Business Notebook: Home-based workers 'Zooming' more than ever

The coronavirus outbreak has had an enormous impact on business communications — locally, nationally and around the world.

With millions of employees staying home, firms have had to replace face-to-face meetings with new ways of allowing workers to talk to each other, leading to a surge in the use of web conferencing platforms.

The top three web conferencing platforms in the United States hit more than a 70% market share in April, according to industry sources. With a 42.8% market share, Zoom ranked as the leading conferencing platform among American users last month.

Founded in 2011, Zoom was used by more than 300 million people in daily meetings globally last month, compared to about 10 million who logged on to Zoom in December.

The number of Zoom domains in the United States has rapidly increased this year, reaching more than 15,600 in April.

With a market share of 18.7% and more than 6,800 domains, GoToWebinar ranks as the second most popular web conferencing app in the United States followed by Webex from Cisco with an 11.2% market share as of April and more than 4,000 U.S. domains.

Webex reported 14 billion meeting minutes worldwide in March, more than double its January usage figures.

As in the United States, Zoom, GoToWebinar and Webex have a combined 70% market share in Europe.

In Germany, GoToWebinar ranked as the leading web conferencing app in April, while Zoom and Webex hold 27.5% and 13.6% market shares, respectively.

Meanwhile, in Great Britain, businesses gave Zoom a 35% market share in April followed by GoToWebinar and Webex with respective market shares of 27% and 11%.

KFVS12 receives Murrow Award

KFVS12 has received a regional Edward R. Murrow Award for 2020 in the category of "Overall Excellence" in broadcast journalism. The award was announced last week by the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA).

The Murrow Awards are named in honor of Edward R. Murrow, a well-known broadcast journalist and war correspondent for CBS during World War II. Murrow is considered to be a pioneer of radio and television news broadcasting. Murrow Awards are among the highest honors a journalist can achieve, according to KFVS12 news director Roger Seay.

KFVS12's winning entry in this year's Murrow Awards competition included local coverage of several news events, including 2019's historic flooding, a tornado in Paducah, Kentucky, the execution of Russell Bucklew, an unsolved murder investigation and several other local features and general news items.

Award winners were judged in 14 regions across the country that include hundreds of local radio and television newsrooms. KFVS12 competes in a region that includes news organizations in Missouri, Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska.

Hospice service earns recognition

The hospice program at SoutheastHEALTH has been named a 2020 Hospice Honors Elite recipient by Deyta Analytics, a leading provider of web-based home health and hospice software, outsourced billing and coding servings and advanced analytics.

Hospice Honors recognizes hospice programs based on a set of 24 quality care measurements.

Established in 1986, Southeast Hospice averages 621 hospice visits monthly and recorded 7,448 visits in 2019. Last year, the program served 599 patients in residential and skilled nursing facilities primarily in the counties of Cape Girardeau, Bollinger, Scott, Stoddard and Perry, as well as portions of New Madrid and Mississippi counties. The program has a partnership with Perry County Memorial Hospital.

There are more than 5,300 hospice programs participating in the Medicare program in the United States. Of those, 350 have earned "Honors" status and only 79 have achieved "Elite" status.

Food bank receives $50,000 grant

SIKESTON, Mo. — The Southeast Missouri Food Bank was recently awarded a $50,000 grant to help provide food to children in Dunklin, Mississippi, New Madrid and Pemiscot counties as part of the summer feeding programs in those counties.

Feeding America awarded the grant with funds provided by the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Foundation and The New York Times' Neediest Cases Fund.

The Southeast Missouri Food Bank is an affiliate of Feeding America, a nationwide network of more than 200 food banks that feed more than 46 million people through food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters and other community-based agencies.

Registration open for DRA webinars

The Delta Regional Authority (DRA) will host a pair of technical assistance webinars this week about the authority's $29.2 million Workforce Opportunity for Rural Communities (WORC) grant program.

The 90-minutes webinars are scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday and 1 p.m. Thursday

The workforce program is a DRA initiative designed to support workforce training and education, build long-term community capacity and increase economic competitiveness across the lower Mississippi Delta region which includes Southeast Missouri.

Potential applicants for WORC grants are encouraged to register for one of the technical assistance webinars. Guided by subject-matter experts and workforce practitioners, these webinars are designed to provide stakeholders with the systems, resources and tools necessary to develop and implement comprehensive workforce development programs.

Additional information about the program, including application information, is available at www.dra.gov/workforce.

People on the Move

Jennifer Steinberg

Jennifer Steinberg has been named event and wedding coordinator at Rusted Route Farms, a wedding and special events venue on Route W north of Cape Girardeau.

In her new position, Steinberg provides facility tours and is responsible for all aspects of weddings and other activities, "making sure events go as perfectly as possible," she said. In addition to weddings, Rusted Route Farms hosts a variety of activities ranging from large private parties and fundraisers to smaller events such as bridal and baby showers.

Before joining Rusted Route Farms, Steinberg held management positions at several food and beverage venues in the Cape Girardeau and Jackson area.

Chamber notes

The Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce will host a "virtual" Business After Hours gathering from 5 until 6 p.m. Tuesday via the Zoom video conferencing platform.

More information is available on the chamber's website — www.capechamber.com — or the chamber's Facebook page.

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As of last week, there were still a few player and sponsor openings available for the Jackson Area Chamber of Commerce's 28th annual Golf Classic later this month. The event is set for May 29 at Kimbeland Country Club in Jackson.

Lunch will be at 11 a.m. that day followed by tee-time at noon. Social distancing will be required during the tournament.

For more information, contact the Jackson chamber at (573) 243-8131.

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