Coronavirus. Businesses are being encouraged to allow staff to work from home and adopt video conferencing as an alternative to face-to-face meetings.
This week, Boris Johnson released the Government’s 28-page Coronavirus ‘battle plan’ and the WHO announced: “We are in uncharted territory”.
Among other measures, the plan will put the Army on standby, stockpile medical supplies, offer tax mitigation for businesses, restrict police investigations to serious crime and encourage working from home.
Current advice to businesses includes arranging for an increase in video conferencing to allow staff to work from home and restricting “non-essential” travel.
The government’s current advice is:
- Appoint a pandemic coordinator or team, whose role is to prepare “robust and flexible” business continuity arrangements in the event of disruption.
- Reduce the spread of infection, providing handwashing facilities and sanitising hand gels. Employees are not advised to wear face masks.
- Arrange for an increase in video conferencing, allow people to work from home and restrict “non-essential” travel.
- If someone falls ill at work and they have visited a high-risk area in the last 14 days, they should be moved to an area at least two metres away from anyone else, ideally in a separate room. They should call NHS 111 and wait for advice.
- If an employee or member of the public has suspected or confirmed Covid-19, closure of the workplace is not recommended. A PHE Health Protection Team will be in touch to do a risk assessment if the case is confirmed.
- Employees who are not sick but kept home by an employer are entitled to their usual pay. Those who are not sick but kept in quarantine by a medical professional do not have a legal right to pay. However, it is best practice to treat this as sick leave, to avoid quarantined employees coming into the workplace while infectious because they want to get paid.
Sources: Public Health England, ACAS, Civil Contingencies Secretariat
Video Conferencing To The Rescue?
Yes, video conferencing can provide a practical solution to the impact on business communications, but should you rush to use one of the many free-to-use video conferencing platforms?
Our advice is DON’T!!
Many of these platforms have had serious security issues, and as demand intensifies, they’ll struggle to meet it – resulting in poor service and increased levels of frustration for you.
Talk to us. We are a multi-vendor solution provider specialising in enterprise-grade video conferencing solutions that are:
- easy to use
- fully interoperable
- ISO27001 certified
- full encryption
- highly available (99.999% uptime SLA)
Up And Running In Minutes
We can get you up and running on a proper conferencing platform within minutes. Something very few others can offer.
With a proper conferencing solution, there’s no need to stop having meetings. On the contrary, have more meetings!
Business Continuity With Voice & VPN
Having a reliable video conferencing platform will undoubtedly help with business continuity, but it’s not the only option available.
We specialise in easy-to-deploy VoIP telephone systems which ensure staff are contactable and able to maintain levels of customer service wherever they are working.
We can VoIP-enable Microsoft Teams so staff working remotely can both make and receive external calls easily.
We can also deploy Virtual Private Network (VPN) connections which allow those working remotely with laptops and mobile devices to connect securely to the office network.
To help business support a sudden increase in the number of remote workers, ‘burst licences’ are available. This low-cost option significantly increases the installed VPN licence count for a set period ‘in case of emergency’.
Don’t Panic! We’re Here To Help
Over the last few days, we’ve spoken to many business leaders and IT Managers who have reached out to us for support at this critical time. We expect to have many more discussions before the current crisis eases.
We’re standing by to help and advise you on the right solution for your needs. Talk to us today, and we’ll help you keep your business communications flowing.
Call us on 0800 032 8274 to speak directly with a specialist.
About Marlin Communications
Marlin Communications is an award-winning, leading provider of Unified Communications & collaboration solutions including voice, data, mobile, video, network security and contact centre technology for businesses of 50 – 5,000 staff.
We have clients across the south of England and in Europe and our own, on-premises, 1,000 ft² Technology Suite at our Bath office, where we host regular events and showcase technology solutions for our clients. Contact us for your free comms audit or product demo.
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