Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 disease in Ukraine and around the world, companies have had to quickly adjust to working in what, for many, is an entirely new situation.
Government quarantine restrictions and rules on social distances have meant that many businesses have had to shutter their offices and shift large numbers of workers into remote-working mode.
The challenges in doing so have been daunting.
The biggest challenges facing companies adjusting to the new realities of working in the time of the coronavirus are technical ones. There are so many remote working tools out there, for video conferencing, document sharing and team-working for example, and while they all work well individually, getting them all to work together can be a nightmare. It’s quite possible for one employee to be using a completely different set of tools, which might slow down communications and make collaborating a pain.
Kyivstar – Ukraine’s biggest telco company has developed a special package of services to make remote-working, well… workable, for entrepreneurs to big businesses. And the quality apps and the services the company offers are of course backed by Kyivstar’s 24/7 support.
REMOTE EMPLOYEE WORKPLACES
How does a company replicate its physical office operations, and its internal computer network and e-mail system, so that staff can operate entirely remotely? Where can a company find an instant virtual office? And how can internal documents be circulated securely, reliably and quickly?
No problem. Kyivstar offers certified package Office 365: Exchange from Microsoft, which comes with 50-100 GB mailboxes as standard. And there’s actually no need to send around big documents that a team is working on when a peer can jointly edit documents and discuss them online on a SharePoint portal with 1 TB of storage. Workers are able to communicate individually or in groups with voice or video calls using the Teams service. All of this is available in one window, accessible from any type of device, without placing a load on the corporate network. To have continuous Internet access to this package of services, provided reliably by Kyivstar, one can add a second SIM-card in your modem, tablet or laptop.
KEEPING IN TOUCH WITH CUSTOMERS
Operating a call center in the time of COVID-19 might seem like an impossibility, but not if a business makes use of Kyivstar’s Virtual PBX – Virtual Private Branch Exchange. It allows companies to keep in touch with their customers, accepting calls no matter how many employees are in the call center, which of them are working remotely, or which communication channels are available. Hotlines, contact center operations, incoming or outgoing calls from a single number, call recording – the vPBX from Kyivstar can handle it all. vPBX works with both fixed and mobile numbers, as well as CRM-systems. They can be used alone or together. As a result: no missed calls, call and sales tracking and quick access to the communication history with each customer.
Additionally, companies can reach out to large numbers of customers with SMS-mailing, or have customers call them on a free 0-800 number with StarTeams service.
UNINTERRUPTIBLE OPERATIONS
With the office intranet out of reach to staff working remotely, how do businesses manage the internal flows of documents and data reliably and securely?
Cloud services are the best option to meet this need, flexibly managing the resources a modern company needs: Storing large volumes of data, in a place where it can be securely and reliably processed, doing away with unnecessary internal systems – the cloud is the place all modern companies are turning to.
Companies can now get the benefits of working in the cloud Microsoft’s Azure – not only abroad but also in Ukraine with the Microsoft Azure with Kyivstar and Azure Stack with Kyivstar. The service makes use of the Kyivstar data center and Azure’s own resources jointly. In addition, experts of mobile operator can audit a company’s IT infrastructure, recommend the best solutions, and implement them. And for secure access to internal networks and systems, businesses can turn to Corporate VPN-network service.
VIDEO COMMUNICATION
Like so much in life, the key to success in business is to build and maintain relationships, keeping in touch and having regular meetings. But how can that be managed when remote working and social distancing are the order of the day?
With the Microsoft Teams service, companies can communicate with partners and their teams, as well as store and edit documents, and interact with colleagues in real time. With group or individual Teams calls, company staff can always keep in touch with each other, hold meetings, training sessions and even conferences – no matter where you are.
EXTERNAL DOCUMENT FLOW
Contracts, invoices, legal documents – they are the lifeblood of a business. But how can a company sign these important documents remotely, quickly and securely when staff and partners are physically distant?
The StarDocs service provided by Kyivstar lets companies sidestep paper contracts and quickly certify documents with clients and partners online, using Mobile ID – regardless of the signatories’ location. And with StarDocs, companies have access to all of their documents 24/7.
The key trends that have been working for business community during the last couple of years are digitalization, mobility and multitasking. With its services and solutions, Kyivstar answers to these trends and helps companies be closer to their customers.
“The quarantine, as never before, has shown that a mobile operator is not just a telephone service. The entire network provides businesses with solutions by providing services based on the internet and cloud computing. These services allow people and businesses to be flexible, to manage their time more efficiently and use their resources more effectively, without the traditional dependence on a physical office. The more services that we can provide users, the wider their world of possibilities will become. COVID-19 has changed our workplace lifestyle. Now the office is where you are. This mobile modern workplace is what we bring to our customers”.
Kostiantyn Vechir, B2B Director at Kyivstar
Head over to kyivstar.ua/uk/business to check out the full range of services and solutions available for business.
