Remote Work in the Time of Coronavirus

More companies are turning to remote control work as new coronavirus infections continue to rise. Nevertheless, the Chinese authorities have been doing all they can to stop the spread. As of February 13th, the death toll had already reached 1,368, surpassing the fatality number for SARS which broke out in 2002.

Take a look at our previous post on Coronavirus and Lessons from the SARS Crisis

This year’s health crisis in China, however, is an opportunity for companies to explore working from home. Even China’s giant companies such as Alibaba and Tencent have started using workplace apps such as DingTalk and WeChat Work to maintain their business while employees stay indoors. This forces millions of Chinese workers to adapt to working from home.

In the time of coronavirus, foreign companies are also expected to make remote work adjustments for their employees. They can navigate through remote control services such as Kwikdroid, the all-in-one Cloud accounting, and company management platform for any kind of business. Keep reading to learn more about the benefits of Kwikdroid’s remote solution.

Big companies turn to remote work

The work-from-home option for companies provides a solution to the uncertainty of the coronavirus situation. It has suddenly become a necessity not only for commercial enterprises but also for financial, medical, and educational institutions.

Since January 30th, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba offered its professional office communication tool DingTalk to various enterprises in China. On the other hand, there has also been an increase in demand for Zoom Video remote work tools as many American businesses have closed down their offices in China. To contain the spread of the virus, huge companies have instructed their workforce to work remotely using available online tools and services. To name some, Google, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, WeWork, and Ford Motors have joined the wave of remote work amidst the growing trend.

More and more people are also willing to work at home to avoid the chances of being infected. Additionally, most workers returning from other cities are required to self-quarantine for 14 days. 

Working from home is especially important to the Chinese financial centers of Hong Kong and Shanghai. Hence, these cities rely on hundreds of thousands of office workers to stay operational despite the crisis. The owners of such businesses cannot simply shut down for a longer period considering their role in both Chinese and global financial markets.

What happens to small companies?

The effect of the epidemic on small entrepreneurs could be more alarming. With the abrupt decrease in consumer confidence and the disruption of services, it may be difficult to continue doing business as usual. In this case, switching a company into a dormant status could be a second option.

Staying dormant keeps one’s company registration active while stopping all operations and labor relationships. This will enable a business to resume at any time. But applying for a dormant status may require complicated compliance work. Therefore, a better option is to find a home office solution. In this way, companies can keep a labor force while limiting access to office premises due to the virus.

What’s your home office solution?

There are many remote control and management systems out there for foreign companies to experiment with. However, not all of them are either accessible or fully compliant with Chinese regulations. Hence, your company should not look further than Kwikdroid: a multilingual, secure, online management platform that will allow your company to manage and control your Chinese teams remotely.

How Kwikdroid came into being

unbeatable value 

The first adopters of Kwikdroid’s technology included firms from diverse sectors with managers located in the U.S., Europe, and other Asian countries. The idea of Kwikdroid sprung from the lessons learned by Stéphane Grand, who launched his accounting and management consulting firm in 2003, now known as S.J. Grand Financial and Tax Advisory (FTA). Indeed, 2003 was the year of the SARS crisis aftermath. In the weeks leading to the SARS crisis, many young foreign entrepreneurs came to China to establish their firms. But the end of SARS had seen a large number of foreigners leaving China for good, and only the tough ones had weathered the crisis.

Considering this past event, it is no wonder that companies, in the time of a new coronavirus crisis, are carrying out work from home and employing video conferencing, online meetings, chat and mobile collaboration services to keep their business up and running. 

Kwikdroid – a must-have tool

Kwikdroid does not only have an internal communications system and expert support. Since its state-of-the-art technology is Cloud- and AI-based, almost everything you need will be accessible from any device, anytime and anywhere. More so, it is integrated with digital accounting software, an automated bank reconciliation process, and an automatic multicurrency exchange rate for all your financial works.  

Kwikdroid’s ability to analyze and store large amounts of data in one place will allow your workers to search for any information, create electronic documents, and standardize all its financials in one integrated platform. It is the perfect tool for working remotely, especially during this time of need.

Conclusion

According to the renowned Chinese respiratory expert Zhong Nanshan, the coronavirus infection peak remains uncertain. This means that it is still too early to predict the end of this crisis. Thus, remote work may be further encouraged in the coming days.

Working remotely is one of the ways to prevent further infections, reduce company costs and reconsider unnecessary expenses, especially during a global crisis. Therefore, the use of remote control services is a win-win for companies struggling to cope with an unexpected predicament.If you want to know more about doing business in China, contact our team for inquiries and follow us on social media to get the latest news!

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