us already have enough difficulty staying updated with our calendars and invitations that come and go. Visiple is set to launch our SMS integrated service which allow meeting invites and meeting links to be sent to your and your participants phones.

Get Your Message Noticed

SMS Text Invitations get sent to participants’ handheld device and are automatically synced to their calendars. Your invite won’t get lost in an email thread.

No longer will you need to copy and paste with Visiple´s new SMS text invites.

Schedule Meetings On The Fly

In case of an urgent matter, SMS Text Invitations is the quickest way to set up a meeting right now. It’s fast, convenient and sends the message directly.

Remember with Visiple there is No Software Download Required

If you weren’t familiar with video conferencing platforms before (how can that be with Skype, FaceTime, and Visiple) the pandemic, I bet you have at least seeen Zoom on TV Stations everywhere, MS Teams and invites from brand xyz / name here for a video call.

More people working from home than ever before if not full time then most of the time. Companies were foced by COVID to use video conferencing as their primary means of communication between employees or cease to exist - as simple as that! With social distancing measures in place, even spending time with family and friends is now largely restricted to video. Video is everywhere.

Video conferencing was already a mid teens billion dollar business before COVID now add the multiplier.

The Boom

Out of all the conferencing platforms that exist, Zoom has become the heavyweight champion knocking off Skype for the belt. They reported growth of 30x year on year during Corona and were listed on the stock exchange. Eric Yuan played this brilliantly.

Why has Zoom raced so far ahead of Skype and all others? Well it is simple.. and this does not mean there is no room for companies like Visiple, Microsoft and others but again they played it brilliantly.

Ease of getting started on the platform - link sharing, auto connect to the app.

Easy to create meetings and invite. Simple!

Customizable backgrounds have created a super buzz.

Other than thatb their quality is decent, comparabale to Visiple and others and better than Skype.

The Cost

The cost aka. shortcomings are many but obviously not enough to drive away users (yet).

In video conferencing circles we used to count 10s of thousands of users, Zoom measures millions and hundreds of millions (300m in Q2 2020). The proliferation of the company’s platform resulted in the extension of Zoom’s privacy risks to massive numbers of users, leading to widespread concerns and several lawsuits.

Security vulnerabilities predated the pandemic, but these issues are now heightened due to the growing number of users on the platform. “Zoom-bombing,” Hackers successfully infiltrate video meetings to disrupt and sometimes threaten participants. The protests of the streets have come to video.

Additionally, there are allegations that recordings of some Zoom calls have been accessible on the web, while uninvited people have apparently found ways to join calls at times, which certainly poses major security and privacy concerns accrording to several blogs and websites.

How to Create a Successful Web Conferencing Platform

Simple… but making things simple is never easy! Our How´s are:

Easy to access, easy to start

Intuitive

A nice User Experience and UI - Targeting all types of users not just boardrooms.

Free version

Great security measures 

Messaging that resonates with users - cutting the tech talk!

Free and Paid Marketing - Using Media to promote and connect to the service. The more you see it, the more it is validated.

Millions of people have lost their jobs since the coronavirus pandemic hit the United States. As states reopen and businesses begin re-hiring workers, things are looking up for the unemployed. But numerous people are still without work. Picking up a remote role could be a great way to make ends meet and survive the phase between jobs! If you’re interested in working from home, check out the following tips to learn how you keep the cash flowing while you look for your next full-time role. 

Turn to Freelancing

If you’ve always wanted to be your own boss, this is your chance! Freelancers enjoy incredible flexibility and freedom in their day-to-day work. If you already possess some marketable skills—such as writing, editing, project management, SEO, coding, design, marketing, or bookkeeping—you can jump into a freelance career right away! Finding your first client may feel a little daunting, but with the help of online job boards, professional networking websites, and freelancing platforms, your search should be relatively painless.

Just make sure you have the tools you need to thrive as an independent freelancer! Freelancers have access to a vast number of small business tech tools, from scheduling apps to invoicing software. For example, video-conferencing tools like Visiple are great for connecting with clients and collaborating with other freelancers. Take advantage of the tech that’s out there to streamline your work and improve your chances of success.

Expand Your Professional Skills and Knowledge Base

Freelancing isn’t for everyone. And it’s not the only way to earn money while working from home! Companies big and small are always in search of great remote employees. If you have your eyes on a remote position, but you need a few more skills or credentials to make it there, consider using this time to head back to school. Through online universities like WGU, you could get a degree in accounting, marketing, business management, information technology, or anything else that interests you!

Update Your Resume

If you’re after a remote position, make sure your resume reflects this! Tailor your resume to the remote position by detailing the specific skills that will allow you to thrive as a work-from-home employee. As Skillcrush explains, remote employers want to know that you can work independently, communicate effectively, and use common digital tools like document sharing services and remote communication apps to collaborate with teams. Of course, if you have samples of your work or personal metrics of your measurable accomplishments, be sure to list these as well! It’s also important to include your location since some companies may be looking for workers in a similar time-zone. 

Don’t Get Discouraged

When you start looking for remote work opportunities, you may find yourself getting a little discouraged by demanding job requirements. But believe it or not, you don’t have to meet all of those job requirements to wow your hiring manager and land your dream role. Chances are, those employers will never find a candidate that checks all of the boxes, and you could be their closest match! Be confident and apply to any job that you can see yourself excelling at. In your resume and interview, highlight the skills that will help you succeed in this role instead of focusing on the skills that you lack.

Join the Gig Economy

If you’re just looking for a quick way to make ends meet while you wait for an available opening in your full-time career, try finding work in the gig economy. Gig workers take on odd jobs here and there, working for various companies at the same time. You can earn money doing nearly anything, from walking people’s dogs while they’re at work to renting out a spare bedroom in your home. And with the help of gig economy apps like Fiverr, Uber, Airbnb, Rover, and TaskRabbit, you can start your side hustle with little to no investment! 

I found this article today online and hope it can help some of our small businesses survive another day!

Remember working smarter is using the tools available to you like Visiple

If you’re a small-business owner, don’t overlook tax breaks that could help this year—whether your business is on the ropes or is booming. 

The coronavirus pandemic has left millions of small businesses like restaurants and shops  struggling to survive. Nearly two million American firms, mostly small ones, have already closed their doors in 2020, says Raymond Greenhill, president of Oxxford Information Technology, which tracks about 32 million U.S. businesses of all sizes. At the same time, some small firms, like cleaning services and bike stores, are straining to meet demand.

The team at Visiple has been working remotely (from home) for years and we have some great tips on how to not only be comfortable but how to be productive and happy while working from wherever!

Most of us are working from home now as the fast-spreading coronavirus has forced us to shelter in place. That means that many of us are working remotely in less than ideal ergonomic situations as we type on laptops in bed, on bookshelves, on the couch and at the kitchen table. Staying home may be the right thing to do for the greater good, but it can be the wrong thing for your body, especially if you’re working at an impromptu desk with spouses, roommates, children and pets underfoot. As a result, many of us are feeling stiff and sore, no matter how many online yoga classes we do.

“There is a saying that ‘the best position is the next position,’” says Agoura Hills-based ergonomics consultant Karen Loesing, an expert in evaluating work stations. The key, Loesing says, is to break up the workday with stretching, walking and a variety of postures. Here, Loesing offers 8 tips on how to stay healthy while working from home, plus some shopping inspiration in case you need to upgrade your WFH station.

The complete article for tips can be found here

Working for yourself can be so freeing, but it can also be pretty stressful. That last part can be particularly true if you find yourself overwhelmed by projects and responsibilities, but just because you work for yourself doesn’t mean you have to take on these tasks by yourself. You can always use tech or even freelance help to take those projects off of your plate so you will be able to focus on other business matters. This guide can make finding that help a little easier 

Solopreneurs vs. Entrepreneurs

Before you can start thinking of all of the ways that tech and freelancers can help boost your business, you need to determine if you’re actually a solopreneur. The key difference is that an entrepreneur has at least one employee who helps out with business tasks on a consistent basis. While a solopreneur works alone to build and grow his/her small business. This isn’t to say that the former can’t use freelancers and technology to make business operations more efficient — it’s just that solopreneurs tend to need the most help when it comes to their businesses. Ready to figure out what type of help your business needs? Then keep reading! 

How Freelancers Can Help Solopreneurs 

First, let’s talk about what freelancers can do for your fledgling business, and the answer is just about anything! Finding the right freelancers could be critical to ensuring that your essential projects are taken care of and that those projects have a positive impact on your business. Freelance sites like Upwork and Fivver make it easy to find the talent you need to boost your new business, so be sure to check these job boards out for your freelance needs. Also, keep in mind that freelancers tend to be solopreneurs as well, so compensate freelance professionals fairly if you want to use their talents in the future. If you need some help providing this compensation, especially due to COVID-19, also know that you may be able to secure a small business grant to help offset the costs of hiring freelancers. 

When to Go from Solopreneuer to Entrepreneur

If you find yourself needing the same type of help over and over again, it may be time to think about hiring your first employee. This can be a big step for your small business but it can also ensure that you have the consistent support you need without having to spend hours finding reliable freelance talent. If you do decide to hire new staff, taking care a few legal steps can help keep your business out of hot water. You can start by obtaining an employer identification number (EIN) so that you can set up your payroll systems correctly. Speaking of staying legal, even if you do hire freelancers, you should understand the differences between contract and regular employees. Then, you can avoid surprise tax penalties and issues. 

How Tech Can Help Solopreneurs Thrive 

Chances are that you have already used some sort of tech to get your business up and running. Even if it’s your smartphone, having the right tech really can make a difference between having your new startup succeed or fail, but you shouldn’t stop with a phone. In order to compete with other small businesses and entrepreneurs, you should look for tech updates that will give your business an edge. Digital marketing tools are some of the most helpful tech that solopreneurs can invest in, and these tools can include project management apps like Trello or video conferencing and screen-sharing software such as Visiple. What’s more, many of these important tech tools offer free versions to help small businesses but you may need to look into paid subscriptions to get the most benefits for your startup. You can also use the business grants mentioned above to help out with these added expenses. 

Even solopreneurs can’t do it all on their own! Outsourcing projects and tasks to outside help could be the perfect solution if you’re a busy entrepreneur, although making those tasks easier with tech can also be helpful. Make sure you have the tech tools and freelance help you need so that you can watch your business succeed and thrive! 

Photo by Anna Shvets from Pexels

Home offices are fast becoming a basic necessity for many of us, and this is a trend that will only continue in a post-COVID-19 world. As more and more of us work from the comfort of our homes, it's important to turn our attention to one key factor that can transform our everyday working lives: ergonomics. Why Ergonomics is Important for Your Home Office As explained by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ergonomics is the scientific study of people at work. It helps fit a job to a person in an effort to prevent any physical pain that could hinder their ability. Case in point: Working from home might seem like a lot of fun at first. After all, lying in bed can easily seem like a dream compared to stressful commutes and crowded offices. But Pain Free Working points out how this all can turn sour without proper ergonomics, as you will soon find a strain on your neck, shoulders, and back. Over time, this can develop into serious (and costly) injuries. Thankfully, you can help prevent these problems by creating an ergonomic home office, maintaining proper posture, and investing in the right equipment. True enough, researchers from Texas A&M University have found that when employees started using a standing desk — an ergonomic device — they became 45% more productive on a daily basis. Now that you're working from home, it's more important than ever to create a conducive space for work. And making your home office as ergonomic-friendly as possible can definitely help get the job done. How to Create a Healthy Home Office If you're not quite sure how to build an ergonomic home office, here are some top tips and tricks to help you get started. Sit Properly Needless to say, maintaining good posture while working is easier than done. Fortunately, making small yet meaningful adjustments to the way you sit down can help you support your spine throughout the day. To achieve proper posture, you should sit up straight with your knees and elbows bent at a 90-degree angle. Plus, make sure that your computer monitor is an arm's length away. If you have a hard time reaching your keyboard, you should consider investing in an external keyboard to help you type at ease. Stay Grounded While you're at it, it's important to ensure that your feet are always flat on the floor. In this way, you won't cause discomfort and pressure on your spine that could lead to problems, such as a stiff neck, back pain, and even poor blood circulation. Don't fret if your feet can't touch the ground, as an adjustable footrest can help your feet hit the floor, and thus sit properly when you're working away. Keep Thing Above Eye-Level If you're a laptop user, chances are that you hunch forward in order to look at the screen. However, Thrive Global notes that when your screen isn't one or two inches above eye level, you can easily develop neck strain and back pain. On that note, an ergonomic fix to this problem would be utilizing a laptop stand that will help set the screen at the right height. Alternatively, you can stack a thick book or two to help you save more while saving your back.

Article specially written for visiplevc.com

By Rania Jarman

What we have learned from all of this working from home, being disconnected physically from our colleagues while being even more connected to our immediate families is that it is possible to change how we have been working. Until Covid-19 arrived on our proverbial plates there was a mistrust of remote working and working via video conferencing. This has all changed…

Video and Web Conferencing companies have been preaching since the 1990s on the benefits of video communication and mostly from a technical and human resoource management perspective. Often barriers were created to simply limit or not allow the option of working remotely even one time per week. Employees we best trusted when seen which was often hidden behind “the need for team and watercooler talks” etc… but in reality it was “we have always worked best this way when we can physically police our employees”.

When thurst into the situation of die or allow remote work it has well seemingly worked out very well and life and business goes on. We have become used to remote meeting interuptions like the dog barking, the kids walking in on video and the god awful messy home offices we see daily.

Services like Zoom, Visiple, Teams and others have been taking over the heavy lifting of communication tools fast outpacing use of the phone. Some like Zoom have burst onto the scene, then were set up for hacker attacks while Teams has been the choice tool for schools across the world. Visiple has seen explosive growth from remote workers from all sizes of companies across the world. Just yesterday an Indian media company signed up for dozens of licenses and have been using the service around the clock. Microbreweries in New England, concert houses and artists are now using Visiple and other services to connect with their customers and audiences.

We have learned that the world goes on, it has to… change always comes from the outside and this change will hopefully help more companies allow their employees a better work-life balance (more remote work and flexibility) and trust, trusting that they really are working thus ending preconceptions that remote workers are simply hanging out.

You see it is possible!