That’s certainly what the industry behind remote work is hoping. “We are fully prepared for this situation,” said a spokesperson for Slack, which makes popular business chat software. “First and foremost, our concern is for the families and individuals affected by the coronavirus.

“For now, we are focused on helping people around the world adapt to remote work with free resources. For example, we have been hosting free consultations for companies adapting to remote work for the first time. We’ve been speaking to companies of all sizes and from all industries – from large enterprises with hundreds of thousands of employees, to small businesses with a team of five.”