The most unprecedented crisis of 2020 has been the COVID-19 pandemic. It has managed to alter the set goals and roadmap of industries, causing economic disruption throughout the world. The greatest threat to organizations is the one that is unexpected and therefore unplanned for. Planning is the core foundation for any solution or recovery from the threats that organizations face. The longer it takes to build a resolution the greater is the threat and damage.
For more than three decades, AVTECH Software has been focused on proactive “Business Continuity” planning and preparation. AVTECH has successfully overcome all the hurdles while other manufacturers of similar products have not managed to stay in the market over the years. Established in 1988, the company was created to help monitor IT networks and facilities to help prevent downtime and data loss. Its solutions soon gained ground against its competitors, making AVTECH one of the leading developers and manufacturers for environment monitoring.
AVTECH’s rapid growth was also recognized by the Small Business Administration as the Rhode Island Exporter of the Year 2018. It has been one of the finalists for the Disaster Recovery Institute International Product/Service of 2020 award for its unique and innovative services. These accolades are truly a testament to the hard work and effort that AVTECH puts into its products and services.
Reliable and Cost-effective Solutions
The award-winning portfolio of solutions from AVTECH has been protecting the most important data centers in the world. No data center can afford unexpected downtime, and AVTECH’s hardware monitors have quickly become an industry standard. Their Room Alert line of environment monitors was first introduced in 1998 and has been widely adopted by IT and facilities managers who needed to be warned if environmental conditions such as temperature or humidity were proximate to thresholds that could cause downtime and hardware failure. Presently, it is one of the most advanced, easy-to-use, reliable, and affordable environment monitoring solutions available.
Currently, the industry is undergoing several changes due to the COVID-19 crisis, and to keep up with these changes, AVTECH Software has launched two free tools that any organization can use to help them better understand the importance of monitoring to help protect against costly downtime and data loss.
- Business Continuity Plan Checklist: A free download for anyone who wants to either check their own organization’s plan to make sure they are not overlooking any critical areas that could lead to downtime, or anyone that has not yet put together a documented plan on their own.
- Downtime Calculator: This tool allows organizations of any size to quickly understand how costly even one hour of downtime can be. By using the interactive sliders to match some criteria in the calculator with their organization, within a matter of seconds, any organization can see what their actual true cost of downtime will be whether they are down for an hour, a couple of hours, or even multiple days.
“We’ve seen Room Alert become the standard for worldwide organizations to help monitor their data centers, warehouses, telecom installations and so much more,” says Michael Sigourney, Founder CEO of AVTECH Software. AVTECH is also prepared for the launch of Room Alert Manager—the newest generation in environment monitoring software that offers alerting, graphing, reporting, firmware updates, and so much more for its monitors and sensors.
Scaling Company Growth
AVTECH’s operations are overseen by a great leadership team. Michael shares a wide history with some of AVTECH’s international sales partners and resellers granting him insights for expansion in international markets. In the pre-COVID era, Michael would travel overseas to expand AVTECH and Room Alert brand messages outside of North America. Even after the pandemic hit, he was active in scaling the growth of the organization. He adds, “Thanks to technology and the Internet, I am still able to meet with so many people over video calls to talk to them about Room Alert and how it will help their organization.”
Prepping for the New Normal
Technology has also benefitted the team of AVTECH by allowing them to stay together and work closely with each other from remote locations. The AVTECH team already anticipated the lockdown after noticing the worsening conditions around the world due to COVID-19. To be prepared for a long period of remote work, the team was asked to work from home for a few days prior to the offices being closed for health and safety reasons. AVTECH ensured that the team was well equipped with the technology required to maintain a smooth workflow. As a result, the staff members were provided with additional monitors, office chairs, laptops, VoIP phones, and more were needed to ensure that they were able to be productive and comfortable while working remotely.
While working remotely, the team was connected with Microsoft Teams and has been using the platform for company meetings and daily communication. This ensured that the whole team was on the same page while maintaining social connections. Michael also especially highlighted the efforts of facilities management and fulfillment teams who had to stay in office throughout the pandemic. These two groups were always present physically in the office to ensure that the products are shipped and the office remains clean and sanitized for the employees who might need to return to the workplace. “They have done outstanding work to help service our customers and we couldn’t be prouder of their efforts,” adds Michael.
Prioritizing Self-Care
Michael deliberates that being separated from the co-workers can be difficult at times for everyone —especially the ones with whom you work daily. Acknowledging the tough times, Michael ensured that the management team would always be available to listen to any concerns and address them as soon as possible. Alongside this, the internal systems and processes were frequently monitored so they would not hinder the productivity of employees.
The employees’ well-being was kept at utmost priority. Since the start of 2020, the routines and schedules have been upended due to the pandemic, leading AVTECH to give its staff the ability to modify their schedules when needed. This helps the employees to pay attention to their homeschooling children or go out on a walk in the nice weather as part of their self-care routine. Based on the productivity and sales increases shown by the team while working remotely, AVTECH has ensured that their company culture has remained in place even when faced with the worst pandemic in nearly 100 years.
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