The way in which Pakistani businesses conduct their affairs online is about to dramatically change for the better due to Facebook’s new business service called ‘Workplace’. This initiative took twenty months to develop, and its Beta version was initially called ‘Facebook At Work’. Launched globally on the 10th of October 2016, over 1,000 organizations all over the world have already started using Workplace.
Who can use it ?
Separate from one’s personal Facebook account, colleagues within a company or a start-up can now interact with each other using personalized newsfeeds, group discussions, audio or video calling, private messaging etc. The added advantage of this new online workspace is that it is ad-free and therefore the physical workspace has now expanded into the digital sphere allowing convenience and privacy. This is precisely why companies such as Telenor have already started incorporating Workplace into their business.
Price Bundles
Pakistani companies will have to be mindful of the pricing and conduct a cost-benefit analysis of whether they wish to adopt Workplace into their mode of interacting and planning activities with each other. Facebook has shown a tiered pricing structure, which is dependent upon how many active users an organization has. The rate is $3 per user for each month up to 1000 users, but drops to $2 per user if the total users are 10,000 and then $1 per user if there are more than a total of 10,000 users. However, if a Pakistani company can establish itself as non-profit or for educational purposes, then it can make use of Workplace for free. This is of immense benefit to many startups in Pakistan, such as ‘Edutative’ or ‘StudentSpark’ which aim to enhance the education experience of the younger Pakistani generation.
Colleagues already make use of Facebook to communicate with one another, but now they can do so without being encumbered by ads or personal friends and family updates. A company’s administration or leadership can now have access to their staff members even beyond office hours or outside of the office place, and this is of benefit to companies who outsource members of their staff or have staff members situated in different cities or countries. Messages or ideas can be uploaded or posted online and viewed at the other person’s convenience. Thus, Workplace is poised to be of immense benefit and convenience to Pakistani businesses.
About the Contributor:
Nauman sohail is a writer, entrepreneur and seasoned technology consultant. He has served in international firms including IBM and Etisalat and has dealt with various business verticals. He loves to read, swim and travel.
