Meet Alison…

Alison runs a small successful and profitable business selling skincare products and has a team of 30 staff. She’s traditional in her approach and likes to see her team daily working hard supplying products to independent salons and shops across the UK.

She has only really engaged with technology where she has little choice and has an up-to-date IT CRM solution in her warehouse and offices. She has, to be fair, previously resisted advice to do business differently even though her Bristol IT support provider, soVision IT has often suggested it. Alison likes to feel she is in control. She is very hands-on.

However, this month she’s learning a difficult lesson very, very quickly. Suddenly her team are under threat from Covid-19. Almost overnight, the realisation has dawned that control can very quickly be lost.

Alison, who has diabetes, is personally at risk. She has to quickly consider her own health, her business, her team and how they can work differently. As the government announces that people must work remotely from home and shops are shutting their doors, Alison is worried, angry and frustrated – how can she pivot in her business, and sell differently when she has, to date, largely closed her eyes to the world of digital?

As the days tick by, the pressure is on. Staff are complaining, they are worried that their boss is not moving quickly enough to safeguard them, their jobs and their wellbeing. Why can’t they work from home? What can she do? What’s her next move? Even her insurance won’t help.

Luckily Alison working with us at soVision IT she knows we can help. In desperation, she calls and asks for more IT support before it’s too late. Our Cloud Hosting Services team has acted quickly over the last two weeks to keep Alison in business – differently.

 

We have taken five clear steps:

 

    • Sourced a significant amount of equipment to allow staff to work from their homes.

    • Set that equipment up quickly to get staff ready to be active and resilient.

    • Worked with Alison to work out the best Cloud Hosting Service for HER business and to keep her systems and processes secure.

    • Created all the infrastructure to allow the use of VPN (a virtual private network) for this business to protect staff, the business and customer data – the safest cybersecurity option for her.

    • Helped Alison to implement online sales funnels on appropriate social media platforms to sell products directly to the public.

 

These changes are not going to be easy for Alison and her team to embrace, however having tested the technology, she is pleased to have a plan.

If you are like Alison – knowing today you are ill-prepared for using business Cloud Server Hosting Services to deal with a crisis like COVID-19 – then get in touch. We will support you to achieve business continuity now and in the future.

Coronavirus will change the way we all do business – are you ready?

 

It’s easy to forget about Cloud Hosting Services until you need them, but by then it may be too late. Don’t get caught out.