Minimising Coronavirus Disruption to Your Business

1 May, 2020

The ways ISO Quality Services Ltd have adopted to cause the least amount of disruption with day-to-day working can be adapted and applied in most every business. Especially as we are all currently in the same boat.

Since the lockdown period was extended by the Government, strategies to minimise the impact of this are still being created. Businesses have taken on Microsoft Teams or Zoom to conduct virtual face-to-face meetings, but there’s more to this than software.

These new guidelines that we are all too familiar with have made certain aspects of work life so much harder. For example, we can’t walk across the room and ask somebody something in a matter of seconds. The inability to physically be with our colleagues changes so much. Though this change is inevitable, is it doomed to failure?

To put it simply, no! Thankfully, work life doesn’t end outside of the office door. The advancement of technology means that by getting a bit creative, we can still work collaboratively whilst apart. Something that we pride ourselves on as a business is being dynamic. As this is one of our core values, it’s important we apply to continue delivering to our clients and employees.

Approaching and solving problems

With the use of digital platforms, we’re able to tackle a key issue that was mentioned earlier – not being able to be physically present. Not only have we been able to replace internal business meetings with virtual ones, but also our sales appointments, audit services, training services, business associate meetings and best practice days. This is extremely important for us! The service we deliver to existing and new customers is often done via physical visits or training days. Replacing physical internal business meetings, business associate meetings and best practice days with virtual ones are crucial for efficiency, good communication and continual improvement within the business.

Back in the office, our team give advice over the phone to our clients and give information to potential customers. In preparation for remotely working, our entire team downloaded the app of the phone system we use in the office. We all logged in to our individual accounts, and now we can operate as if we were in the office. This doesn’t just mean answering incoming calls and making outbound ones, but also calling other team members on their direct line, in replacement of physically going to speak to them.

The outcome

Since we have been conducting remote visits, training days and webinars, we’ve received very positive feedback! We have more lined up for the next few weeks, as these were such a success. This means not only will it minimise the disruption to our business by remotely delivering our services, but it also means our clients can remain certified and continue to develop their management systems.

Caring for your team to care for your clients

From a positivity and approachability standpoint, we need our team to remain upbeat and well. This isn’t simply because of the client facing aspects, but the overall team morale and each individual’s personal wellness. We help each other out as much as we can. Examples of this include; catch up calls everyday with the whole team, calls with our line managers, a quiz or fun activity each Friday afternoon. We also get assigned buddies for the week. This is where you have a non-work related catch up with your buddy, just as a motivating and uplifting talk. These are only some of the examples, the rest can be found in our article about employee motivation…

To conclude…

Being able to minimise the disruption to your business and processes during this situation around you is so important for your business to succeed during this time. We hope you have found this useful… You can also read about adapting your business specifically here.