Conferencing in Times of COVID-19
The New Normal
On 22nd April 2020, the Chief of the WHO, Mr. Ghebreyesus made an announcement stating, “Make no mistake: we have a long way to go. The virus will be with us for a long time.” He also mentioned that the world will not and cannot go back to the way things were and that there must be a new normal, one with a world that is healthier, safer and better prepared. (UN News). Given the current situation and keeping this statement in mind, we must be prepared to enter a more digitised and automated world.
Work from home and attending classes from home have become the new norm, but one New Normal that I most connect with is: Any context that requires multiple human interactions in a closed space has now become a cause for worry and apprehension. This includes the hesitation to travel for work or leisure, or visit a crowded place. This new normal can be looked at from two broad perspectives- personal and professional. Personal involves activities like shopping, tourism, and other leisurely activities whereas professional involves corporate training and work travel for business meetings, conferences and seminars.
How will the world cope with this new normal and why is it important?
In his guest lecture, Mr. Ripun Mehta (Founder of Novistra Capital), pointed us towards the great opportunity that exists in spaces which require physical presence for networking. He also suggested that we will see a rapid digitisation and automation of several sectors. Companies are changing the way they do business and it is imperative for them to do so in order to cope with the crisis. He spoke about how we are stepping into a different kind of globalisation, and that businesses must add a futuristic element in order to survive and grow. In this article, I will be focusing on the professional aspect: the problems that exist with respect to the new normal in the job sphere and possible solutions for the same.
This New Normal is extremely important since it could hamper the growth of several industries and curb new business opportunities due to the cancellation of major events and conferences. Additionally, it could also give impetus to industries that have not been able to do so well (elaborated in the next section), and create new opportunities for entrepreneurs to provide creative solutions for the existing problems.
As I transition from a student to a working professional, there exist several questions in my mind. How is the work environment going to change given the current situation? Since my job role requires me to travel, how will that be possible now? Can large group training sessions be conducted in such a crisis scenario?
Possible Solution
Reverting back to the beginning of this course, it is important to focus on trying to understand the problem we are trying to solve. A Design Thinking (DT) approach involves 5 main steps: Empathy, Define, Ideate, Prototype and Test. Mr. Dhananjay Thakur from QGLUE had also given us an example of how these steps are used to come up with an innovative solution to a problem.
Since Empathy is a crucial part of DT, I spoke to some people and conducted an online survey in order to understand the problems faced by working individuals across different fields and different age groups. I was able to receive responses from around 20 working individuals (online and offline included). The sample consisted of professionals from various fields. Majority of the respondents mentioned that lack of collaborative work and face to face interactions pose a hindrance to productivity and efficiency. Most of the jobs required them to travel, and almost 70% of them were unsure or unwilling to travel once the lockdown is lifted.
Since we are aware of the power of defining a problem, the Problem Statement in this context thus becomes:
Working individuals require means to interact and collaborate with colleagues in order to increase productivity and efficiency.
After brainstorming several ideas, a possible solution that I narrowed down to is something that Mr. Mehta touched upon as well: the use of Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR) in order to adapt to the situation. He gave the example of travel and tourism already utilising these technologies in order to stay ahead. These tools could be applied to the professional world in order to solve the existing problem as well.
Towards the end of the survey I had also included a question asking if they would be interested in VR conferences/meetings, and ~95% of them responded positively. Even though the sample is extremely small, it does provide an indication that there is a market that could be tapped into by developing virtual solutions. It creates an opportunity space for innovators and entrepreneurs to dig deeper in order to enable as much interaction and networking as possible with these tools, thereby enhancing motivation, productivity and efficiency of employees.
Since several jobs require individuals to travel between cities, states or countries, VR can be of great assistance in a travel-restricted time such as now. Presently, there exist platforms such as Zoom, Google Meet and WebEx, but there are multiple problems with these video conferencing tools. The lack of facial visibility/interaction (since most people turn off video), lower attention span, and limited features reduce efficiency, and this has been shown in the survey results as well. Approximately 75% of the working individuals felt that the aforementioned platforms were not too efficient. VR can be extremely useful in simulating a real-life conference/meeting experience, enabling collaboration and debates, increasing attention, and including features such as 3D product displays and presentations, which I believe would increase efficiency and productivity.
A valid question that could arise is: VR and AR have been around for a couple of years now, but have not been too successful in taking off. What makes me believe that it will take off now? I think that the answer lies in the situation that we are in currently. The global pandemic has given rise to a demand and need for VR, which was not present as much before. Previously, VR was mainly used in enhancing gaming experiences and entertainment purposes, but now we could use the same tools to meet peoples’ needs around the world. This has also been confirmed because according to the Economic Times, VR companies have already started seeing a rise in demand for these technologies, both in India and abroad. The CEO of Imaginate (VR Firm in Telangana) stated that the demand has increased by 2.5 times in the month of March 2020, and that this demand was mainly driven by manufacturing companies for employee training sessions. This again goes to show that there does exist a market for these latest technologies, especially amongst big firms and organisations.
With reference to Mr. Aditya Ghosh’s guest lecture, there is an opportunity for a ‘Creator Economy’ which involves working on older ideas and making it better. Additionally, he had mentioned that the right question to ask is: What is the customer willing to pay for? This brings us to the cost element: since organisers and firms hosting global meetings and conferences generally spend huge amounts of money on the venue/real office space, air tickets/travel, food/refreshments and lavish stay, these costs along with environmental costs due to travel can be cut down through the use of VR solutions. This means that firms will be willing to pay for a solution that continues the business and enables networking at a lower cost than that of organising a physical conference/meeting.
The steps towards a solution for an innovator/entrepreneur applying DT would include:
· Administering the aforementioned survey to a larger audience and to different firms
· More in-depth customer interviews and surveys in order to understand the requirements in the corporate field
· Research to understand the current statistics and market demands
· Acquiring product reviews (VR headsets and platforms) from customers; observing trends and patterns in usage·
· Ideating on possible solutions (this would involve divergent and convergent thinking)
· Implementing a prototype of the model with an organisation/firm and finding loopholes in order to fix it. This stage might give rise to different problems which would require going back to the ideation board and tweaking the solution in order to come up with the final model
An simplified example of a possible model could be: Suppose company ABC wants to go virtual and host VR conferences and meetings. It could either insource or outsource talent in order to come up with a platform. In case ABC decides to outsource, an innovator X could provide common VR platforms/solutions and templates for the company to host such events. ABC would pay X for using this platform, and X would also generate revenues by selling VR equipment (hardware sales). This platform could have several features and customisation options based on the clients’ needs. This would require constant development and adaptation of the platform. ABC would now require content creators to prepare visually appealing and VR suitable content in order to engage with its employees. This would open up demand for such talent. AI can be integrated in order to enhance the features available. Smart marketing of these platforms also will be crucial in order to reach the target customers.
For a VR meeting: All employees would create profiles and avatars of themselves. The host organises the meeting that involves active participation from the attendees. Each employee will have multiple options- including displaying files/media from their phone/laptop and other such unique features as per the firm requirement. For a conference: Profiles and avatars of the attendees are created and each attendee will have the option of asking questions and the opportunity to interact and network with the speakers and other attendees similar to a face-to-face networking session. They will be able to manoeuvre through stalls and move in and out of talks/sessions. HTC for example, conducted its first virtual VEC conference in March 2020 allowing global attendees to join in a similar manner as explained above (PR News). It would be interesting to see how this would pan out in an Indian context. MeetinVR for example is a platform that provides such solutions through a subscription based model. The short video below demonstrates what a VR conference or meeting would look like.
Apart from conferences and meetings, VR and AR can be used in the case of remote corporate training sessions. Engage for example is a company that provides different training modules, including those which would otherwise not be possible to simulate in the natural environment (e.g.: disaster/crisis management). Apart from these benefits, there do exist certain challenges in the field which include- higher initial costs to the firm in order to train its employees with the usage of the technology, but I believe that the long term benefits would outweigh the costs in this scenario.
Applications to other industries
Similar to VR solutions for business, the retail, travel and entertainment industry can utilise these tools to meet the needs of its customers and provide an innovative experience for them.
The retail industry could use this opportunity to provide personalised experiences for its users. Entrepreneurs can develop virtual stores for retail chains (with an aggregated inventory) in order to give the user a simulation of the shopping experience. Ms. Meghna Saraogi, founder of styledotme (she was a guest speaker for an Entrepreneurship course in Monsoon 2019) for instance, uses AR in her app to enhance user experience by allowing customers to try on jewellery and make a better choice.
Although these technologies might be difficult to penetrate to the bottom of the pyramid, and reluctance of consumers to use these technologies could pose a problem, I do believe that VR shopping, and using AR on e-commerce websites to improve shopping experiences could be the future of the retail industry. Since shops and malls have been seeing a decline in the number of customers due to the huge presence of online markets and rise in online shopping, this shopping mall experience could be simulated virtually. It would definitely take some time for the world to cope with this, but the opportunities that exist are massive. It would also create an increased demand for professional photographers and videographers. E.g.: A possible unique feature could be- having 3D trial rooms where the customer provides his/her measurements and tries on clothes with the use of an avatar. MercuryMinds for instance offers a variety of VR solutions to retailers to provide an experience of walking through a mall or supermarket and being able to pick things off the shelf, get details about the product and check out to buy the items, thereby getting a mall-like experience in the comfort of one’s own homes.
Concluding Remarks
Although there exist multiple challenges in the field, the new normal, as explained above, could give rise to several opportunities. One of the readings spoke about 9 kinds of opportunities that exist for entrepreneurs. In this case, I believe that there exists a combination of some of these 9 opportunities. These include targeted marketing (bridging the knowledge gap amongst firms), product redesign (becoming a category leading product in the field), distribution extension (harnessing non-traditional channels to easily reach customers), a new business model development (unique plan with a first mover advantage), and a greenfield market expansion (tailoring offerings to meet needs of similar customers in a different area). On the whole, as a reading on the New Normal asserted, it is important to see the world as it could be rather than what it is. It is time for a paradigm shift, by using products that are nature friendly and have ingenious designs. The best case scenario is one which includes a collective and collaborative approach in incorporating latest technologies in order to cope with the new normal.
