PROVIDENCE – Brad Mirza, executive vice president of New Hampshire-based Secured Network Services, believes that adaptation of technology services to serve business operations in recent months will continue to be utilized post-COVID-19.
Mirza, who oversees the technology company’s 10-person Providence office, says that juggling family life and the high demand for video conferencing technology and internet service during the pandemic has been a personal challenge.
“We have seen much more utilization of video conferencing technology,” said Mirza. “It has been nice to see the adaptation and I believe this will continue post COVID-19.”
“My wife, Trisha, and I have four children,” added Mirza. “Three of the children [have participated] in distance learning. Juggling distance learning has been a major challenge with my busy workload.
“I am still working remotely several days a week and going into the office a few days, mainly due to juggling child care right now,” he said. “Most of our employees are working from home.”
PBN is asking local business owners and top executives five questions in a survey designed to understand how the new coronavirus has affected them and their businesses and what they have learned from the unprecedented challenges. Here are Mirza’s responses:
How are you coping amid the COVID-19 crisis?
It’s been extremely challenging to manage the high level of demand to help our clients and, at the same time, the obligations of family life for those who have children in the home or other family members that require care. We are trying to be mindful of the workloads for our team; when this all started, our team worked exceedingly long hours in order to meet the demands of teleworkers.
Have you found silver linings in these difficult times?
Yes, we have found opportunities to be tremendously helpful to our clients. IT is often a less visible service and sometimes even a thankless job. That said, this crisis has brought the importance of stable and secure networks to the forefront. What’s more, many of our clients have reached out to us providing extra praise and thanks to our team who certainly went above and beyond. It was heartening.
How are you maintaining your company culture?
We have been hosting virtual group events to keep us connected, culture-wise. In April, we gathered for a virtual game night where we were able to play collaboratively via on-line platforms. In May, we hosted a virtual social hour to provide us all some face-to-face communication. Everyone was encouraged to wear a crazy hat.
Did your business continuity plan work or were there surprises?
Our plan worked well. We are totally set up for a remote workforce, being in the IT field. Approximately 50% of our staff already works remotely, some on a full-time basis.
Do you have advice for other local companies?
I would advise local companies to develop policies and procedures that are well-defined around remote workforces. Unfortunately, cybercriminals are using this pandemic to exploit holes in some technologies that have seen exponential growth. Remote workers will need to use these technologies and it is vital to keep them updated regularly to maintain information security.
Cassius Shuman is a PBN staff writer and researcher. He can be reached at shuman@pbn.com.