Skip to content
‹ Back to IndustriesIndustrial IoT

The Shift in Workplace Communication

The shift from active to passive communication in the workplace, accelerated by COVID-19, poses challenges but also offers opportunities for more humane and transparent interactions. Passive communication, such as emails and texts, demands recipients to choose their response, while active communication needs scheduled meetings. Experts see potential benefits like increased empathy and directness in communications.

This story was produced through MarketScale. See how Industrial IoT teams put it to work with AI Visibility (GEO).

By Howard Holton · · Active CommunicationCarlos Vargas PodcastCommunicationCovid-19
Share
The Shift in Workplace Communication

Key takeaways

01

COVID-19 has accelerated the transition from active to passive workplace communication.

02

Passive communication requires recipients to decide their response to messages.

03

The transition enables more empathetic and transparent interactions.

Free workspace

Turn your Industrial IoT expertise into content.

Record interviews, organize footage, and write with AI on a free trial of the MarketScale platform for qualifying companies. No demo required, no credit card.

Try it Free

One of the biggest challenges we’ve all faced in light of COVID-19, is a rapid transition from active to passive communication, especially in the workplace. When passive communication occurs, such as an email or text message, the recipient reads it, reacts to it, and then chooses to communicate or not by responding or ignoring the message. Because many employees are no longer working together in an office, there are much less opportunities for active communication, as you can’t walk up to someone’s desk if you need to speak to them. Now if you want to speak with someone audibly or visually, you need to schedule and wait for a phone or video meeting to occur.

While this shift to almost entirely passive communication has its challenges, Nasheen Liu, Founding Partner, The IT Media Group, sees potential benefits. “What this crisis has done, is that in some ways, or in a lot of ways, it actually has dismantled this stiff buttoned down corporate facade and it allows us to be more human. And we’ve discovered us, as real people, and with real lives. And you know, and this discovery is quite liberating for us as individuals, as well as businesses, when we communicate to others,” Liu said. She feels this is especially true when we communicate with our business partners, staff, and customers. “It really cuts down to what’s really important, right, so we allow ourselves to all of a sudden to be more direct, more honest, more open. And with the level of transparency, we’ve never experienced before. And there’s also that human layer, that humanity layer, right. So we are now more empathetic, show more compassion in our day to day communication, whether it be with our teams, or customers, or just a corporate communication to businesses,” Liu explained.

Make Sure to Subscribe to The Suite Spot to Stay Up to Date!https://marketscale.com/industries/original-series/the-suite-spot/

Your experts belong here

Every story in MarketScale Industrial IoT starts with a company putting its controls engineers, plant-floor specialists, and integration partners on the record. Buyers are already reading this topic. The only question is whose experts they find.

Plant and controls buyers research deep before contact, and your engineers get to shape that research.

Book DemoSee how it works15 minutes, straight to a calendar.

About the author

HH
Howard Holton
B2B Weekly

The week in Industrial IoT, and sixteen other industries, every Monday.

Ten stories, one-line takes, five minutes. Free.

Industrial IoT: are you visible to AI?

Before they reach out, Industrial IoT buyers ask AI engines which vendors to trust. Explore how your experts, customers, and partners can become useful content for buyers and AI search.

Free Trial

You just read one Industrial IoT expert. Your company is full of them.

This article was produced through MarketScale. The same platform turns your controls engineers, plant-floor specialists, and integration partners into the articles, video, and social content Industrial IoT buyers are searching for. Start a free trial and see it with your own people. For qualifying companies, no credit card, no demo required.

NPS +73 · 1,000+ creators · 38+ countries

What your free trial includes

Hands-on access to the MarketScale platform
Media requests to your crowd, remote recording, AI writing tools
No demo required. No credit card.
For qualifying companies. Company confirmation required.

More Industrial IoT Insights

ODVA's CIP Security spec earns IEC 62443 Security Level 3 certification

ODVA's CIP Security spec earns IEC 62443 Security Level 3 certification

TÜV Rheinland certified ODVA’s CIP Security specification for EtherNet/IP against IEC 62443-4-2 at Security Level Capability 3. ODVA says this can simplify the compliance path for manufacturers and gives engineers a named level to specify. Plant buyers still need to verify which products implement it.

  • 01CIP Security now carries an IEC 62443-4-2 Security Level Capability 3 certificate, giving engineers a named security level to write into EtherNet/IP device specifications.
  • 02The certificate covers the specification, so the useful purchasing question becomes whether a specific drive, valve or I/O block actually implements CIP Security and how its maker documents that.

Oct 26, 2026

Nvidia puts a Vera Rubin AI factory in a shipping container and says it can go live in 14 days

Nvidia puts a Vera Rubin AI factory in a shipping container and says it can go live in 14 days

Nvidia introduced DSX POD, a containerized reference design that standardizes assembly of Vera Rubin AI factory blocks offsite before delivery, aiming to reduce onsite deployment work from six months to roughly two weeks. Partners build, test and cable complete systems in containers; sites still must handle land prep, power generation, water supply and external connectivity in parallel.

  • 01Containerized assembly moves factory-critical tasks like cabling, loop flushing and commissioning offsite, converting unpredictable project work into repeatable products with test records.
  • 02Power enters each core container at 800 volts DC; sites must engineer upstream generation and conversion. Cooling is liquid only; containers handle internal plumbing while sites supply water and heat rejection.
  • 03Deployment time depends on parallel site preparation: land, foundations, power and external connectivity must be ready before container arrival; on-site work is reduced, not eliminated.

Oct 23, 2026

A digital twin without real-time data is only a 3D model

A digital twin without real-time data is only a 3D model

Premio product marketing specialist Annie Yang, speaking at Embedded World North America 2026, separates operational digital twins from design simulations and maps a rugged edge computer's four jobs: connect, process, accelerate and operate. Premio's VCL, RCL and JCL series hold up to two full-height, full-length GPUs, and Nvidia's Jetson range spans 157 to 2,070 TOPS.

  • 01Premio's VCL, RCL and JCL series hold up to two full-height, full-length GPUs, and the NVIDIA RTX Pro Blackwell is the newest card the company supports.
  • 02Nvidia's own Jetson figures run from 157 TOPS to 2,070 TOPS, which is why Premio offers Intel, Jetson and AMD processors for different twin workloads.

Oct 23, 2026

Explore More Industrial IoT Insights

Read more expert perspectives from across Industrial IoT.

Browse Industrial IoT Hub

About the Experts

HH
Howard Holton

Industrial IoT Expert

Howard Holton is an expert in Industrial IoT, focusing on the evolution of workplace communication strategies. He analyzes the impact of emerging technologies on traditional business practices.

NL
Nasheen Liu

Founding Partner

The IT Media Group

For B2B teams

Your experts could be publishing here

Stories like this one run on content MarketScale captures from real practitioners. See how your team's expertise becomes coverage in Industrial IoT and beyond.

Book a Demo

Or call us. No forms required. We pick up. 214-945-2512