Economists are busying counting the cost of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). While the impact has been worst in the travel and tourism sectors, not all its effects have been negative.
For remote collaboration tools and the telecommunications companies it has been positive. The latest information from Nielsen/NetRatings revealed a marked increase of 13% in the number of active at-home online users in April in Hong Kong (the first month fully reflecting SARS) compared with February (pre-SARS).
As customers shunned public places including bank branches, the average time spent online increased by over 50% from over 15 hours in February to almost 23 hours in April. This time spent online is particularly significant when you consider that it is nearly double the average time spent online in the US (around 12 hours) – where uptake of the internet is most widespread. Internet traffic in Hong Kong to online banking sites increased 27%, with the highest growth rate experienced by the Bank of China, with traffic up 58%, Hang Seng, up 41% and HSBC up 34%.
Video and audio-conferencing, email and instant messaging are also enjoying increased uptake as investors boycott travel to Asia. Recognising the implication to foreign investor business, CLSA, provider of brokerage, investment banking and direct investment services in the Asia-Pacific markets, conducted their annual Odyssey forum in virtual format. The event is claimed to have been the largest virtual meeting ever held for the financial services industry. Presenters were ‘teleported’ from CLSA studios in several Asian countries 24 hours a day in order to reach their global audience.
The uptake of remote collaboration has been so far limited for reasons of cost, and lack of quality. However, with the availability of increased bandwidth and improved hardware and software for online video conferencing, the acceptance of remote collaboration tools is improving. The question is, will the use of remote collaboration tools remain an emergency measure in case of similar disasters or will the genuine fear of terrorism drive organisations and customers to embrace remote collaboration tools and the internet channel permanently?
