Virus is a litmus test for ‘working from anywhere’

JOHANNESBURG – Remote working, the working style that allows people to work outside of a traditional office environment, is already a growing trend around the world but is likely to receive a substantial boost from coronavirus fears.

Even before the outbreak of the pathogen, there had been a cultural paradigm shift and growing acceptance of “working from anywhere”, even by giant established companies such as Amazon and Apple.

The coronavirus has accelerated this trend. It’s giving us a glimpse into the future when even more people are expected to work from home.

It will likely prove a real time litmus test not only to see if businesses can carry on functioning effectively during an emergency event, but also if companies could give their employees more freedom from the office in the future. The real test of a company’s ability to allow its employees to work remotely always comes down to excellent IT organisation and preparation.

Thanks to digital transformation and cloud computing, many businesses have probably already migrated a lot of work to the cloud. Collaboration tools should also be in place.