During these uncertain times, staying connected with family and friends has become more important than ever before. Keeping in contact with loved ones has become an opportunity to share your feelings, get some needed support, and maybe even make new friends. Staying connected is important – who knows, maybe you’ll even make a new business connection!
You can stay connected through many different mediums these days, including video chats, calls, and texts – all of which are great platforms for building and maintaining friendships. Unfortunately, as much as we’d like to stay in touch with everyone we know, it’s not always possible – especially when you’re on the other side of the world. That’s why it’s crucial to find ways to stay connected regardless of the distance between you and your friends and family. Luckily, there are many options available to those who want to do business or stay in touch with relatives overseas – even when COVID regulations make it difficult to travel.
Let’s take a look at some of the ways that you and your company can stay connected even when you’re a long way from home.
IBM Global Development Center (GDC)
One of the best things that you can do for your business now is to locate a physical office in one of the great cities of the world – New York, London, or Chicago. By doing so, not only will you have access to some of the most highly skilled professionals around, but you’ll also be able to maintain a certain degree of connectivity with them, even when they’re on the other side of the planet. That’s the power of having a global development center (GDC) – you can keep a steady stream of information flowing even when you’re separated by thousands of miles of unstructured street networks and endless skyscrapers.
Many businesses have global development centers around the world, and they’re not just limited to large corporations. Even startups and midsize businesses have GDCs, which they use to rapidly expand to international markets or to establish new offices in foreign lands. A GDC allows you to quickly and efficiently establish operations in a new country or region while staying in touch with your existing team back home.
IBM Research
There’s nothing more stimulating to the mind than discovering a new scientific theory that can be used to improve our quality of life. It could be something as basic as creating better fabrics that resist water or as complex as developing the ability to diagnose diseases more quickly. All of these things are possible thanks to the endless streams of research that IBM Research provides for companies around the world. The beauty of this is that even during this time of COVID-19, you can still conduct your day-to-day business while contributing to the never-ending quest for scientific knowledge.
Scientific research can only be conducted within certain parameters dictated by the restrictions of scientific ethics, but that doesn’t mean that it can’t be beneficial to your company. Even during this time of social distancing, you can still request scientific research from IBM Research, and the good news is they may well have something to contribute to your company’s efforts to fight COVID-19.
IBM Online Office
If you have an office space in one of the great cities noted above, but don’t have the money for a real-life presence in the form of a physical office or a corporate development center, you can still maintain a certain degree of presence through IBM Online Office. IBM offers a global freelancing platform that connects businesses with skilled professionals from around the world. Within the Online Office platform, you can set up a virtual office with all of the necessary conference rooms and collaboration tools to run your company virtually. While there’s certainly a draw to maintaining a physical office in one of the great cities noted above, having a virtual one, particularly from the safety of your home, can be just as effective. What’s more is it’s a lot more cost-effective.
Video Conferencing
Thanks to the wonders of video conferencing, you can have a conference call with someone on the other side of the planet in mere minutes. No matter where you are in the world, video conferencing allows you to hold a face-to-face conversation with someone even when they’re a considerable distance away. Video conferencing can be an excellent way to connect with customers, establish business relationships, and hold important discussions. Thanks to the wonders of the internet and the video conferencing software that enables them, businesses around the world have maintained close connections even during this time of social distancing and lockdowns.
Video conferencing isn’t just limited to business connections either – it’s also an excellent way to stay in touch with your loved ones, whether they’re across the street or across the country. Many platforms such as Zoom allow you to hold video conferences with up to five people, enabling you to connect with more friends and family than you’d normally be able to accommodate in a single conversation. What’s great about Zoom is that it offers a significant amount of freedom and flexibility for businesses and individuals alike.
Bitcoins
When it comes to staying connected, few things are more effective than cryptocurrency. No, we don’t mean the digital currency that you may well have heard of – we’re talking about the actual physical coins! While virtual currencies exist in the form of internet-based tokens, nothing beats the feeling of holding a tangible amount of cryptocurrency in your hand. The best part is that you can store your coins in a physical wallet or device, making it much easier to keep your money – and, more importantly, your identity – safe. Thanks to the work of major companies such as IBM and companies like Dash and Verge, the security of cryptocurrencies has skyrocketed in recent years, making it an excellent tool for the businessperson who wants to stay connected regardless of where they are in the world.
Personal Swipe Card
If you travel a lot for work, then you may well be carrying a credit card on you at all times. Chances are, that card is linked to your EID (Employee Identification Number) – an identification number linked to your government-issued ID. With this particular credit card, you can make payments and withdraw money as you normally would, but it also works as a contactless form of ID in case you need to show it to a police officer or someone affiliated with the government. While this may be of great convenience to the businessperson who travels a lot for work, keeping a credit card on you at all times is not without its risks – after all, what if someone gets ahold of your card and makes fraudulent payments?
For a limited time, you can get a free Citibank virtual wallet that acts as a physical cash-like wallet for storing your cryptocurrencies and digital assets. Similar to a normal wallet, you can store Bitcoins, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies here, with the added bonus of making purchases as you would with cash. What’s great about this wallet is that it offers security features as well as providing you with a ready-made virtual office! If you’re looking for a way to stay connected despite being thousands of miles away from your office and home, then this may be an option worth considering.
When it comes to staying connected, many individuals and companies have turned to video conferencing, online offices, and personal swipe cards to achieve their goals. Thanks to the wonders of technology, there are many ways to keep in touch with family and friends even when you’re a long way from home.