So, I focus a lot on bandwidth, but I want to expand that a bit with communications infrastructure in general. First, the piece. The Verge looks at the impact in Brazil to workers when Facebook – and more importantly, WhatsApp, went down. From informal workers, such as cleaners and drivers, to sales people managing customer relationships, the downtime broke critical communications infrastructure. Also of note – the use of audio notes for communications, particularly due to a higher illiteracy rate.
A US analyst on Twitter commented how the outage just meant he could use another service, because he had so many of them as options. I noted that he was New York based, rich, and tech savvy.
First, I know my audience isn’t only US based. Communications infrastructure looks different in different markets – and understanding your own is first. Second, your customer’s view probably isn’t the same as yours. And finally… if you want more customers, have more viewpoints.
This is a good read to understand how some small businesses may use alternate communications, particularly outside the US. For those in the US, use this as a way to think about Shadow IT, and those unofficial workflows customers build. They come from necessity and innovation.