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Across all industries, business has shifted. Employees work remotely, companies adjust budgets, and people utilize digital communication platforms more than ever before.
In this blog, I will share how NCI adapted through coronavirus. Account executives Brad Gorder and Jerad Newgard will also share trends, changes, and solutions they have worked through with customers during the last few months of the pandemic.
What Changed in IT?
For IT companies, many witnessed growth as entire workforces continue to work from home. This also created an increase in complex technology problems for many of our customers.
Common Stressors for Customers
Many customers faced limitations from out-of-date equipment and were forced to update their technology to accommodate the number of remote workers now needed to perform their jobs. (This served as a great reminder to keep devices updated regularly.)
Additionally, many companies had large quantities of hardware to move right away. Laptops, monitors, adapters, power bricks and more all needed to transfer in one week. Once the hardware was organized, cybersecurity concerns hit.
Remote Workforce Security Needs
When entire companies quickly switched to working remote, the most common type of security service needed was VPN access.
Newgard shares one success story that stood out to him. “For one customer, our team set up remote access for over one hundred users to allow them to efficiently work from home. They were then able to continue business as usual in extremely short notice.”
According to Gorder, “I was amazed that while our customers were decentralizing, so were all of us at Network Center. We were going through the same thing as them, but we never took our eye off the ball. Instead, the entire team put the bat on the ball and worked long hours to get settled ourselves after our customers were settled.”
The Rise of Collaboration Tools
We all are adapting through coronavirus. One of the things Gorder appreciated was the support from NCI’s original equipment manufacturers.
“Throughout the rise of the pandemic, NCI partners like Cisco, Microsoft, Lenovo, and Check Point were available and willing to reduce cost basis to help NCI’s customers. Many also offered free technology for the short term.
Collaboration tools like Cisco Webex and Microsoft Teams were also key for us and for our customers to stay in touch.” Gorder noted that without these tools, internal communication would not have been nearly as fluid.
NCI Took Care of Employees, Too
As we continue to adapt through coronavirus, companies must prioritize their employees. One of NCI’s core values is to always celebrate individuals, teamwork, and their great achievements within the business. The COVID-19 pandemic is no different.
NCI chose to make the investment in their employees to enable them to succeed despite the stress of uncertainty. As a company, they worked to be flexible and minimize pandemic-related anxiety as much as possible.
LuAnne Brosz, sales operations, shares how they cared for employees and invested in a positive workplace culture.
With Remote Teams, Culture Must Step up
“Keeping our employees connected is more important now than ever to keep them from feeling isolated or anxious about the vast amount of changes that may have taken place in their daily work or home life.
“Even if we can’t see each other face-to-face, listening to team members makes everyone feel recognized and important. We all have unique talents and being able to allow our team to showcase them in the efforts they make to exceed our customers’ expectations during such an uncertain time does a lot for creating a culture of teamwork and value.”
How NCI Kept Employees Engaged and Maintained High Morale
“We make a conscious effort to do daily virtual meetings so we can see our team members, keeping us connected. Whether it be a virtual happy hour, a daily team catch-up or our company wide meeting – doing these things virtually gives us a chance to ‘see’ those team members that we normally spend a large amount of the day in the same office with.”
“We all have a need for human connection and in this time when that is limited in every aspect of our life, virtual connection is the next best thing. Additionally, in advance of our company-wide meeting we put together ‘Work from Home’ bags with gift cards to local restaurants, funny #WFH t-shirts and reminders of the company we all have a hand in creating. What better way to offer support than with SWAG?”
Finally, NCI is proud to be a company that is dedicated to customer success and committed to employees. We believe that if they have happy employees, their customers will be happy, too.
