The Covid-19 pandemic has boomed the usage of technology for working professionals and the student community. The world met virtualization decades ago. Many employers and educational institutes have shifted their operations to online platforms.
- Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, attending offices and educational institutes physically involves a high risk of contraction and hence virtualization stepped in as a lifesaver and made it all possible to work remotely.
- Learning and working in one’s home space is someone most of us desire to owe to the ‘COMFORT FACTOR’.
- There is a vast choice of ‘Skill Sets’ and ‘Know-how’ that one can gain through online learning, right from Learning to play the guitar to Quantum Physics.
- Online education has greatly reduced the risk of back pain which was a result of very heavy school bags.
- For working professionals who have to interact with clients in different geographic regions, it is a big boon. A person working in India may very easily have a ‘VIRTUAL MEETING’ with his peer or a client in France.
- Organizations can save a substantial amount of finances on the cost of commuting, Infrastructure and overheads of office expenses.
- This pandemic has facilitated the emergence of numerous Digital Entrepreneurships which have given livelihood to many people at the comfort of their homes
Cons of Virtualization:-
- People located in rural parts of India still find it difficult to find a good enough internet connection with a fast bandwidth that supports online meeting platforms. This results in the potential of a meritorious student going unrecognized.
- For many people, it is difficult to maintain a balance between their work and life when it comes into operation from home.
- Due to the high frequency of Power-Cuts in the rural parts of the country, it becomes difficult to operate from home.
- Due to prolonged exposure to computer screens, there have been many cases of vision impairment and the over-usage of headphones has resulted in ear imbalances.
- Social interaction which is a vital part of the overall mental well-being of human beings is compromised when it comes to virtualization.
- People who are not tech-savvy find it challenging to function on virtual platforms.
- For teachers and trainers, virtual interactions are not as effective as a physical classroom interactions. It is a challenge for them to be sure if the students are attentive or not and if they have grasped the concepts.
- Conducting exams virtually has increased the malpractices and unfair means to a great extent as it is impossible to monitor every student’s integrity.
- The inaccuracy of the online assessments is high because there is a chance that an undeserving candidate may score higher than meritorious ones because of malpractices.
- People whose nature of work involves physical presence like factory workers, construction workers, laborers, Gym instructors Beauticians, etc. were totally stopped which resulted in them facing a lot of financial crises.
- For people who are used to the traditional method of working face to face, there is a challenge when it comes to effective communication because of resistance to change from offline to online and fear of using the technology.
- There was a considerable increase in E-commerce businesses. This also resulted in numerous fraudulent practices owing to the challenges involved in the verification of sellers and the authenticity of the product.
To sum it up, like every coin has two sides to it, Virtualization also comes with its pros and cons. These pros and cons depending upon multiple factors like the nature of work and the importance of physical presence to complete a particular task.
By Subhajit Mukherjee
First Prize in Blog Competition, organized by the International School Of Management Studies.
