Socomec’s expert services offering is not immune to the impact of the pandemic, but with innovation at the core of our business and the introduction of new health and safety protocols, adjustments to work processes and systemic changes, our activities have been adapted and, in some cases, transformed – for heightened resilience both today and in the future.
Maintaining exceptional service and protecting people
At Socomec, our first priority throughout this extraordinary situation has been to safeguard the health of our people – our customers, our employees, our suppliers and their families. Our goal was simple; to guarantee the continuity of our services with the highest possible levels of safety and security, particularly in core infrastructure sectors such as healthcare, data centres and the food industry.
This has been made possible – and continues to be the case today – thanks to the determination and commitment of our teams on the ground. Their dedication has been widely recognised by our customers, including Pravin Kalsekar, Facility Manager at the Mumbai Hospital in India who describes the importance of seamless, continuous support; “Thanks to the immense commitment to providing uninterrupted service to your customers and the emergency maintenance interventions to one of the UPS systems at our hospital, we have been able to guarantee continuity of supply to the ventilators necessary to treat Covid-19 patients.”
Alongside the frontline support to critical care infrastructure, there is a hive of activity behind the scenes. Thanks to the meticulous planning and preparedness of Socomec’s Health and Safety department, enhanced Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) requirements were anticipated at an early stage so that each and every one of our employees could be protected – whilst also protecting their in-person contacts – regardless of their location around the world.
A new approach to distance
In order to comply with the latest public health guidelines – whilst also guaranteeing the effective deployment of services – we have introduced a range of virtual and remote service solutions enabling us to respond quickly and effectively within the parameters of our changed world.
Our experts in North America have transitioned to work totally remotely via web video in order to train on-site teams – in conjunction with PowerSmith Services who deliver our activities in this territory. Furthermore, they have trained and supported our customers, including a new major client in the health sector. The client’s technical support teams have been trained to respond directly to simple requests whilst ensuring the availability of our experts for complex and more technically demanding challenges.
This initial distance training experience has enabled us to develop the approach alongside our customers and employees – and has yielded results that will deliver a longer-term positive impact. Although highly specialised training requires face-to-face contact, more general knowledge can be transferred remotely – which is efficient in terms of time whilst also reducing our carbon footprint.
Simplified commissioning
As with teleworking, we have learnt to operate remotely for commissioning – a key stage of our service process. This is an approach that we will continue to develop as it reduces schedule constraints and eliminates travelling time. Furthermore, it simplifies the administrative formalities of intervention and guarantees continuity of service.
What’s more, our customers’ UPS remote monitoring solution – Link-UPS – has demonstrated benefits in terms of establishing the correct performance of these connected products. The evaluation of the criticality of the alarms – through the remote technical analysis of root causes – has made it possible to reduce physical interactions on site and has also dramatically accelerated the return to normal activity following an anomaly.
Supply of spare parts – guaranteed
The continued supply of spare parts across all of our ranges is vital – and has become even more so during this challenging period. The early anticipation of stocks has enabled us to continue to provide spare parts for our customers – despite production stoppages suffered by our suppliers.
An open mind in the face of technological innovations
We are continually challenging our practices to improve efficiency, responsiveness and customer satisfaction. New technological approaches - such as virtual reality platforms - could, in the future, lead us towards new ways of working and could even enable us to evolve remote working much further. In parallel with our wider approach to innovation, we are identifying positive changes that we hope will outlive the pandemic and will help us to transition to a brighter and more resilient future.