eBusiness Weekly
Tawanda Musarurwa
With coronavirus (COVID-19) rapidly spreading across countries and disrupting orthodox workflow processes at the workplace, communications services and solutions provider Liquid Telecom, has come up with a “virtual workplace”.
Although Zimbabwe is yet to record a case of the COVID-19, it’s not yet clear to what extent the virus will spread and how much it will disrupt business operations, but lessons can be drawn from China, where the virus initially hit, and businesses have responded by pro-actively creating clarity and security for employees.
Liquid Telecom is offering businesses a six-month free trial of its workplace digital solution.
“As COVID-19 is changing the way we work, Liquid Telecom is here to help you leverage the latest digital solutions to keep your business operations up and running,” said the company.
“We will help you set up six-months free trial of our Liquid Virtual Workplace powered by Microsoft Teams to start your organisation’s journey to building its own ‘virtual workplace’. With this licence, you get to enjoy access to other digital tools like OneDrive, Online versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint, Sway, SharePoint, Planner and Forms.”
Meanwhile, Liquid Telecom says it has taken heed of World Health Organisation advice and is putting in place flexible working conditions.
“While the degree of impact is likely to vary across the countries we operate in, our employees can work and collaborate from home using Microsoft Teams, Office 365 and other digital tools to help ensure business continuity while also helping to keep them safe.”
COVID-19 cases to date approximate 200 000, with 7 994 deaths having been recorded by March 18.
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that can cause illnesses ranging widely in severity. The first known severe illness caused by a coronavirus emerged with the 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic in China.
Another serious outbreak of severe illness began in 2012 in Saudi Arabia with the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).
China first recorded COVID-19 cases last December, but the virus has now spread across the world and affected various markets and international trade.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said COVID-19 will have both supply and demand shocks to businesses and economies.
“Business disruptions have lowered production, creating shocks to supply. And consumers’ and businesses’ reluctance to spend has lowered demand. On the supply side, there is a direct reduction in the supply of labour from unwell workers, from caregivers who have to take care of kids because of school closures, and sadly, from increased mortality.
“But an even larger effect on economic activity occurs because of efforts to contain the spread of the disease through lock-downs and quarantines, which lead to a drop in capacity utilisation.
“In addition, firms that rely on supply chains may be unable to get the parts they need, whether domestically or internationally. For example, China is an important supplier of intermediate goods to the rest of the world, particularly in electronics, automobiles, and machinery and equipment.
“The disruption there is already having knock-on effects to downstream firms. Together, these disruptions contribute to a rise in business costs and constitute a negative productivity shock, reducing economic activity,” said the IMF in a recent blog.
“On the demand side, the loss of income, fear of contagion, and heightened uncertainty will make people spend less. Workers may be laid off, as firms are unable to pay their salaries. These effects can be particularly severe on some sectors such as tourism and hospitality — as seen for example in Italy.
“Since the start of the recent US equity market sell-off on February 20, 2020, airline stock prices have been hit disproportionately, in line with the post-9/11 terrorist attacks but lower than after the global financial crisis.
In addition to these sectoral effects, worsening consumer and business sentiment can lead firms to expect lower demand and reduce their spending and investment. In turn, this would exacerbate business closures and job losses.”
