Net Loss

By admin

Earlier this week CBS announced that it was going to make it easier for fans to watch the NCAA Basketball tournament games online.  While the announcement was greeted with enthusiasm by virtually everyone, USA Today noted that many owners of small business are dismayed by the news.  Some business owners are concerned about a drop of worker productivity.

Others are concerned that having a majority of their workers using the corporate network to stream the NCAA games (creating a local exaflood) will cause the companies’ networks to slow or crash.  Employers and workers are going to have to find a happy medium with the advent of online video.  Events such as the NCAAs and technologies such as the Slingbox are going to make it much easier for workers to watch sporting events, news and other programming while at work and at their desks.  I am not sure how to answer the question of how to avoid a decline in worker productivity during the NCAA tournament.  I also am not sure that it isn’t preferable to have workers watching the games at their desk rather than strolling around the office looking for the coworker who has hacked the system or has loaded Slingbox on his or her PDA.  I do know that as companies invest more in broadband networks, there will and should be less fear about networks slowing and crashing.