With over 785,807 people infected with the virus and 37,820 sad deaths across the globe as on 31 March 2020, coronavirus outbreak has put most of the world’s population behind the doors, Several governments have announced lockdown across the globe including some world-leading nations like India, Italy, Spain, Britain, and Iran.
Source – https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/? Last Update – 11/04/2020
Here in India, Life has changed massively through the span of just 15 days. Schools are shut, urban areas have lockdowns or we can call it nationwide curfew as well, and more Indians than ever before are giving their attendance in offices from the dining tables.
In under fifteen days, almost all the companies, no matter how big or small they are, have asked their employees to set up a personal workplace in their home itself.
Working From Home During Coronavirus – How Does it Actually Feel?
There is no doubt that a remote work policy offers great benefits to employees and the organization. As per a case study by Forbes, work from home can lead to increased productivity which ultimately improves the bottom and the most basic line of every business.
Source – Buffer
Employees can perform way more efficiently as they are way less distracted than in an office environment, employees working from home have less stress and a better quality of life, as they don’t have to deal with the daily traffic issues, food timings, Face to Face arguments and a lot of other things, and these little undoubtedly lead towards a lower stress module and it ultimately leads to higher morale. Also, companies don’t have to think about their operational costs, the systems, office settings, and a whole lot of things.
Source – WorkFront
Okay, that sounds so great, but is this true in these crazy days as well, where coronavirus is making people freak out and stay behind the doors almost 24*7
Regardless of whether you’ve done work from home previously, working remotely due to coronavirus may feel like an entirely different world.
It’s probably unexpected. It may be for an extended time frame instead of for a day or a week or a month. (and you’re not sure in any manner to what extent it’ll last). Your entire company, company tie-ups and everyone who is involved in the day-to-day operations are included. Also, you can’t really associate or socialize face to face to any person outside of your home because of the lockdown which has covered the entire nation.
Hot Apps to Boost Productivity While Working From Home During Coronavirus Crisis
Zoom
Yes, this leading video conference and collaboration app is everyone’s living room during this coronavirus crisis. Founded by Chinese-American businessman Eric Yuan, Zoom is suddenly competing with the tech giants like Microsoft and Google in the video conference and collaboration segment, all the generation – Z is suddenly on the zoom and it has become the most defining app of the coronavirus era. In the era of lockdowns, Zoom has become the most successful and the most useful social tool of the year. Zoom is actually transforming the way people are working or in simpler ways communicating during the isolation period. This app can be a one-stop solution for your complete operations, which involves face-to-face communication or requires some brainstorming.
Skype
In simpler terms, Skype keeps the world talking, maybe the most popular instant text, video, and voice call and file sharing offering application from the house of Microsoft for businesses and individuals. Staying connected with your loved ones has never been so important, coronavirus pandemic has locked people indoors and people are searching for hope in apps like Skype. The easy-to-use platform is used by over 40 million people worldwide and offers free, freemium, and premium plans for the users. In the coronavirus crisis era, Microsoft has seen a massive surge of around 70% in the use of Skype Mobile and Desktop. Also, the call meetings on Skype have increased to 220% as compared to the previous month.
Slack
So, Slack is the app where work happens, yes that’s the tagline they use, they also claim to replace email inside your organization, and we will agree with the fact as well, one of the most simple applications to use for office conversation and file sharing. Also, they have a plethora of applications available to integrate and make your job so much easy. Also, Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield announced that the company is now offering “free upgrades to paid plans” for teams/offices/businesses working on coronavirus or COVID-19 research, response, or mitigation. Last week during the company’s earnings call with analysts, Slack announced that it has been seeing a significant spike in new users for its free offering, as more individuals are working from home to alleviate the spread of coronavirus.
Trello
An Infinitely flexible and incredibly easy to use project management tool, to help you during the coronavirus outbreak which runs on a freemium model. Trello permits you to oversee projects with boards and cards. You can utilize a blend of text, pictures, emoticons, or document attachments on the boards. Despite the fact that Trello depends on the freemium model, you can begin teaming up with teammates with the free plan offered by Trello. users can separate big projects into little pieces by making “cards” for each and every task. Cards can be arranged into various segments, which speak to various phases of a task. As the task gets finished, cards are effortlessly moved to start with one section then onto the next.
TeamViewer
The best in class remote desktop, secure connection & Support powerhouse. TeamViewer is the perfect solution for remotely connected and secured workplaces, allow users to take control of another system or machine remotely, whether it is on Android, Mac, iOS or Windows. The TeamViewer software operates on a freemium kind of model and during the crisis of coronavirus, it has offered some of its premium services for free for the basic version users. TeamViewer offers secure remote access on machines, support, remote control, and coordinated effort devices, and has been introduced to almost 2 billion machines operating on different OS. Up to 45 million are online at any one minute in time. The top features of the TeamViewer remote application include Ad-hoc support, custom branding, integrated service case management and integrations, and integrations for mobile device management.
AnyDesk
AnyDesk is a restrictive remote desktop Application offered by AnyDesk Software GmbH.
The software offers free remote access to PCs running the host application, which can be installed on almost all popular operating systems like Windows, macOS, Linux, and FreeBSD. AnyDesk has been structured and created considering IT experts, offering top-notch service for the individuals who need quick, productive, and dependable remote access. AnyDesk is also a reasonable – and absolutely free – software for private users.
Sign Off Tip
As the crisis of coronavirus continues to spread, each and every business should urge employees for remote work (work from home). Companies can increase their productivity during coronavirus to increase the no. of employees. Conveying standard input to employees, and urging them to do the same, helps everybody line up with team objectives and goals. It also encourages brainstorms on what is being done well and where the team can improve. Working Remotely or Telecommuting can at first be a touch of the test. Be that as it may, when there’s a contagious virus name corona is going around, staying isolated from swarmed offices enormously reduces the probability of transmission. Until the coronavirus is leveled out, the benefits of remote work exceed the burden. As long as it’s taken care of the correct way, your company can be as gainful as ever.
Ankit Kumar Sharma is an Experienced Account Strategist at hicentrik, with a demonstrated history of working in the Information Technology and services industry. Skilled in E-commerce, Communication, Strategy, Digital Marketing, Growth Hacking and SEO.