The images of boarded-up storefronts resulting from the COVID lockdowns in the winter has shown up in major newspapers. Yet, the international market cannot be defeated and a year from now, it has slowly gotten up on its feet. Business has always thrived in adversity and the “if I can make it there, I can make it anywhere” attitude may be battered but not beaten. Ironically, some salvation may be on the way from the remote working sector which, after all, is all about the ability to make it anywhere.
A Call Back to the Workers in International Cities
International sites of business, like Paris, New York, and London have long been on the shortlist when it comes to innovative technology. As the home to publishing, advertising, and news empires, as well as Wall Street, New York along with the famous Silicon Valley, rode successive waves of tech revolutions. According to Barrons, over 90% of US tech innovation growth in the last two decades occurred in five metro hubs: New York, Seattle, Boston, San Francisco and San Jose. The pandemic hit the cities of the world hard, emptying its streets.
Yet, money talks and it’s calling back its workers. Many made the successful return to their offices: last year, JP Morgan recalled senior managers to its New York HQ; the month before, Facebook signed a lease for a whopping 730,000 square foot Manhattan campus; and TikTok took out a ten-year lease in Times Square. Amazon announced two thousand new hires to join the 24,000 already in the city. The City of London announced a “back-to-work week” and people in Paris are making an art of going back to work.
A Translation Agency At Home With Globalized Citizens
The emblematic Statue of Liberty still stands as a welcoming beacon to immigrants from around the world, including those that arrive from less developed countries. Meanwhile, the Eiffel Tower is a tourist attraction of all ages and all backgrounds. The same can be said for Big Ben. These melting pot cities have become business hubs in this globalized world.
Key to adapting websites and other digital content is the language services industry. A translation agency, with its goal of providing language solutions globally, have found bases in metropolitan cities such as New York, Paris, and London. These companies have found a home in the combination of mother-tongue English with the dozens of other languages spoken with native fluency by the city’s residents.
It’s no wonder, then, that localization and translation technologies have thrived in metropolitan cities. While linguistic networks of these companies may be spread out across the world, cities continue to be an attractive and desirable address for agencies which want to project a global profile and to appear local to some of the world’s leading brands.
Tech Companies Revolutionizing Global, Remote Work
Throughout the world, there are many companies helping to rethink and reshape life in these cities, through revolutionizing remote work. LivePerson has led the field of outsourced customer service since 1995. What once could be described as remote call center tech has morphed radically into something the company calls Conversational AI.
The depersonalizing experience of dealing with automated call routing systems has given way to interaction with living, breathing human beings empowered by knowledge of client companies and brands. That way, when you call in or initiate a live chat with an LP-powered call center, you have the feeling that you are conversing with knowledgeable insiders rather than soulless robots or clueless slave labor on some distant subcontinent.
With more than 18,000 clients and serving tens of millions of their customers, Live Person is not resting on its laurels but using the widespread acceptance of remote working to lead the field of innovation in conversation, melding machine learning with human training to create that warm fuzzy feeling of having a chat with someone who cares and knows their stuff. They do so with Artificial Intelligence meant to suss out a caller’s intent even before callers themselves may know it, then to help construct conversational scripts uniquely tuned to the needs of their clients.
Noom is another tech firm committed to building a healthier world, combining innovation with empathy and empowering personal change, within companies and direct to consumers. Recognized as a Best Workplace by both Inc. and Fortune, Noon practices what it preaches and extends its best practices for the edification of other companies and customers. The company delivers online programs to improve collaboration and transparency, facilitating trust and communication across borders and languages too.
Noom provides coaching services to companies aiming to improve the wellness of their employees. It creates and delivers health content remotely. Its health coaches develop personal relationships and guide their clients to make better lifestyle and work-personal balance choices.
Are We Out of the Woods?
We are not out of the woods yet, and the coming year may yet hold surprises, and not necessarily pleasant ones. Yet, with businesses such as tech companies and the translation companies that support and collaborate with them, the state of remote work is indeed calling us to rethink our ways of working. How we do our work is not only changing not only because of the metropolises that usually dictate trends, but also because of technological advancements. As H.G. Wells said, “Adapt or perish is nature’s inexorable imperative.”
