I was recently working from home when a power outage struck my area. With no electricity and Internet, I had no choice but to abandon the task at hand. There was also no way of finding out the reason behind the blackout or how long it would last.
With relevant authorities preparing the country for digital transformation, the dependence on electricity and the Internet will only go up. Yet, unlike other countries, where there are websites that detail all scheduled maintenance works and the estimated duration of power outages, we continue to lag behind in terms of transparency.
While there is a hotline for the public, it doesn’t go beyond the lodging of complaints such as outages. What if I were a businessman in an important virtual meeting when a power outage hit? What should I say to my business partners if I had very little information to plan my next step?
As a proponent of digitalisation, I look forward to a future where the majority of school and work activities are carried out in the virtual world. However, without proper strategies for emergency situations, we will remain subservient to the silo effect.
Work Interrupted
