COVID-19 is going to be a tipping point for the work-from-home business model. Work from home tools and productivity apps like Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Slack, and Troop Messenger have become an essential. Business owners and team leaders are now relying on these tools to manage their staff remotely. Remote work has become a trend that’s showing no sign of slowing down. There has been a considerable upswing in the businesses that are operating remotely.

In Part 1 of this series, we introduced Mike Caracalas, leadership coach, executive consultant, and author of Ten Strategies to Get Better Results with People, who says that “Right now, you as leaders have only one option: Lead your way out of this challenge.” We continue our chat with Mike, talking about how to keep things fresh as the weeks go on and how to reacclimate to working “together” in the literal sense when our workplace doors open back up.

In a drastic worldwide attempt to curb the spread of COVID-19, one third of the global population is now experiencing some form of lockdown. For the millions of Americans who have filed for unemployment over the last few weeks, there is nothing to do but wait. But for those on the frontline, time has never felt so limited. As hospitals around the world face buckling under the pressure of wave after wave of new patients, increasing the capacity of our healthcare systems has become our priority.

Right now, teams around the world are learning how to work from home. The transition can be a challenge, especially if your team has never worked remotely before. And, no matter how much experience you have with remote work, we’re learning—together—that it takes time to find your groove and settle into a routine in this new “normal.” But you aren’t alone.

Every business owner wants to keep their customers happy and loyal. But in today’s digitally connected world, word spreads faster than ever before, so if a customer isn’t pleased, they might let their entire social network know about it. Your customers want to get in touch with your business the same way they would with friends and family—so you need to be present on the channels they prefer.

What is data visualization? Well, it’s exactly what it sounds like — using charts, maps, infographics, and other images to visually convey the meaning of data. There’s nothing particularly new about data visualization. One could argue that ancient cave drawings constitute an early example — even the pie chart, dates back to 1801 when it was used to illustrate the Turkish Empire’s landholdings.

Join us in testing an experimental feature set offering additional functionality for managing channels in your sidebar. The features will roll out in stages beginning in v5.22 (April 16, 2020) under an opt-in config setting that can be enabled by System Admins: Experimental Sidebar Features. We are excited to share these powerful features with you and look forward to your feedback. As we iterate on the user experience, we plan to release the features for general availability later this year.

Zoom is currently undergoing a lawsuit regarding illegally disclosing user data to third parties, including Facebook. “According to the suit, Zoom’s privacy policy doesn’t explain to users that its app contains code that discloses information to Facebook and potentially other third parties.” What lessons should companies take away when investing in tools like zoom?

As remote work becomes the 'new normal' for many around the world, the security threats resulting from the rapidly changing work conditions are posing an unprecedented challenge for businesses. The immediate need to shift work conditions left organizations scrambling to institute remote working policies with many executives unprepared to roll out the right tools and procedures securely and at scale. However, for companies it's not just about being prepared for a global pandemic.

At Freshworks, our mission has been to help customer support teams deliver “moments of wow”, thereby enabling every business to create customers-for-life. It is the foundation for everything we do here at Freshworks. And we strive every day to deliver on that promise by continually improving our product and the customer experience.