Andy Kessler, a technology writer for the Wall Street Journal, suggests that similar to other world crises events, the coronavirus could spark a new era for business and the world. Notably, will the advent of millions of new people suddenly working remotely from home and being educated online become the norm once the fear and facts of the virus fade?
“Eras change, sometimes overnight,” writes Kessler. “Classes will be online-only until further notice. Smart. But at some point parents will surely ask, “Why again are we paying 78 grand a year?” Is the end of universities far behind?”
Kessler adds, “Similarly, lots of companies are telling employees to work at home. Will an era of telecommuting and no rush-hour traffic finally arrive?”
If people and businesses experience how easy and less expensive it is to work from home using Slack, Zoom, and countless office productivity tools, then why not keep doing it after the crisis subsides?
Slack CEO, Stuart Butterfield, recently noted how the coronavirus is impacting the growth of new executives finally embracing online conversation:
“There are a lot of people who are moving to a remote work or work-from-home situation for the first time. A lot of executives who are struggling to figure out how to manage and maintain operational performance in this kind of environment. They have a lot of questions and a lot of uncertainty. We’ve seen a surge in new teams created and people checking out Slack for the first time.”
It will be interesting to see how this develops and if the coronavirus will change work and education as we know it.