It goes without saying that the office has been re-invented as remote working becomes a standard rather than a begrudged exception. The ramifications are vast, from a commercial property sector that is experiencing downsizing on a global scale to booming sales of home office equipment.
When the move began in earnest in March 2020, with the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, we saw a fascinating trend: searches on Google revealed a simultaneous and almost equal spike in searches for Netflix and Zoom. In SA, interest in both peaked in the first days of lockdown, from March 27.
Both gradually subsided but, in more recent days, we see interest in Netflix rise again, while Zoom continues to fall. Even Showmax, which had also increased in interest, but at a lower level, overtook Zoom this week.
There are several reasons, including that the streaming video channels continually release new material, and that many users are experiencing “Zoom fatigue”. The same downward trend can be seen for Microsoft Teams, the de facto standard for work collaboration. Microsoft’s cloud-based office software suite, Office 365, which did not enjoy a lockdown spike, has nevertheless followed Teams downward.
One could argue that users have got their heads around remote working software too. But the truth is that there are bigger concerns. Except for the first two weeks of the lockdown, searches for “school” have been consistently higher than both entertainment and business searches.
This ties in with one of the most interesting findings of the remote working in SA 2020 research study released this week, conducted by World Wide Worx for Cisco Systems. It showed that there were three key success factors for large enterprises requiring employees to work from home during the lockdown.
The biggest was effective delegation of tasks by managers, but the next most important was allowing employees to spend time with their children during the workday. Next came good connectivity, suggesting that successful remote working strategies required a combination of effective management, good parenting and good technology.
While the first two are entirely in the hands of organisations and their employees, the third is where the right tech and the right tools can make all the difference. As the Google trends show, the world of work does not revolve around Microsoft Office anymore. Google’s G Suite, Apple’s iWork and the Chinese-based WPS Office have all developed a strong following.
A true productivity platform
The one drawback of them all, however, is that they still represent “suites” of software, rather than platforms for collaboration. The moment one wants to move beyond the traditional combination of word processor, spreadsheet and presentation, the tools have to be gathered from the far ends of the internet, like the clichéd fantasy tale quest for seven jewels, three rings or a magic medallion.
Now, a little-known alternative developed in India, called Zoho, has developed into one of the few true productivity platforms that allows almost any business functionality to be accessed from a single account. It offers dozens of apps, and bundles them into suites for specific needs, such as a home-office toolkit and a customer relations management (CRM) platform.
The most versatile bundle, Zoho One, offers more than 40 integrated applications, including CRM; an HR platform; an office and collaboration suite, Zoho Workplace; an online accounting app; and survey tools. Each of these would normally require a separate account and a different online destination.
Why haven’t you heard of it? The truth is, it already has 50-million users in 190 countries, and more than 8,000 employees globally, including a presence in SA, Kenya and Nigeria. But, like Zoom before the lockdown, its users were getting on with using it without any fanfare.
As remote working becomes a standard business strategy, and as companies and lone workers look for better and more cost-effective ways of managing the home office, we will see a steady growth of interest in the small brand names that punch above their weight. Zoho may not get its Zoom moment, but it has the potential of playing an equally powerful role in reinventing the office.
Correction: August 17 2020
A previous version of this article stated that Zoho has 16-million users, whereas it has 50-million.
• Goldstuck is founder of World Wide Worx and editor-in-chief of Gadget.co.za
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