Apple has reported its second quarter earnings, shattering analysts’ expectations, aided by its services business.
It’s no secret that Apple, like many companies, has had a difficult quarter. Since much of the company’s production is in China, it was hit particularly hard as its supply chain experienced major delays as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. As a result, analysts did not expect the company to see any growth this quarter, and actually predicted a 5% year-over-year decline in revenue.
Instead, Apple reported $58.3 billion in revenue, which was a 1% increase year-over-year. Similarly, the company reported earnings per share of $2.55, up 4% year-over-year, as opposed to the 10.8% decrease analysts were expecting.
“Despite COVID-19’s unprecedented global impact, we’re proud to report that Apple grew for the quarter, driven by an all-time record in Services and a quarterly record for Wearables,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “In this difficult environment, our users are depending on Apple products in renewed ways to stay connected, informed, creative, and productive. We feel motivated and inspired to not only keep meeting these needs in innovative ways, but to continue giving back to support the global response, from the tens of millions of face masks and custom-built face shields we’ve sent to medical professionals around the world, to the millions we’ve donated to organizations like Global Citizen and America’s Food Fund.”
Despite the positive results, Apple did not provide guidance on the upcoming quarter, as has been the case with a number of tech companies. It’s likely the full impacts of the pandemic have yet to be fully realized, and Apple seems hesitant to provide any further guidance until the situation is better understood.
Still, this quarter’s results were a big win for the company and will no doubt help assuage analysts’ concerns long-term.
In a surprise move, Zoom has chosen Oracle for its latest cloud infrastructure expansion as the company experiences unprecedented growth.
As COVID-19 has forced people to social distance, work from home, engage in remote learning and socialize digitally, Zoom has been one of the most popular platforms people have turned to. In short order, the platform went from 10 million daily users to over 300 million, putting a strain on the company’s infrastructure.
The company already uses AWS and Microsoft for cloud infrastructure but, in an effort to keep up with demand, Zoom has struck a deal with Oracle for its latest expansion. The choice is particularly surprising given Oracle’s current place in the market, far behind AWS, Microsoft and Google. One of the motivating factors was Oracle’s security, an area where Zoom has been working to improve.
“We recently experienced the most significant growth our business has ever seen, requiring massive increases in our service capacity. We explored multiple platforms, and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure was instrumental in helping us quickly scale our capacity and meet the needs of our new users,” said Zoom CEO Eric S. Yuan. “We chose Oracle Cloud Infrastructure because of its industry-leading security, outstanding performance, and unmatched level of support.”
“Video communications has become an essential part of our professional and personal lives, and Zoom has led this industry’s innovation,” said Oracle CEO Safra Catz. “We are proud to work with Zoom, as both their cloud infrastructure provider and as a customer, while they grow and continue to connect businesses, people and governments around the world.”
The deal is a huge win for Oracle as it endeavors to expand its market share, and wil likely lead to other companies looking to it as a viable option.
Note: Clarification added to show Zoom continues to use AWS and Microsoft.
Seeing people wear a mask in stores, on the street, public transportation, and more is becoming more prominent than ever. Originally, the WHO and the CDC both repeatedly were against many wearing face masks, but on April 3, 2020, the CDC reversed its decision and announced that healthy people should wear masks to help slow the spread and reduce risk of exposure.
In China, an estimated amount of more than 80% of infections with COVID-19 went undocumented and unnoticed. These undocumented cases, while none of the transmitters showed symptoms, still spread COVID-19 everywhere they went. These undocumented cases accounted for over 75% of total transmissions in China.
How Masks Slow the Spread of COVID-19
Masks are utilized to slow the spread of COVID-19 because they can trap contagious particles from an infected individual from spreading. In lab testing, it was found that wearing a face mask could prevent particles from getting through – confirming that a mask can protect others from the wearer.
The reason this works is that a large number of transmissions are passed through asymptomatic carriers. These masks, according to one study, combined with frequently using hand sanitizer, can reduce flu transmissions by up to 50% or more. COVID-19, being estimated at nearly 3 times more contagious, even a small decrease in infection rates could mean a huge difference. Since the creation of the N95 respirator, which proved to be very good at stopping the spread of tuberculosis and other viruses, very little research has been done on cloth masks.
Masks Are Not Worn For Social Reason In the U.S.
Wearing a mask, while becoming more common is still not worn by many for social reasons. “We need to change our perception that masks are only for sick people and that it’s weird or shameful to wear one… If more people donned masks it would become a social norm as well as a public health good” says Robert Hecht, Professor of Clinical Epidemiology in the Yale School of Medicine.
In countries where wearing a face mask is common, like China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, experts noticed that the oncoming spread of COVID-19 was much more controlled because face masks in those countries are more than recommended, they are culturally expected. In the U.S., people of color are afraid of wearing a face mask in public for fear of being mistaken as a robber. On March 18, 2020, a police officer kicked 2 black men out of a Walmart for wearing face coverings.
90% of U.S. Cities Report a Shortage of Face Masks
Nearly 90% of U.S. cities are reporting a shortage of face masks that are needed to protect emergency responders and healthcare workers. Making a face mask at home is a good way to not cut into that already dwindling supply. A study looking at the effectiveness of homemade masks showed that masks made with higher thread count fabrics, finer mesh gauze, and more layers were more effective at filtering particles in the air.
Taking on and off your mask safely is also important. Use hand sanitizer before putting your mask on and after you take it off and while wearing it, avoid touching it or adjusting it.
Learn more about how face masks might be helping to prevent the spread of COVID-19 here.
Google Cloud has announced the general availability of its Healthcare API in an effort to help fight COVID-19.
As the pandemic continues to take a toll, cloud computing and big data are emerging as important factors in the fight to control it. Now, more than ever, the ability to share data is vital. The CMS and ONC released rules a few months ago to aid in that goal, based on the 21st Century Cures Act. As Google points out, however, the necessary tools still need to be created to capitalize on those rules and provide healthcare professionals what they need.
“To address this gap, we’ve made our Cloud Healthcare API generally available today to the industry at-large,” writes Joe Corkery, MD, Director of Product, Healthcare and Life Sciences, and Aashima Gupta, Director of Industry Solutions, Healthcare and Life Sciences. “The API allows healthcare organizations to ingest and manage key data from a range of inputs and systems—and then better understand that data through the application of analytics and machine learning in real time, at scale. It also enables providers to easily interact with that data using Web-friendly, REST-based endpoints and health plans to rapidly get up and running with a cloud based FHIR server providing the capabilities needed to implement, scale and support interoperability and patient access.”
Google’s announcement is good news for the medical community, and will hopefully aid in the creation of the tools professionals need to continue combatting COVID-19.
Google has upgraded its search to show coronavirus testing and health facilities in 43 states.
With adequate testing being hailed as one of the single most critical factors to combating the pandemic and reopening the economy, finding a facility that offers testing can still be a challenge. Google is working to address that by listing testing facilities in its search results.
At the same time, not all facilities will show up. According to a support page, Google is “working to make this information easily searchable on Google in a way that aligns with the local testing procedures and recommendations.” As a result, the company will only show facilities approved for publishing. Even so, according to The Verge, that still translates to over 2,000 facilities in 43 states. When searching for topics related to COVID-19, a “Testing” tab will appear on the left.
Google’s move is just the latest example of how tech companies are on the forefront of fighting the pandemic.
“We’ve had 5G here for over a year and not only has it not unveiled anything that caused us concern but as this pandemic has happened it’s actually shown its importance to the nation even more so than before,” says Peachtree Corners, GA. City Manager Brian Johnson. “The need for greater speed, lower latency, and greater capacity or bandwidth has (been apparent) as we’ve been forced to distance ourselves from each other and needed to communicate.”
Brian Johnson, City Manager of Peachtree Corners, Georgia, says that the coronavirus pandemic illustrates the importance of 5G to the United States in an interview on OAN:
No Indication of Any 5G Health Risk
We are a metro Atlanta municipality and we were one of the first cities in the country to have 5G unveiled here. We launched 5G as part of not just a network for our citizens to use but our city has opened itself up to be a smart city living laboratory for technology in general. As part of the unveiling of our laboratory was the 5G rollout which we’ve had for a little over a year.
When it comes to any indication of there being any negative effects of 5G, as city manager of this municipality, there’s nothing more important to me than the health and welfare of the city’s residents. My staff, the mayor, and the city council are always reading and monitoring the agencies out there in the world whose job it is to study this kind of stuff. Whether it’s the World Health Organization or US Department of Health none of them have indicated that there’s any health risk.
5G Shows Importance To Nation During Pandemic
We’ve had 5G here for over a year and not only has it not unveiled anything that caused us concern but as this pandemic has happened it’s actually shown its importance to the nation even more so than before. The need for greater speed, lower latency, and greater capacity or bandwidth has (been apparent) as we’ve been forced to distance ourselves from each other and needed to communicate.
This is especially true within the healthcare community with 5G where we’re seeing companies continuing to test their cutting-edge technology here in our city. We’re seeing a greater need for 5G as we move forward into this new normal than before.
5G Shows Its Importance To Nation During Pandemic: GA. City Manager
Facebook is taking additional action to fight coronavirus misinformation, specifically with users who have interacted with it.
In a blog post, Guy Rosen, VP Integrity, said the company is working to connect users, who have interacted with misinformation, to accurate information from the World Health Organization (WHO).
“We’re going to start showing messages in News Feed to people who have liked, reacted or commented on harmful misinformation about COVID-19 that we have since removed,” writes Rosen. “These messages will connect people to COVID-19 myths debunked by the WHO including ones we’ve removed from our platform for leading to imminent physical harm. We want to connect people who may have interacted with harmful misinformation about the virus with the truth from authoritative sources in case they see or hear these claims again off of Facebook. People will start seeing these messages in the coming weeks.”
The company has also added a Get the Facts section to its CODID-19 Information Center in an effort to make it easier for individuals to quickly find accurate information. The measures are just the latest efforts by the social media giant to fight the kind of misinformation that has plagued multiple social platforms.
Verizon Media (formerly Yahoo) has announced it is using its open source, big data serving engine to combat the coronavirus.
The White Hose and research groups have released the COVID-19 Open Research Dataset (CORD-19), “a resource of over 51,000 scholarly articles, including over 40,000 with full text, about COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, and related coronaviruses.” Being able to access and use that gargantuan amount of data, however, can be a challenge of its own.
To assist in the endeavor, Verizon has announced it has indexed the dataset, making it available to search via Vespa.
“After being made aware of the COVID-19 Open Research Dataset Challenge (CORD-19), where AI experts have been asked to create text and data mining tools that can help the medical community, the Vespa team wanted to contribute,” writes Kristian Aune, Tech Product Manager, Verizon Media.
“Given our experience with big data at Yahoo (now Verizon Media) and creating Vespa (open source big data serving engine), we thought the best way to help was to index the dataset, which includes over 44,000 scholarly articles, and to make it available for searching via Vespa Cloud.”
Verizon’s announcement should be a boon to researchers and scientists trying to keep up with the latest research on the virus. The company promises daily updates to the documentation and query features. In the meantime, the dataset is live and ready for use.
“Now live at https://cord19.vespa.ai, you can get started with a few of the sample queries or for more advanced queries, visit CORD-19 API Query” the announcement continues. “Feel free to tweet us @vespaengine or submit an issue, if you have any questions or suggestions.”
“A $250 payment per restaurant (from Grubhub) doesn’t sound like a lot but it’s going to be a huge difference,” says Grubhub CEO Matt Maloney. “We’re looking at it as a stimulus almost because the way we’re rolling it out is a consumer gets $10 if they spend $30. So our $30 million dollars is going to transform into over $100 million dollars of food sales to restaurants across the country.”
Matt Maloney, CEO of Grubhub, announces a $30 million stimulus to restaurants in a discussion on CNBC:
Grubhub Rolls Out $30 Million Stimulus To Restaurants
A $250 payment per restaurant (from Grubhub) doesn’t sound like a lot but it’s going to be a huge difference. We’re looking at it as a stimulus almost because the way we’re rolling it out is a consumer gets $10 if they spend $30. So our $30 million dollars is going to transform into over $100 million dollars of food sales to restaurants across the country. That’s a big slug when everyone’s working really hard to try to put money in the hands of small businesses.
It depends on the market (in terms of how many restaurants are still open). In early COVID West Coast markets, we saw a dramatic dip in restaurants that went off the platform. Now they’re starting to come back on. You have New York and Detroit that are in the throes of the crisis right now and so you’re they’re peaking with about 30 percent of the restaurants off. But remember, we’re having thousands and thousands of restaurants coming on the platform for the first time so we’re seeing about the same number in terms of net. It’s just a transition.
Our teams are working around the clock. We tripled our most onboarding month ever of restaurants. We had 15,000 restaurants go live in March. We’re probably going to do more in April. It’s just an incredible intensity of need right now for restaurants. We’re doing everything we can to help them. With drivers, we launched contact-free pickup or drop-off. We also just launched, just last week, curbside pickup for the drivers to make sure there are two layers of protection.
There’s plenty of work on Grub and I know there’s lots of work on other delivery platforms as well. We have our own stimulus for our drivers too. If they get impacted directly by COVID we’re paying them. I know other platforms are also. And, of course, the CARES Act just came through with a lot of relief for gig workers also. Everyone right now is all hands on deck trying to help the restaurants, the drivers, and everyone impacted through this economic and health care crisis.
Fundamental Economics Are Still Intact
I am hoping for the best. I think that the fundamental economics of our society is still intact. There is a lot of demand right now for restaurants. If we can help restaurants get through the next few weeks or months, depending on how bad this is, they will come back, they will be there for our communities. If they can’t, then that’s going to be a real problem.
What we’re seeing right now is as the crisis bottoms out in the market growth does start to come back in that local area. We’re seeing the crises (at different levels) around the country in different markets at different times so we’re trying to dynamically manage that situation on the ground.
Grubhub Rolls Out $30 Million Stimulus To Restaurants, Says Grubhub CEO Matt Maloney
“We’re done with talking about if it is a good idea to digitally transform,” says ServiceNow CEO Bill McDermott. “Now the conversation has shifted to how quickly can you get me there. I have to get there really fast. My prediction is that companies that are digital, that can lead this digital transformation revolution, will prosper through this time because there are so many public sector and private sector entities that must change. I do believe we will be going into a totally new normal.”
Bill McDermott, CEO of ServiceNow, discusses how COVID-19 has forced CEOs to speed up digital transformation in order to compete and win. McDermott says that businesses have to have an all-weather workforce to win.”
We’re Done With Talking About If It’s a Good Idea
When we came out of the financial crisis in 2008 that is when cloud computing hit a new gear. That’s when it became the pervasive computing theme of the 21st century. The elasticity of the cloud, the ability to build applications very quickly on a platform like ServiceNow’s⎯so you can be in service, in service to employees, in service to customers, and in service to keeping the operation going, even through difficult times. if you think about digital transformation, it’s a $7.4 trillion addressable market in the next four years.
I talk to CEOs and heads of state every day. We’re done with talking about if it is a good idea to digitally transform. Now the conversation has shifted to how quickly can you get me there. I have to get there really fast. My prediction is that companies that are digital, that can lead this digital transformation revolution, will prosper through this time because there are so many public sector and private sector entities that must change. I do believe we will be going into a totally new normal. It’s not dissimilar to 2008. We’re going to have to figure out whether it’s three weeks from now or three months from now.
A Totally New Way To Work
How are you going to get back to work? Business continuity must contain. Think about all the processes that will have to change. I like to think of this as a physical distancing, not a social distancing because our processes on Zoom every day has us connected to the management team and the people throughout our company. So while we are physically distant we have socially kept the conversation going. We’re continuing to pursue our goals because that’s what the world needs from ServiceNow.
Customers right now are basically saying, how do I take care of my people? For example, I’ve heard from some very outstanding CEO saying we’re going to keep hiring or am certainly not going to lay people off. How do we get the tools for people to do the job remotely? How do we make that happen? How do we make sure we’re caring for the people? How do we align them with the goals and the orientations of the company? How do we keep compliance and security at a high level even as they work from places like home or studio environments where they’re not used to working? All of this has to be done utilizing a digital platform, a totally new way of working.
What About the Customer?
Here’s a really big thing. In the beginning, everybody was saying we’re going to work from home. We will close down operations and that was basically it. What about the customer? What we’re learning about the customer is right now they’re not really interested in you upselling them and cross-selling them in an engagement layer of CRM. What they are interested in is business continuity. How will you service me even as we’re in the midst of a crisis?
This idea of service management, of making sure you get the right assets in front of the right problems where you can resolve issues for customers⎯especially since they’re no longer working in their offices for the most part. It has really reoriented the workflow of companies all over the world and it’s happened really quickly.
Over 43 percent of the companies today actually don’t even have a work from home policy. Think about that. Now, after this crisis, I can assure you they’ll need one and the boards of directors will expect that they have one. If you remember the post 9/11 era, it was unbelievable to think that people would be standing in line to get x-rayed with their luggage before getting on a flight.
Digital Transformation Has To Go Faster
As they think about this new environment just think about the procedures and the protocols that we have to now impart on the workforce to make sure that they’re healthy when they come into these buildings and they actually go to work. We will actually have to have quick analysis. For example, you could do an ear temperature check to make sure someone’s temperature isn’t high when they’re coming into the workplace to keep people safe. That’s a protocol, that’s a new process, and I expect that things like that will definitely happen.
I also expect that workers will work more from home, that people will be more agile and flexible in how they work, and the tools and the platforms of digital have to be enabled to make that happen, So here it is, people that are digitally transforming now, you have got to go faster. People that haven’t actually embarked upon this journey, you need to do it now. Now is when your people will expect you to build a culture that enables them to prosper in any working environment. I have to believe we’re in a new norm. If it’s not COVID-19 it’s going to be something else. Workforces have to be prepared to handle anything. We have to be an all-weather workforce to win.
Digital Transformation: The Conversation Has Shifted – ServiceNow CEO Bill McDermott
Apple is donating millions of masks to medical personnel across the U.S. and Europe as health professionals grapple with the coronavirus pandemic.
As the pandemic continues to spread across the U.S., officials have been calling on other industries to help create or provide medical products. Kentucky bourbon makers are making hand sanitizer and auto makers have been called on to help make ventilators.
In an announcement on Twitter, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company is donating millions of masks to health professionals.
Our teams at Apple have been working to help source supplies for healthcare providers fighting COVID-19. We’re donating millions of masks for health professionals in the US and Europe. To every one of the heroes on the front lines, we thank you.
IBM has announced the launch of a consortium to provide coronavirus researchers with the super computing power they need.
As the coronavirus pandemic sweeps the globe, researchers are desperately trying to develop vaccinations and medication to help slow the spread. A big part of that research involves using supercomputers to analyze the data and perform calculations and experiments that would take months with traditional computing resources.
“Now, in collaboration with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the U.S. Department of Energy and many others, IBM is helping launch the COVID-19 High Performance Computing Consortium, which will bring forth an unprecedented amount of computing power—16 systems with more than 330 petaflops, 775,000 CPU cores, 34,000 GPUs, and counting — to help researchers everywhere better understand COVID-19, its treatments and potential cures,” writes Dario Gil, Director of IBM Research.
“How can supercomputers help us fight this virus? These high-performance computing systems allow researchers to run very large numbers of calculations in epidemiology, bioinformatics, and molecular modeling. These experiments would take years to complete if worked by hand, or months if handled on slower, traditional computing platforms.”
The consortium includes “IBM, Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL), Argonne National Lab (ANL), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Sandia National Laboratory (SNL), Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), the National Science Foundation (NSF), NASA, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), and multiple leading technology companies.”
According to Gil, IBM and the consortium will begin evaluating proposals from around the world to best allocate the computing resources to those researchers who can use it the most.
This is another example of tech companies using their vast resources to help researchers in the fight against the pandemic, and IBM is to be commended for its role.
Zoom may be benefiting from unprecedented numbers of users flocking to the platform, but that newfound popularity comes with some downsides.
In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, Zoom and other video conferencing solutions have become the new way many individuals are working, worshiping and keeping in touch with loved ones. While that has resulted in the company having many more users, it has also significantly raised the cost of doing business and it’s not clear how many of those users are paying subscribers.
In a regulatory filing with the SEC, the company said: “While we have seen increased usage of our service globally, there are no assurances that we will also experience an increase in paying customers or that new or existing users will continue to utilize our services at the same levels after the outbreak has tempered. Furthermore, such increased usage by free Basic account users during this time could require us to expand our network capacity which would increase our operating costs.”
The company also fears the increased number of users will raise its infrastructure cost as it works to keep up with demand. “We expect our cost of revenue to increase for the foreseeable future, both in absolute dollars and as a percentage of total revenue, as we expand our data center capacity and third party cloud hosting due to increased usage stemming from the recent outbreak of the COVID-19 virus,” the statement continued.
Zoom also expressed concern that any perceived issues or performance problems could irreparably hurt its reputation. This is especially a concern as the platform, and the meetings it hosts, become a greater target for hackers as a result of its growing popularity.
Zoom should serve as a good example for other companies whose business is booming during the coronavirus pandemic. While the added users and potential income are welcome, it will almost always come with greater scrutiny, expense and potential for things to go wrong.
In the race to create a COVID-19 vaccine, Rescale has partnered with both Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.
Rescale is a leader in enterprise big compute and is offering its high performance computing resources to research teams working on vaccines or test kits—at no cost. Thanks to the partnerships, “researchers can rapidly run simulations in the cloud without setup time or IT teams using Rescale’s turnkey platform combined with cloud computing resources from Google Cloud Platform and Microsoft Azure.”
Another significant advantage of the cloud partnership is the ability for research teams around the globe to seamlessly collaborate and combine their efforts.
“Rescale’s platform can provide access to high-performance computing resources that can help accelerate key processes and enable stronger collaboration,” said Manvinder Singh, Director, Partnerships at Google Cloud. “As a partner of Rescale, we’re grateful that they will make these resources, including Google Cloud computing capabilities, available to more researchers and organizations.”
Greg Moore, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Health added, “We’re inspired to team up with Rescale in the fight against time to help provide answers to address COVID-19. To enable researchers and organizations to develop new therapeutics and vaccines faster, we’re working together to accelerate the availability of Azure supercomputers in the cloud.”
Rescale is to be commended for offering their HPC resources at no cost to researchers who are desperately trying to develop vaccines and more efficient ways of testing. The announcement is also a prime example of how the coronavirus pandemic is hastening a large-scale migration to cloud computing.
Amazon has reported its first coronavirus case in one of their warehouses, raising questions about the possible impact on supply lines.
The Atlantic is reporting that an Amazon warehouse worker in Queens, New York has tested positive for coronavirus, prompting the company to email all the other workers to inform them.
“We’re writing to let you know that a positive case of the coronavirus (COVID-19) was found at our facility today,” the email read.
In the short-term, Amazon has closed the facility and is taking extra time to deep-clean it, while all employees were sent home with full pay. In the long-term, the revelation leaves a lot of questions about the supply chain at a time when companies’ capabilities are already being pushed to the limit. Amazon recently announced it would suspend shipments of all non-essential items in an effort to keep up with demand.
Studies have shown that the coronavirus can live for up to 24 hours on cardboard, and as long as 72 hours on plastic or steel. If more warehouse workers test positive for the virus, it could raise concerns about transmission through the very supplies people are relying on to stay safely at home. As Amazon and other fulfillment centers have to close facilities to disinfect following confirmed cases, it could have a profound impact on the entire supply chain, causing delays that no one can afford.
In an attempt to fight misinformation about the global coronavirus pandemic, Twitter is expanding its safety rules to include tweets about COVID-19.
One of the biggest challenges for governments and companies has been the spread of misinformation about the virus on social media. Some posts have downplayed the severity, while others have spread false information about home remedies and “cures.”
Twitter has had enough, and is taking measures to stop it:
Update: we’re expanding our safety rules to include content that could place people at a higher risk of transmitting COVID-19.
Now, we will require people to remove Tweets that include the following:
Content that increases the chance that someone contracts or transmits the virus, including:
Denial of expert guidance
Encouragement to use fake or ineffective treatments, preventions, and diagnostic techniques
Misleading content purporting to be from experts or authorities
Given the criticism the company has faced for not doing enough to combat trolls and online harassment, these latest efforts will likely be a welcome relief to many users.
Amazon is prioritizing shipments of essential items to its warehouses, as it struggles to keep up with demand in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.
As governments, schools and companies take drastic measures to stop the spread of the virus, unprecedented numbers of individuals are staying home. With restaurants and bars closed in many areas, and grocery store shelves running light, people are having to rely on their home supplies and online shopping like never before. The new status quo has strained supply chains, prompting even Walmart to adjust hours to help give stocking crews a chance to catch up.
Amazon has likewise felt the strain, and is now taking major action to try to meet demand.
“As COVID-19 has spread, we’ve recently seen an increase in people shopping online which has had an impact on how we serve our customers,” reads a company blog post. “So in the short term, we are making the decision to temporarily prioritize household staples, medical supplies and other high-demand products coming into our fulfillment centers so we can more quickly receive, restock and ship these products to customers. Products already on its way to our fulfillment centers will be accepted. This does not impact products being delivered to customers, or products currently in stock in our store. Customers can continue to buy any in-stock product in our store, and we will continue to deliver them.”
Amazon’s announcement is a major change and will likely have far-reaching financial consequences for companies that rely on Amazon to sell their products. Amazon has already faced tremendous skepticism from retail companies who are reluctant to rely on the company’s cloud solutions, as Amazon is one of their biggest competitors. Now that many companies are seeing one of their primary order fulfillment avenues suspend shipment of their products, even temporarily, companies may be more hesitant to rely as heavily on Amazon in the future.
Google Cloud has announced it is postponing its Google Cloud Next developer conference.
Google had already altered the format of Google Cloud Next to be presented digitally, rather than in-person. As the coronavirus pandemic has continued to spread and impact people around the globe, the company has now decided to postpone even the digital version until further notice.
“Google Cloud has decided to postpone Google Cloud Next ‘20: Digital Connect out of concern for the health and safety of our customers, partners, employees and local communities, and based on recent decisions made by the federal and local governments regarding the coronavirus (COVID-19),” writes Alison Wagonfeld Chief Marketing Officer, Google Cloud.
“Right now, the most important thing we can do is focus our attention on supporting our customers, partners, and each other.
“Please know that we are fully committed to bringing Google Cloud Next ‘20: Digital Connect to life, but will hold the event when the timing is right. We will share the new date when we have a better sense of the evolving situation.”
It’s a good time to work for Shopify, as the company is giving employees $1,000 to help them make the transition to working from home.
As the coronavirus pandemic spreads around the country and globe, Shopify has joined the ranks of tech companies instructing their employees to work from home. The company made the announcement in a tweet:
As COVID-19 continues to impact people and countries around the world, Shopify will be going remote first starting March 16th. Working from home will help play a part in reducing the spread of the virus, and hopefully lessen its potentially huge burden on the healthcare system.
According to Business Insider sources, the company is going a step further by giving all of its employees $1,000 to buy what they need to help furnish and set up their work-from-home space. It’s unclear how the company is doing this, whether in the form of a bonus or strictly by reimbursement. The company is also allowing employees to take home whatever office equipment they need to work from home.
Numerous companies have already announced work-from-home plans, and in the wake of President Trump’s address Wednesday night, that number is likely to grow.
Just days after encouraging all Washington State employees to work from home, Google is telling all of its North American employees to do the same.
According to Business Insider, Google sent out a memo on Tuesday recommending that all of its employees in North America avoid going into the office if at all possible and work from home instead. At the same time, the company will keep its offices open for those jobs that require onsite access. Google also informed hourly contractors they would be compensated for hours they miss out on as a result of the virus.
Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Twitter have all recommended that at least some employees work from home. With the vast majority of Google’s 100,000 workers in North America, however, the company’s decision represents one of the biggest telecommuting efforts yet in response to the coronavirus.
For years, experts have been predicting that telecommuting was the way of the future, providing an opportunity for companies to cut cost and increase morale. After the health crisis passes, it will be interesting to see if the workforce returns to normal, or if work from home options become the new normal.
MIT has informed students that classes will be cancelled the week of March 16, and all classes will transition online once spring break is over.
In a letter to the MIT community, President L. Rafael Reif said that “state and federal public health officials advise that to slow a spreading virus like COVID-19, the right time for decisive action is before it is established on our campus.” President Reif said that although risk on campus remains low, the university is stepping up its response to keep its students and faculty safe, along with the community at large.
The university’s measures are fourfold:
“All classes are cancelled for the week of Monday, March 16 through Friday, March 20. Because the following week is spring break, this will allow faculty and instructors two weeks to organize a full transition to online instruction.
“Online instruction, which some units are already experimenting with this week, will begin for all classes on Monday, March 30, and continue for the remainder of the semester.
“Undergraduates should not return to campus after spring break. Undergraduates who live in an MIT residence or fraternity, sorority or independent living group (FSILG) must begin packing and departing this Saturday, March 14. We are requiring undergraduates to depart from campus residences no later than noon on Tuesday, March 17. Please see below for details on graduate students.
“Classes will continue this week as we continue to prepare for this transition.”
The lengths to which MIT is going illustrates the danger the coronavirus represents, and the measures companies and organizations are willing to take to help contain it.
