Onset of Covid-19 introduced the culture of remote work. “Gone are the days of waking up at five in the morning, commuting over twenty miles to the office, and working all day just to come home and repeat the cycle the next day,” remarked Prakash Mana, Cloudbrink’s CEO, as he reflected on the growing trend of hybrid work. The evolution of technology has made remote work possible and even preferable among employees across industries. “In fact, by 2025,” Mana continued, “it is estimated that roughly 20% of employees will work 100% remotely due to its widespread convenience and popularity”.
The paradigm shift from traditional office spaces to home office has become apparent. Often, the pandemic is given the credit for turning coffee shops into workspaces with evolving facilities like virtual communication and collaborative software. However, Mana begged to differ. “Global pandemic was never the advent of remote work, only a major increase in its global prominence,” he stated, “remote work has actually been around since the end of the 20th century, particularly when computers found their way into society and continued to grow technologically and in popularity.”
Intriguing as a rhetorical theory, Mana spoke further to prove his point. He travelled down the 1990s’ memory lane to pinpoint the origins of work-from-home culture.
Charting the History: Emergence of Remote Work
“For many people, it was a time of major change and evolution,” Mana recollected the 20th century’s coming of age story when the world witnessed rampant technological advancements.
Drawing up a summarized timeline of events leading to remote work, he shared, “The decade witnessed significant advances in technology, including rechargeable batteries, the World Wide Web, and the relentless growth of cell phones, television, and computers. The internet was born, and a few years after, Wi-Fi became a means for people to network while browsing the internet, using radio waves as the source of connection. These innovations led to societal acceptance, embracing a unique way of performing work and responsibilities.”
Acceptance of remote work increased with the continued developmental pace of technological advancements throughout the 2000s. Highlighting the early reluctance to work from home culture, Mana mentioned how federal employees were allowed to use telecommunication when necessary but the practice was not favoured. However, his narration underwent a hopeful twist. He discussed how companies began establishing policies for remote work that aligned with their practices once they saw their employees becoming more adept at working from home.
Giving another insight into the journey of remote culture, he revealed, “After nearly a decade of gaining traction roughly 70% of people across the globe worked remotely at least once a week by 2018.”
Mana postulates that the pandemic allowed technology to prove its potential to be a world changing phenomenon. Although it was already making rounds for decades, its importance spiked when it became an employment essential.
Technological Advancement and its Impact on Remote Work
Technology comes with its own set of benefits and challenges. Affirming his faith on permanency of remote work, Mana apprised, “the benefits that technology brings to the table may certainly outweigh most of its challenges, as the concept of remote work is here to stay, in future terms.”
Companies investing in virtual collaboration tools, project management software and platforms like Zoom are indulging in enhanced collaborative and communicative practices. Mana agreed on the growing popularities of virtual platforms and justified, “Not only do they provide convenience for employees, but they increase productivity during the workday because everything is accessible at the click of a button.”
Employees find work from home appealing for its flexibility and the promise of better work-life balance. “Remote work allows for a more flexible schedule, enabling adult employees to accomplish other tasks on their to-do lists that have little to do with work. Whatever the case, remote work creates a more sustainable work-life balance, ensuring that when it is time to end a Zoom call, it is time to shut the laptop as well,” Mana elucidated on the subject.
Virtual workspace maximizes a company’s full earning potential. Mana emphasized the benefits that companies reap from the new model. He elaborated how commercial entities can now eliminate the cost of an office building and also enjoy the access to an enlarged talent pool across the globe. Speaking with a bird’s eye view, he pointed out, “It (virtual workplace) also minimizes the commute to work. In this way, fewer commuters on the road translates to reduced environmental impact, creating a positive change on a local and global scale.”
Employee Engagement in Remote Work Era
As more acceptance awaits the work-shifts-home syndrome, there are also valid concerns. The downside of remote work is its effects on employee engagement and increased screen-time. Mana views technology’s benefit as an antidote to technology’s ailments. He vocalized his thought and stated, “To counteract disengagement and a potentially arduous work environment, companies should rely on technology yet again to increase engagement and maintain employee morale. While the remote work setting remains virtual, there are plenty of opportunities for employees to engage with one another, socialize, and enjoy themselves online”.
Prakash Mana discussed numerous methods which companies can use to create an environment for their remote employees that resembles an in-person atmosphere. “Virtual communication tools such as video conferences permit general remote team-building activities, which are effective ways for employees to get to know one another beyond the scope of their screens or work projects,” he said. Some of his other suggestions include common workplace affairs such as employee recognition, virtual team activities, remote professional development, and surveys.
Remote Work Settings and its Barriers
Online security is another, bigger and more frightening, challenge that remote workers face. As virtual workplaces require all matters to be online, companies inevitably face exposure to hackers, cyber threats and data breaches. “While employees still need secure access to data and other modes of intellectual property, granting them access while on their personal devices poses a risk to data privacy and sensitive information. At any point, an employee’s endpoint security could endanger a company’s privacy, as the employee’s home security differs from that of the company’s networks,” commented Mana.
He stressed on the need for companies to establish remote work policies regarding the use of employees’ own networks, data, and intellectual property. “Otherwise, the lines of trust may get blurred over time, creating even more instability within the company’s security measures,” he cautioned.
‘Avoid data loss by all means possible,’ is the shared ethos of Prakash Mana and his co-founded company, Cloudbrink. Extrapolating on potential data security risk, he advised higher-ups to exercise discretion when they share projects, password or grant access to employees.
Way Ahead
Remote businesses and companies can employ strategies that clearly chart out remote work policies, implement secure remote access technologies, and provide general remote work security training. “A tool such as cloud computing has made this quick and easy, offering innovative computing services of storage, databases, networking, software, intelligence, and analytics,” added Mana to the discourse on the subject.
Further, he provided insight into business applications that act as a supplement to a company’s business operations. He showcased his preference for an efficient and assistive software that enhance productivity, execute assignments accurately, or manage interactions with consumers (i.e., enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM)).
To elucidate in detail, Mana gave the example of Cloudbrink. He intricately described its function as a resource that connects employees working within a remote or hybrid format, delivering a readily available, office-like experience so that their work at home only differs slightly from their work in the office. From his personal experience, he mentioned “efficient collaboration and enhanced performance” as the primary features of his brainchild.
He reiterated his prediction on the viability of the hybrid-work model as a long-term option. He cited the inclination of businesses around the globe towards exploration of its benefits to substantiate his anticipation. “Time will tell, especially with how remote work has become the rock on which many companies have leaned. Yet, the future is a mystery, leaving space only for prediction at this point and not certainty,” Mana concluded with a touch-of-reality afterthought.
