From the Entrepreneur’s Corner (29): Smart Working & Tools
With this pandemic, I assume most of you have already switched to smart working, as the Zoom-calling and remote working project management style are already the new normal. A few large companies offer useful workplace tools (source: Tech: NYC); for ex., Cisco expanded access of their free Webex platform, plus free 90-day licenses to businesses that are not Webex customers; Google: free access to advanced Hangouts Meet video-conferencing capabilities to all G Suite and G Suite for Education customers globally until July 1, 2020; LogMeIn: free “emergency remote work kits” available for three months, including GoToMeeting, presentation platform GoToMeeting, and remote desktop access provider LogMeIn; Microsoft: a free six-month license to individuals and IT professionals to access the Teams Office 365 software in order to help facilitate videoconferencing and remote work capabilities. Banking is digital already, so we’re good.
Going remote has implications (good I’d say.) ”There’s this weird thing that happens when people work remotely: Studies show they hardly ever want to go back to the office.” (Buffer’s State of Remote Work 2020 report)
There’ll be some disruptions though: no more client site visits, face-to-face meetings are postponed (unless they’re replaced via video-calls), company events are cancelled, external flights are over, hires are on hold (and interviews are scheduled to occur virtually), consultants and advisors are part of the non-critical overheads. Although some events will continue as planned, many others will be postponed, rescheduled and even cancelled.
But smart working has limits if cash in the bank runs dry after a couple of weeks, maybe months. You need to stay (at least virtually, for the time being) closer to your clients, deliver what they need now (something they’ll remember later) and cash in. And after some time of smart working and getting bored, new business ideas will pop up and we’ll adapt. First, stay healthy!
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