Digital Readiness Becomes The Topmost Priority For Everybody

The corona crash has compelled to think of the importance of digital readiness, which became an inevitable part of business and life to continue as usual – as much as possible – during any similar situations. Implementing the necessary IT infrastructure to plug into a digitized world and stay current in the latest technology will be essential for any business or country to remain compliant in a post-COVID-19 world, as well as take a human-centered and inclusive approach to technology governance.

The situation ahead may be very tough for individuals, business organizations and society in general. As the BBC points out, an estimated 200 million people will lose their jobs due to COVID-19. And the financial burden often hit on the most vulnerable in every society of the world. The mixed situation of digitization and pandemics has accelerated changes to jobs available to humans. The maximum digitization can mitigate the impact on the larger workforce at least a certain level. The most serious situation, in this case, is the lack of preparation and absence of basic IT infrastructure to go for digital compliance to engage employees and customers.

The well-prepared companies could ask their employees to work from home. Remote work is enabled by technologies including Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), Voice over Internet Protocols (VoIPs), virtual meetings, cloud technology, work collaboration tools and even facial recognition technologies that enable a person to appear before a virtual background to preserve the privacy of the home. In addition to preventing the spread of viruses, remote work also saves commute time and provides more flexibility. This digital compatibility is not an option now instead it is a must to do action for any organization to carry on their day to day tasks seamlessly.

This online-based work also imposes challenges both to employers and employees. Information security, privacy and timely interdependent support can be big issues. Remote work can also complicate labour law issues, such as those associated with providing a safe work environment and income tax issues. Employees may experience home environment distractions, anxieties on thinking of the productivity doubts from the employer, loneliness and lack of work-life balance. If remote work becomes more common after the COVID-19 pandemic, employers may decide to reduce lease costs and hire people from regions with cheaper lab. Yet remote work also imposes challenges to employers and employees. Information security, privacy and timely tech support can be big issues, as revealed by recent class actions filed against Zoom.

Laws and regulations must be modified to accommodate remote work and further psychological studies need to be conducted to understand the effect of remote work on people. Here when we think of digitally compatible remotely working IT infrastructure a different type of task giving, monitoring and assessing method needs to be implemented. A comprehensive model of digital readiness is the call of the hour for any small and big organizations.