Toby Sillett is the co-founder and director of Onsite Technologies, a nationwide IT and telecoms support provider located on the outskirts of London in Upminster. In this feature, Sillett discusses how Onsite Technologies has met the challenge of the crisis and the lessons that the UK can learn from chartering a course through troubled waters.
"As a company we have had to adapt and overcome", Toby says. "We have reshuffled the way we work, our staff members have set up from home and are supporting our client base from their homes."
Fortunately for Toby Sillett and his business, IT support and services is their forte, making the transition nigh seamless. However, this has not come without downsides.
Toby explains: "We aren’t attending site to install equipment, so new projects are on hold for now, and we are having to send equipment out to individual homes and set their devices up remotely to enable them to continue working."
Yet, in spite of the major impact of COVID-19 on the business, Toby says that it will strive to continue in its support of the real estate sector.
"Yes, this will continue in earnest", Toby says. "We continue to support the real estate sector and have offered discounts to set users up to ensure that they feel that we are providing value for money, rather than 'capitalising' from a major pandemic.
Looking to the future, Toby Sillett also believes that UK firms have lessons to learn from this time of crisis, and particularly garner encouragement from the positives.
Toby explains: "I think this may have taught us as a nation that we can work from home and still be productive, not all the time, but perhaps we should take heed from this awful experience.
"I believe we should at least try and take the positives out of situation. If anything, this surely reduces the strain on the roads, trains, planes, reduces pollution and also removes pressure from us as individuals.
"If anything, by slowing down a bit, it may allow us to see the world a little clearer and understand what we are doing to the environment. The global consumption needs to be addressed and perhaps this is a way we can address it."
Helping Britain reduce its carbon footprint is certainly something that Toby Sillett's business has already been looking at.
With a smile, Toby says: "As an organisation we pride ourselves on looking at providing smart buildings and we are a huge advocate of automating these systems to help improve carbon footprint and essentially utilise these systems and a much more efficient way.
"With the emergence of cloud based solutions and intelligent building solutions we feel that we can improve the way people work both now and in the future."
