Imagine for a moment the world as it was back in 2010 when smartphones were just beginning to permeate the market. Microsoft Windows Server 2012 had yet to be released, cloud computing was in its infancy, and broadband internet was far from universal. Now, inject the COVID-19 pandemic into this scenario.
This thought experiment isn’t just a matter of historical curiosity; it’s an opportunity to reflect on how technology has shaped our capacity to respond to global crises and a helpful exercise in evaluating progress made in digital transformation.
One of the most poignant questions arising from this scenario is: How would business and knowledge workers have coped with the need to work remotely with the limitations of dial-up internet access?
THE DIAL-UP DILEMMA
In 2010, while home broadband access was on the rise, it was not ubiquitous. At the time, I was living in the UK and about to buy a new-build home ‘off plan’. I can remember being surprised that although the house included connections to all the utilities, there was no prerequisite for fast Internet access. (I believe the UK was a little backwards compared to other countries. A Scandinavian friend who came to stay as a house guest laughed as he explained that “in Sweden, digital infrastructure was of equal importance as having a ground-source heating and triple-glazing”). But dial-up internet was still the norm in many other parts of the world. Dial-up, with its characteristic connection tones and snail-paced data transfer rates, presented significant challenges for bandwidth-heavy activities. Video conferencing, large file transfers, and even consistent email access sometimes felt as though you were living on the dark side of the moon.
ADAPTING TO LIMITED CONNECTIVITY
1. Reliance on Asynchronous Communication: Without the luxury of high-speed internet, knowledge workers would have relied more heavily on asynchronous forms of communication. Email, already an acceptable form of professional communication in 2010, would have become even more critical, alongside other text-based tools that require minimal bandwidth.
2. Return to Traditional Methods: Dial-up’s limitations could have necessitated a partial return to pre-digital methods of working. This might include increased reliance on phone calls for meetings and discussions, physical documents, and more use of facsimiles for some types of work.
3. Localised Data Storage: Cloud services, which allow for remote data storage and access, might not have been as viable an option. Knowledge workers need to store much of their work locally, leading to collaboration and data-sharing challenges.
4. Schedule Flexibility: Workers and companies might have needed to adopt more flexible schedules to make the most of limited internet access. This could help avoid peak times for internet usage, akin to avoiding rush hour traffic.
5. Emergency Laws and New Crimes: Governments might have been forced to introduce new laws barring Millennials, the teenagers of 2010, from playing online games (and stopping others from Bitcoin mining) to prioritise internet access for ‘priority’ business users and emergency services.
THE IMPACT ON CREATIVITY
The constraints of dial-up internet would undoubtedly have impacted productivity. Tasks that now take minutes might have taken hours or even been impossible to complete remotely. Collaboration would have also suffered, with real-time business and creative collaboration tools like Asana, Confluence, Google Docs, Mural, and Wrike being much less effective over slow connections.
COPING STRATEGIES
1. Innovation within Constraints: Since necessity is the mother of invention, new forms of compression and optimisation technologies likely emerged, designed to make the most of limited bandwidth.
2. Removing the ability to save an image as a TIFF: Perhaps with concerns over file size, some businesses might declare specific non-compressed file formats like .TIFF off limits.
3. Improved User Training on File-Naming & Metadata: Even today, many businesses struggle with duplicates of duplicates of duplicates. To help tame storage needs, maybe businesses would require knowledge workers to pass a series of tests when simply saving files to help reduce human error when sending the ‘final’ version of a file.
4. Community and Shared Spaces: With home internet insufficient for work needs, we might have seen an increase in community internet centres or faster adoption of shared workspaces offering high-speed connectivity.
5. Government and Corporate Intervention: Recognising the economic and social necessity of internet access, governments and corporations might have accelerated investments in infrastructure to expand broadband access more quickly.
REFLECTING ON RESILIENCE AND INGENUITY
While the COVID-19 pandemic in a world tethered by dial-up internet paints a challenging picture, it also highlights human resilience and ingenuity. Just as societies have adapted to the pandemic with the technology available in 2020, there’s little doubt that knowledge workers a decade earlier would have found ways to overcome the barriers they faced.
This thought experiment underscores not just how far we’ve come in terms of technology but also the importance of preparedness and adaptability. As we continue to navigate the digital age, let’s carry forward the lessons learned from such hypothetical scenarios, ensuring that we’re better equipped to face future crises, whatever they may be and whenever they occur.
