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REMOTE POSSIBILITIES Covid-19 has led to a huge rise in working and learning at home as whole families begin embracing technology to attend meetings, perfect their algebra and entertain themselves Since the Covid-19 lockdown was enforced, working from home has become the new normal for many people and it looks likely to stay that way for some time to come, as businesses are forced to adjust how they operate to ensure the health and safety of their employees in a post-coronavirus world. After the company’s success in moving to a working from home structure, social media giant Twitter has told its staff that they can work from home “forever” if they wish to. Meanwhile both Google and Facebook are allowing their employees work from home until the end of the year. The dramatic rise in home working has led to a monumental surge in the use of video conferencing platforms, such as Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Slack and Skype for Business.
With so many of us now working from home, people’s tech needs have changed... We all know those home workers who are worried about their esteemed colleagues seeing piles of dirty laundry, untidy shelves, or their dodgy wallpaper while they’re taking part in a video conference, as well as those who simply want to liven up their Friday afternoon meeting. In response to this, the BBC has made several of its iconic sets from popular TV series available to download as Zoom backgrounds, so you can turn the tiny spare room into Dr Who’s Tardis, or give the lounge a Strictly Come Dancing makeover.
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GROWING DEMAND In late March, Microsoft reported that the number of daily active users of its Microsoft Teams platform grew from 32 million to 44 million – an increase of 12 million users (or 37.5%) – in just one week. With so many of us now working from home, people’s tech needs have changed. For example, there’s now an even bigger demand for more robust and reliable wi-fi, to cope with more data and heavy usage. Since the pandemic outbreak, mobile operator Vodafone has seen a 50% rise in internet use in some European countries. It attributes this to an increase in the amount of people working from home and also the growing popularity of streaming services, such as Netflix, as families are forced to stay indoors and need to entertain themselves. RELIEVING PRESSURE To help reduce the ever-increasing pressure on broadband across Europe, a number of popular streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+, as well as both Facebook and YouTube, lowered the quality of video streaming.
As more people look to making the shift to working from home more permanent, retailers need to make sure they’re making the most of this trend. Customers will want the latest laptops and accessories, such as monitors, wireless mice and keyboards, while some customers may even be looking to update their outdated home wi-fi, so that it can cope with the increased demand and traffic. According to tech analyst ABI Research, there will be a need for mesh wi-fi products, which are capable of boosting a network connection across the whole house. But it’s not just your wi-fi that’s under strain if you’re working from home for extended periods, your personal life can suffer too, as it’s harder to retain that work life balance. For people who work hard, but also want to play hard, how about indulging in some virtual pub quizzing with friends and family via video chat, or even popping for a pint or two down at The Queen Vic thanks to the EastEnders set backdrop that’s available on Zoom? Lets be honest - who doesn’t enjoy a ‘lock-in’ while they’re on lockdown?
