Picture the scene;
It’s March 2020. Our team is busy in our Somerset headquarters, customers are happy and our Operations Director, Peter, is in California to visit one of our partners (Workwell Technologies).
The aim of this trip is simple – to knowledge share and plan for the future.
After a few days of successful meetings, Peter decides to make the most of his time in the US and visit San Francisco. As he walks across the Golden Gate Bridge, he looks out across the bay and begins to plan how Chronologic can improve further.
Suddenly, however, those plans are pushed to the back of his mind as Corona-19 restrictions hit. Running through the deserted airport he manages to get home in time, but the 2020 plan he envisaged suddenly needs to be put on a backburner.
The new normal
The new plan is simple. Peter needs to ensure everyone can successfully work from home to avoid the spread.
Contingency plans are in force, emergency tasks prepared, and if anyone visited the office during that time, you’d have thought we had been robbed – all our computers are at our team’s homes.
Thankfully, there were two significant silver linings to 2020’s pivot.
- Chronologic offer Workforce Management systems. We know all about tracking employee hours and ensuring our team are paid correctly, no matter where they work. It’s what we do.
- As part of the 2019 expansion plan, Chronologic had invested in a host of new infrastructure to make operations smoother for staff and customers alike. This upgrade included:
- Investment in superfast fibre to the offices
- An upgrade of technology – computers, laptops, tablets and more
- A new phone system, which vastly improves communication
- The launch of the Chronologic intranet – an internal tool for employees
Lockdown one, therefore, finished without hiccups. Only two staff members were placed on furlough, and the rest of the team continued to support our customers during a difficult time.
In fact, the first lockdown proved a perfect time for us to look at our processes, customer service methods and launch the Chronologic Training Programme. This programme has already seen two of our youngest employees’ complete qualifications, and skill-up the business.
Moving forward
As the lockdown came to an end, Peter decided a two-team approach was the best way forward. This was to minimise contact within the office, and ensure if the worst should happen, there would always be another team to make sure our software ran smoothly.
Yes, a new strain of the virus has thrown another spanner in the works for businesses. But with a vaccine rollout and the experience of how we all survived 2020 as businesses, there is hope.
For us, Chronologic will continue to invest in solutions that make optimising your workforce, wherever they work, more effortless.
Despite 2020 challenges, we welcomed three new team members last year and look forward to hiring more in 2021. This investment is to ensure we can continue serving you all with our world-class customer support.
The future
We already have a host of cloud-based services and apps in use, ensuring working from home is a breeze – no installation or expensive IT infrastructure needed.
2021 will therefore be the year we turn our heads to the physical technology we use. Contactless, biometric, state-of-the-art clocking machines that will save you time, money and resources in the long run – all while keeping your employees safe.
We hope to update you all about these new investments in the near future. For now, we’ll end this by wishing you all a prosperous 2021 and reminding you that whatever this year brings for your business, we’re here to help.
