The headlines continue: From A to Z, technology companies are canceling conferences and telling employees to work from home amid novel coronavirus "concerns" and COVID-19 "fears."
It's time for all of us to change our collective language (ChannelE2E included). Canceling an event, closing schools, and working from home have nothing to do with fear. Instead, those moves have everything to do with social responsibility. Now, more than ever: My health depends on your health. And your health depends on your neighbor's health. And your neighbor's health depends on the community's health.
The more we distance ourselves for each other, the better we will navigate the coronavirus pandemic. Our collective goal is to flatten the wave of infections (pictured below), which will help to ensure the U.S. healthcare system remains responsive to those in need:
See You In June (Maybe Sooner. Maybe Later)
That's why I've been off the road all of March. And yes, I skipped RSA Conference in late February when I heard about the Mobile World Congress 2020 cancelation amid coronavirus "concerns" (<-- there's that word again).
I'm fortunate. I'm a small-business co-owner who isn't at the mercy of an employer who insists that I travel. I'm not at the mercy of employers who delay conference cancelation decisions until the 11th hour -- sometimes leaving their rank-and-file employees to apologize for c-suite decisions that should have come sooner.
Generally speaking, I plan to remain off the road until at least June 1 -- or when the data tells me it's safe for me to travel again. Perhaps sooner. Maybe later.
What data do I trust?
- I trusted these coronavirus observations from Bill Gates in February.
- I turn to and trust Johns Hopkins University's Coronavirus Resource Center. But even that requires some caution, since hackers are targeting the site and trying to inject malware into the conversation...
I'm not all that worried about my health. But I do worry about how my behavior and health impacts my parents' health. I worry how my behavior and health impacts my relatives and friends who have underlying health issues. And I worry about rank-and-file workers who must remain on the road to earn their paychecks and pay their mortgages. Memo to all employers: Bring those folks home.
Pandemic Precautions
These are challenging times. But let's stop with the word "fear" each time we hear about a conference cancelation, an event that gets delayed, or a business that tells employees to work from home. Instead, the far wiser word is "responsibility."
At this time, more than any other, we are responsible for each other's health and well-being. Let's take care of each other -- from a distance.
How should you proceed? As I've pointed out before, a refreshing answer comes from Perspicuity, an Ingram Micro TrustX Alliance member in the United Kingdom. (Perspicuity CEO Ben Gower is UK president for the TrustX community.)
In a communication to customers, Perspicuity wrote (and ChannelE2E has emphasized in bold):
“It’s business unusual, let’s do it…
We love meeting you, and we still will, but for now we are going to work with you to deliver our services remotely: we think it’s the responsible thing to do, so video and Teams chat it is for now. Maybe it’s overkill, but the reality is we can do this. We’re changing the way we work to be a responsible world citizen whilst keeping the wheels of business turning, there is no excuse to stop, it’s a temporary measure and we’re up for the challenge. We look forward to continuing our work with you, we look forward to what we’re going to learn on the journey, and we wish you all good health, good luck and good business.
From all of us at Perspicuity”
See you June 1. Hopefully sooner. Perhaps later. Blogging from home in the meantime.
Yours Truly,
-jp
