Record snowfalls cannot stop Damovo working!
With large parts of the country having suffered considerable disruption more than once already this winter Damovo too has not escaped the effects of the exceptional weather. Like many organisations staff who are normally based in our head office, including Call Reception, Remote Diagnostic and Service Management as well as those in our Commercial, Finance and Business Support functions, found they were unable to travel to the office. However a key element of the Damovo Business Continuity plan is to utilise the flexible working capability of our ICT systems and networks.
During the recent heavy snowfalls the Damovo office was almost inaccessible for a number of days, but by the invocation of the Business Continuity (BC) plan staff continued to work from home to provide our clients with a near business-as-usual experience. During this time service calls were maintained and SLAs continued to be met, and perhaps just as importantly, our clients were not aware of any noticeable difference in the manner or responsiveness of the way their enquiries were handled.
Following the principle that work is a process and not a place, a large proportion of the Company’s knowledge workers have the facility to work wherever they choose with full access to their normal corporate voice, video and business applications via WiFi, ADSL or 3G connection. As such during the recent inclement weather the Company simply operated with a higher proportion of staff physically working remotely from the office, but in every other respect still very much part of the business-as-usual model - through the use of collaborative technologies including presence, instant messaging, video and group chat sessions.
From a BC perspective, utilising pre-configured group chat rooms within Microsoft Office Communicator for Senior Management, Operations Management and our Service Desk Business Continuity team ensured all the requisite staff knew exactly what was going on in real-time and at every moment. And it wasn’t just those with laptops who were able to continue working. Utilising a terminal services solution any staff with access to a PC had secure access to all their normal business applications through a browser from their home computer.
The net result was that when the travel problems struck there was, in effect, a well proven working practice already in place with little additional activity necessary to instigate the BC plan other than advising staff not to attend the office and to join their appropriate chat rooms to pick up instructions.
For Damovo the message is clear; we know there are tremendous business, personal and environmental benefits to be gained from the adoption of flexible working as part of normal day-to-day business activity but when the unexpected occurs, those same benefits take on a whole new dimension with the ease in which they enable the business to carry on operating. To understand how Damovo may be able to help your business in normal, as well as exceptional times, please contact your Damovo Account Manager.
Thank you to all of you who have forwarded suggestions for subsequent instalments of Interpreter, these have been duly noted. Please keep up the suggestions and feedback to talktous@damovo.com.
