By Haiting Hu
The pandemic has forced many people to work from home. An article in The Wall Street Journal showed us how Zoom and FaceTime are creating a new online working environment for businesses during the pandemic and how these online platforms might continue to replace business travel going forward.
These “cloud-based collaborative tools” have fundamentally changed our work culture and have redefined what is considered “necessary travel”. For most companies, online meetings could also fulfill the same needs as in-person meetings. Matt Rendall, CEO of Clearpath Robotics, uses online meetings to maintain relationships with his customers in Japan and doesn’t plan on stopping as they eliminate the need for lengthy trips overseas. However, video conferencing is not always effective for every company or industry. Arcimoto’s chief operating officer, Terry Becker, says that business trips are essential for maintaining quality control of their products.
These online platforms have also opened up more job opportunities for people and have enabled companies recruit from a wider geographic area. Matt Rendall of Clearpath Robotics says in the article, “Engineers can now work from almost anywhere and don’t have to be within commuting distance of the company’s facilities.”