Overcoming COVID-19 challenges in our IT teams

Head of Business Systems, Mary Sabalis, talks about the challenges faced during COVID-19 and the work completed by her team to enable staff to work from home ensuring the business keeps running and staff are safe.

We've had to source over 200 new devices to get our office workers set up at home. This came with its own problems as stocks of laptops dried up across the UK.

“We've been working non-stop to ensure the business can run effectively and all our members of staff follow the Government social distancing guidelines by working remotely or from home. For me the biggest positive has been how patient, cooperative and generous everyone at South East Water has been and the hours put in to make sure work could continue.

“We've had to source over 200 new devices to get our office workers set up at home. This came with its own problems as stocks of laptops dried up across the UK.

“With a fantastic board of volunteers we were able to build and distribute the devices in a matter of days, meaning we succeeded in our goal of getting employees working from home by the first day of lockdown while keeping the business running.

“Our work was not done there though. The number of people connecting remotely quadrupled, creating its own issues. In the engine room the Infrastructure and Security teams bolstered the network and security to support the influx of remote users. We also had to effectively build a new contact centre in the cloud, which would allow our Customer Service Agents to make calls to customers securely from their homes.

“We are proud to say that with all the hard work and effort put in by the team our IT Helpdesk resolved 1,569 calls in March, a 50% increase received during the last two weeks. Without the hard work and dedication of all teams none of this would have been possible. It just goes to show the commitment our staff have to continue to provide a top-quality service even in the most testing of times.”

For me the biggest positive has been how patient, cooperative and generous everyone at South East Water has been and the hours put in to make sure work could continue.