Communication In A Virus Hit World

Curbs on travel being issued by governments are increasingly suggesting videoconferencing as a replacement tool.

- Ken Wong

In 2003 when SARS first hit Asia, businesses introduced travel bans to protect staff and prevent the disease from spreading to uninfected staff.

At the end of 2019, Wuhan, a city in China’s Hubei province announced that it had discovered a new respiratory infectious disease, COVID-19 or what was first called the novel-coronavirus-2.

As it spread globally, businesses and governments worldwide began to issue travel advisories banning work teams and individuals, especially those who had been to china recently, from mingling and possibly cross-infecting each other.

As concerns and the number of infections grew, it began impacting more than just work travel. Global events like GSMA’s annual Mobile World Congress began to see companies like Amazon, LG, and Sony dropping out with the event finally being cancelled altogether.

But banning travel is one thing.

Businesses and employees still need to work and communicate with each other. While using the telephone is sufficient, there are solutions and vendors have developed tools that can make things easier.

Sami Ammous, Managing Director ASEAN at Avaya said that back in 2003, when SARS first hit, videoconferencing required the use of dedicated rooms and facilities; now nearly everyone has access to videoconferencing on their smartphone or tablet. “We are far more comfortable with the technology, it is easier and cheaper to use, and there are added features like session recording and document sharing, which has increased the benefits of videoconferencing,” he added.