Amid the protracted global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, China is experimenting with remote working on collaborative platforms. Although many Chinese have worked outside their offices previously, this time is different – the new coronavirus has forced people to work full time from home.
Companies have begun to shop for online working platforms with a variety of functions, such as DingTalk by Alibaba, Feishu by ByteDance, and Wechat Work by Tencent. All of these platforms offer the same services as Google Drive, Dropbox, Zoom, and Doodle Survey, in addition to supporting daily check-ins and a payroll system. Firms have been eager to continue carrying on business as usual so much so that their demand is generating a huge market for online working tools.
DingTalk, for example, says it has been supporting over 200 million users from 10 million organizations since February 3. It's also interesting to see over 1 million 1-star reviews on the App Store, which reflects the frustration of workers and students who found themselves unable to extend their Chinese New Year break in the presence of platforms supporting teleworking. Various platforms soon began to offer free accounts as they sought larger market shares. The market size of China's remote working industry is expected to grow by 104 percent this year, according to estimates.