Telework, Digital Transformation & The Changing Workforce


The developing coronavirus (COVID-19) issue has cast a fresh light on the evolving business landscape. Companies around the world—many of which were previously on the fence about telework—are now embracing the concept to prevent illness from spreading among workers.

Telework, it should be noted, recently received a big endorsement from Nancy Messonnier, who is director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.

“…businesses can replace in-person meetings with video or telephone conferences and increase teleworking options,” Messonnier said during a conference call.

This type of endorsement can go a long way in convincing executives that it’s okay to trust telework and allow employees to exchange sensitive information beyond the borders of an office.

Telework, after all, can make a lot of sense in certain environments—especially when a threat like something like the novel coronavirus arises. With the right communications system in place, and an organized, distributed workforce, an organization can be just as effective. In fact, workers can be even more productive at home than an office environment in many cases.

Embracing Telework Through Digital Transformation

At the same time, embracing telework can also send the message that a company is attuned with the needs and preferences of their workers. Remote working is now a top demand for many people today, both young and old.

Related: How To Prepare Your Company For Telecommuting

On a broader scale, the remote working trend aligns with an ongoing digital transformation shift that we are seeing across all industries today. Across the board, legacy communications systems are being steadily replaced with digital, cloud-based alternatives that are highly flexible, cost-effective, and easy to deploy. By deploying a technology like unified communication as a service (UCaaS), companies can enable their employees to work from any location without having to rely on third-party communications apps or the PSTN.

Related: Is Your Remote Workforce Ready For Anything?

While it’s still unclear how the telework trend will play out in the long run, whether the coronavirus will have a lasting impact on remote work, or if companies will revert to more traditional work policies in the months ahead once the virus subsides, we can be sure of one thing–telework is vital for today’s work-from-home circumstances. To stay in business, companies must embrace remote working quickly and get up to speed.

Related: How To Leverage DaaS While Working From Home

To get up and running quickly, businesses can turn to flexible cloud technologies such as desktop and mobile softphone extensions, intelligent call forwarding to customized endpoints (such as softphones, home office phones, and cell phones), virtual desktops, and others. And with digital transformation in mind, adopting these technologies now can also prepare companies for the future of telework and beyond.