Remote Support

Every day, when clients call Yorb they receive remote support to address their issues via one of our experienced Support Centre Team. What you may be unaware of is that the people supporting you could be in the Support Centre, in any one of our regional offices, or operating securely from home. We can remotely support you and your teams; we use those tools and processes every day and are confident that these will continue to deliver in an event such as a pandemic.

Business Continuity

We are taking the opportunity to bring forward our Business Continuity Planning and Disaster Recovery testing this year, focusing on a pandemic event. First and foremost, the wellbeing of our clients and staff are our main concern. We have a plan in place to do all that we can to support any of our team and their families that may be affected by the virus, while reducing the risk to our clients should any of our team contract the virus.

Isolation or Outbreak



Where self-isolation is required, our team have the ability to assist our clients from their own homes. This is business as usual.

In the event of a public outbreak, our policy is to introduce Remote Customer Support for all but essential work. Where work cannot be completed remotely, we will of course attend site with due precautions. It is possible that you will experience extended wait times for onsite work. We will be in contact if this is expected to occur.

Suppliers and Partners

Our support partners and suppliers are also taking a pragmatic approach towards the Covid-19 situation. We are receiving timely updates from each and will pass those on where appropriate. To date, the most significant impact that will affect us all is shipping delays and the supply of hardware. This is expected to continue, we urge you to contact your Client Manager if you have any upcoming or planned hardware upgrades or procurement requirements.

Our advice to you for consideration

Full Business Continuity planning (BCP) can be an extensive exercise. Understanding what the risks are to your business and then defining and testing appropriate mitigation strategies can take time.

For those of you that don’t have a fully developed and tested business continuity plan, there are some pragmatic steps that can be taken now to ensure you are prepared should any of your team be affected by the current Covid-19 event.

Working Remotely

If you or your team need to work from home:

• Do you have suitable Internet access?
• What system(s) access do you require?
• Can you access critical files and applications?
• Is access to the phone system available remotely, could you simply redirect to mobile phones?
• Can you setup your computer or laptop at home without physical assistance? Is the ability to print critical?
  

Test Remote Working

We strongly encourage you to test the ability to work from home.

Over the next few weeks have team members work from home for the day. Note down any issues they encounter and work with the Yorb Support Centre to ensure these are resolved adequately.

We expect that users who have not previously worked from home will experience some issues and may not have all the required systems in place.

If you do plan to complete testing, we would appreciate it if you would provide us with advanced warning and a schedule of who will be undertaking the test so we can alert our support team accordingly.

Security

Have the security implications of remote working been considered?

The bad guys love events like this and will exploit them where possible. Extra vigilance is required if working remotely.

• Remind staff about phishing scams and what to look for
• Ensure you have appropriate processes to check payments are valid and authorised before paying
• Don’t rely on email being secure!
  

Contact Lists and Communications

Make sure you have updated contact lists for your suppliers and staff and that they are readily available.

Consider alternative methods of contacting staff, especially for those that live outside of cellular coverage areas. Social media channels might be an option.

Consider how you will communicate with your customers, how frequently and with what information. Let them know in advance of what to expect.

Key Takeaways

• We are keeping calm - Its business as usual
• You should test the ability to securely work remotely
• If the event of a community outbreak:
• We can remotely support you and your teams
• When attending site, there is likely to be extended wait times and additional precautions taken
• Plan – Supply of hardware is slowing We are here to help – call us on 0800 600 606