Through rapid implementation and brisk development, The Smart Group shifted to remote work seamlessly – using GVSC’s solutions – at the beginning of South Africa’s national lockdown.
SITUATION
When the South African government announced that the country was going into Level 5 lockdown in March 2020, The Smart Group, like many businesses, had less than a week to convert their entire business to remote working. As a primarily office-bound workplace that had employees frequently go out to client meetings, this was quite a big change. They needed to change their telephony landlines to a remote solution, give access to their servers and documents to a widely spread group of employees, and enable their safe return to the office after lockdown.
ACTION
- GVSC’s mobile phone app: This app took The Smart Group’s in-office telephony system and connected it to a cloud switchboard solution. This acts like a mobile switchboard solution and can transfer calls, answer incoming calls, and allow staff to make discounted outgoing calls – so it allows remote work with the identical switchboard functionality.
- GVSC’s Work from Home IT solution: By connecting their computer network to a VPN, staff could access their server from home, and could share and upload information as well. GVSC also installed a MikroTik router: this Mikrotek secures the network to allow for a safer work environment. This took care of their computer requirements while working from home.
- GVSC’s COVID screening solutions: To allow for an eventual return to the office, GVSC implemented their mobile app solution which screens staff members symptoms, uploads photos of temp reading, scans ID’s and driver’s license, confirms that staff and guests are wearing a mask when entering the property and uploads all this info within seconds to the cloud. Documenting this on the cloud with a centralized database saves the human error implicit in pen and paper (where are all those papers in 6-months time?) and allows for a secure check of who is entering your premises and keeping full, compliant history.
OUTCOME
In an extremely short time frame (four days from the President’s announcement to Lockdown implementation), GVSC had created and implemented these solutions. The Smart Group saved money on calls, could communicate with their team free of charge, and was able to seamlessly transition to remote working without losing valuable access to their data or calls from clients and prospects.
