I am sure no one would be surprised to hear that internet usage was up 38% year over year in March, according to Statista, or that the top video conferencing tools had more than 10 million downloads in just the last week according to Android and Apple store stats. There are simply more people trying to work remotely than there have been in the past.
Yet it may come as a surprise just how far we may have to go. For example, Microsoft Teams usage in China is up 500% since the start of January. Gartner predicts in the next several years that 30% of organizations will drive their greatest competitive advantage from how they leverage emerging technologies. Areas like AI (Artificial Intelligence), IIoT (Internet of Things), and Analytics packages are becoming more mainstream, as is working remotely.
Over the past few weeks, many of these platforms have been stress-tested due to all the additional traffic. In my conversations with fellow business owners, products like Zoom have been better equipped to handle the increased traffic whereas early feedback has said others like Web-Ex have had a few glitches. Most offer a free trial period so you can identify the best product to get what you are looking for.
For the next few weeks, we will be working on a series of six blog posts that look at the tips and strategies that can help you and your team transition to the new ways of working. We will be taking a look at how different products can help make you more successful as you work at home as well as some strategies to help your team work together. More on that in our next post…
