What happened?

 

The impact of COVID-19 was swift. Some companies went straight into survival mode, looking for ways to reduce spending on IT by suspending current initiatives, cancelling contractors, deferring all non-essential purchases, renegotiating supplier contracts and furloughing or reducing employee numbers. Others saw it as an opportunity to ride the collective wave and join forces with experts in specific fields to navigate a change in business procedure and organisational structure.

 

Blue Saffron was on hand to help negotiate the pitfalls of imposed lockdown. As one satisfied customer commented,

“It was a tough time for us, but the Blue Saffron team were fantastically supportive, not only in keeping us running, but identifying and implementing innovative solutions like Teams Voice, that boosted our productivity and kept control of our costs”.

 

As belts were tightened and budgets were scrutinised, it became clear that enlightened investment during a business turndown could pay dividends in the future. Technology, now more than ever, is at the forefront of business sustainability and success. Blue Saffron has a proven track record of supporting companies as they adjust to fluctuating circumstances, providing skilled advice, robust project execution and considered redesign of operational capabilities. In some cases, business models have evolved into completely different beasts. As a happy client confirmed,

“Blue Saffron put together a project to move us to zero footprint IT – this means we can look at office space and working practices in a completely different and more liberating way.”

What is happening now? 

 

The answer is plenty but top of the agenda and now more than ever companies are looking at their business continuity plans (BCP) and how to adapt to the everchanging landscape created by the pandemic. Our survey suggests that at least 60% of respondents are considering additional outsource assistance. This reflects the ongoing enhancement required to sustain remote work scenarios, procure devices, set up resilient, flexible and secure networks, disaster recovery systems, IT security and more.  

 

There’s a wealth of IT solutions out there and as part of revising BCPs, companies need to take a comprehensive look at how technology will support their business decisions. More than ever the versatility of each partnership is crucial to the dexterity of a company and its success. 

What happens next? 

 

A business cannot base its future success and agility purely on an IT department’s procurement decisions. Success demands an holistic strategy, and will invariably require changes in business procedures, organisational structures, leadership assignments and a host of other business considerations to ensure strong, long-term progression. 

 

• budgets: Enlightened investment during a business downturn can pay major dividends and creates a unique opportunity for leadership to work more closely with business partners shoring up company resilience.
• saw-toothed recovery: There is bound to be uncertainty associated with any curative timeline. Outsourcing or hybrid solutions offer flexibility when riding such disruptive waves. As one of our customers commented, “Blue Saffron were invaluable help, without fuss or hesitation they stepped in to assist in supporting our staff in what was a very difficult period.” 
• business resilience: There is sure to be a renewed interest in liberating working practices, monitoring productivity and performance measurements, while streamlining output and ensuring business continuity.
• cloud flexibility: Digital business models are now more imperative than ever. As one of our clients acknowledged, “Redeploying our Sage accounts department to the cloud provided speedier and more secure access for our accounts department.” 

• collaboration: Of the 63% of companies who used Microsoft Teams during lockdown, 46% were using it for the first time, while 65% stated that they were intent on continued use post lockdown. It is now opportune to leverage the far-reaching capabilities of such collaboration suites. 
• training: The key to ensuring optimal success is knowledge. This is an area of huge importance as technologies evolve and the portfolio of applications increases almost daily.

We know from past crises, that companies who take a slash-and-hold approach fare worse than those that both prune and thoughtfully invest. This crisis has created a unique opportunity by making companies reflect how their operations were disrupted over the past few months and develop IT initiatives in conjunction with general business decisions to make them more resilient and successful in the future.

 

Blue Saffron have a proven track record in supporting companies with their immediate and long-term needs. Customer satisfaction runs high, endorsed with feedback on a recent redesign and implementation of a customer environment,

 “the design Blue Saffron put in place meant the transfer to home working was a breeze.”

 

As technology has become more of a priority than ever, businesses need to source expert advice to enable budget-managed, resilient and dextrous solutions. That’s what we do best. Let us know how we can help you.