This is our final Business as Unusual post until next week. The following best practices and commentary were shared with us earlier this week. We appreciate everyone who responded to our inquiries and we will be reaching out to more of our friends and colleagues in the industry to find out what measures they are taking to ensure employees and customers are safe and that business continues to move forward as best as possible under the current circumstances.
Here is what Square 9 Softworks is doing to support the channel and its customers, as well as commentary from Chip Miceli, president of PULSE Technologies, and our friends at three of the leasing companies.
- Assuring our resellers and customers that although we are in a time of uncertainty, Square 9 is here to support their needs. We like many are working remotely. We want our customers to know we are well equipped to do so having implemented over two years ago a work from home policy for Fridays to support a work-life balance. Our teams are fully functioning. We are using email, social media, our website, outbound calls and much more to do this.
- Focusing on our Business Essential solution which allows businesses and their employees to work remotely by offering them cloud access to business-critical documents including Invoices, purchase orders, contracts and human resource forms. The solution supports Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Human Resources and Contract. For customers who are interested in this solution, we are committed to getting them up and running in less than 24 hours.
- Educating both the channel and customers on the difference between true cloud-based document management solutions such as Square 9’s GlobalSearch solution and other Secure File Sync and Share service such as Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive, so they can make the right choice for their business. We are using email, social media, our website, outbound calls and much more to do this.
- We have a special offer running:Anyone buying GlobalSearch in the next 60 days gets:
- Anywhere, anytime access to essential business documents
- A secure cloud repository that’s SOC1, SOC 2 and HIPAA compliant
- Guaranteed 24-hour delivery from the time their order is received
- Unlimited storate for life with any 5-user system or greater
Square 9 Softworks
We are trying like everyone else to navigate thought this mess. If employees are sick, they are staying home. We are moving into our new building, so the timing for employees to help with the move is good. After that’s done, we will do training. After that we will have to have them take PTO time and hopefully, we will be through this. The impact will start tomorrow (Tuesday). Hopefully the client will keep paying their ongoing bills. Personally, I’m doing good. Hopefully the country comes back quickly. Chip Miceli, president, PULSE Technology
We have everyone who is not office critical working remote. About 80% of our entire office has laptops and are able to work remotely. All of the sales team is able to work remotely. Like most, we put a hold on travel last week. We are working on contingency plans for customers impacted and will be ready to work with them on payment plans. Today (Monday) is the first day that new applications are markedly down. March will be lighter than usual. A number of customers will hesitate to commit, installs not happening due to visitor restrictions, schools closed, etc. So far I’ve only heard minor rumblings of equipment delays. I think most manufacturers are in pretty good shape for inventory. We are open for business and all hands are on deck to help our clients. I hope you and the entire team are well. Phil Buysse, SVP, general manager, office equipment vendor services, US Bank
Business has slowed and we expect it to slow quite a bit more. We are highly encouraging employees not to come to work if they are feeling ill in any way. A few employees have been quarantined based on recent travel. We have not stopped travel, however, it is highly discouraged and pre-approval is required. (Mostly likely no further air travel, though sounds like that may be shutting down soon. Obviously, all industry events in the next four weeks have been postponed/cancelled, and I know there are dealers not accepting visitors.)
We are highly discouraging all in-person meetings and are currently in the process of deploying half of our employees located in our headquarters to our recovery workspace to implement social distancing. And, of course, we continue to encourage best practices of washing our hands, proper cough/sneeze etiquette, not touching our face, etc.
On the customer facing side, we are evaluating how we can assist our dealers (expediting acceptance of digital signatures so that they can continue to close business remotely) and their customers (acceptability measures for payment relief – extensions, phone pays, late charge amnesty, etc.). Jennie Fisher, SVP, general manager, office equipment group, GreatAmerica Financial Services
Business As Unusual: Life and Business Continuity in the Time of COVID-19
Business As Unusual: the Cannata Report Monitors the Impact of COVID-19 on Our Industry
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