Category: TECHNOLOGY

Photo by Avi Richards on Unsplash

There is no denying that COVID-19 is testing businesses based on how prepared they were to enable employees to Work From Anywhere. One of the key factors that drives Work From Anywhere culture is the resources an employee gets that allows him/her to be as productive (in many cases more productive than working from the office space) and connected as one would be when working from an office.

Sure, there are companies whose business type doesn’t allow Work From Anywhere. For example warehouse management, restaurants, grocery stores and many more. But the major test for these types of businesses going forward is to adopt a business model that is more geared towards remote management that minimizes human interaction (without eliminating human jobs) and without sacrificing profitability.

Businesses that can allow employees to Work From Anywhere also need to provide the right tools. Those who work at the software and hardware domain already have access to many tools and must have also observed that 90-95% of the tools they use can also be accessed from anywhere.

The post-COVID-19 world is going to be slightly different. It might just give free hand to employees as to whether:

• They want to work a day shift
• They want to work a night shift
• They want to work any shift from anywhere

If the answer is any shift from anywhere, then one also needs the right tools all the time. These tools are a combination of software, hardware, and connectivity. Software and hardware are provided to employees by default in by any company that encourages Work From Anywhere. Also, if one looks at the way of working in software and hardware domains then most of the tools are at the remote locations that can be easily accessed with the click of a button.

Below is the list of a few things that I believe every (not just high-tech companies that can afford)
business needs to provide their employees with:

Hardware

This is 101 if companies want their employees to Work From Anywhere. Without the right hardware with enough computing resources, it will be meaningless to expect employees to be productive. Given how affordable many of the smart devices are, this should not be a big issue for many companies. For many whose, companies by default provide laptops to work with might take it for granted by considering that same is applicable for other companies too. But given that providing hard assets to 1000+ employees also require a dedicated IT team to manage, it makes it more difficult for many companies to let everyone have such take home assets. This raises the need for affordable asset management. It is not that all employees should get laptops. If the work responsibility is different, then companies can move from laptops to pads to smartphones. It all boils down to what hardware resources are right for the job the employee is expected to do.

Software

Right hardware also needs the right software. If you are in hardware designing, you need the right software that is mainly living on the remote server. If you are in software development, you need the right IDE to work that and it may or may not need remote execution. If you are working in customer support, you need telecommunication tools. For doctors, they need patient management and diagnosis tools. For the restaurant business, it can be efficient delivery of goods.

Connectivity

Whether the resources the employee is accessing requires VPN or not, by default VPN should be a must and that also means need for robust internet connection. This enables secure connection and minimizes the risk of hacking. As of today, it seems many employees are paying out of the pocket of connecting the tools to start Work From Anywhere, but it seems like paid healthcare future employees may also demand Paid Connectivity as a requirement in their offers.

For those who work in the tech industry all this seems like “we are already used to this”, but one thing many people don’t understand is when millions of people lose their job due to the pandemic, it also raises the question about how many of these millions of people can work remotely and still be an asset to the company.

In the end it is all about right people working anywhere with the right tools.

Anecdote:

A few days ago, I had to get my account details with the internet provider updated. To do so, I called the customer support and a lady answered my call. 5 minutes into the call while she was in the middle of taking care of my request, I heard the background voice of a baby crying. The lady promptly apologized for it and I was quick to tell her that I understand.

This made me think strongly: Has it always been that customer support employees were Working From Anywhere OR it is just COVID-19 that has made more and more people work remotely OR is it just that this particular employee signed up with the internet provider for remote assistance service due to lack of resources during COVID-19? Something to wonder about.

It all sounds like a cliché, but this is how it’s going to be in post-COVID-19 world: Work From Anywhere.

Photo by Warren Wong on Unsplash

The answer to above question is straight forward, it’s China. In this article, I want to summarize how China is doing by separating it into three categories: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

The Good:

China uses the facial recognition tech to provide citizen with services. For example, if you are running a marathon and need your pictures to be clicked, then you simply sign up for services that will facially recognize you and send all your digital copies at the end of marathon. This is very simple and at the same time very complex service where China scores. I have to say China scores instead of a specific tech company, as most of the big giants in China do have government backing, without which they can’t provide many services that requires digital tapping.

Face recognition commercialization:

1. Upload a selfie to wechat official account.
2. Run Shanghai half-marathon.
3. Within hours get back photos of yourself (from 000’s of pics by freelance photographers).
4. Pay $1 to buy unwatermarked images.
(c/o Neil Nand) pic.twitter.com/us94xWR1eN

— Connie Chan (@conniechan) April 25, 2018

Another example is easy access in and out of parking lot.

Image recognition commercialization in China:

License plate scan so you can pay and exit a parking garage in SECONDS. No paper ticket, dongle or anything.

In SF, half the time my arm is too short to reach the machine. pic.twitter.com/kKcQHAWqlX

— Connie Chan (@conniechan) April 29, 2018

The Bad:

Social Credit System is reputation based system being developed in China to replace the Credit Reporting System to rate its citizens. Using this information, government can literally blacklist people from specific government services like driving license based on how you are driving!. This not only requires tapping into every aspect of citizen’s daily activity but also to bring together surveillance based data that usually will require facial recognition.

This way China is able to bring two systems together to create very robust surveillance infrastructure. Such services are neither good nor ugly, but bad to those who aren’t going to be liability. This is exactly what even an episode of Black Mirror showed.

The Ugly:

The ugliest usage of facial tech in China is 24×7 surveillance. Whether you are a citizen or just a tourist in China, you are being watched 24×7, tracked and followed by cameras everywhere to ensure you aren’t a threat. Though it makes sense to do this in order to provide a safe environment, however the major issue with this is that privacy is no where to be found. Everything you do is being logged. Add all the digital traces in form of digital payments, internet activity etc, and you get a near perfect Total Information Awareness.

On one hand China wants to provide services using facial tech and on other hand it also wants to tap into everyone’s daily activity? What do you think about this? I think India is also heading towards similar system.