Business Continuity Statement - Coronavirus Pandemic -
26 March 2020
To All Customers, Partners and Suppliers,
The Veracity group of companies are, like most businesses, affected by the current Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic. Our priority is the health and safety of all of our employees, our partners and suppliers, and of course the local, national and international communities in which we operate.
All Veracity businesses are adhering to the guidance issued by local authorities and national governments. In addition, we have implemented our contingency plans.
The vast majority of our staff are working remotely, with essential Operations and Logistics staff operating at our logistics centres.
Veracity was well-prepared for the anticipated lockdowns and for the challenging few months which lie ahead, using all modern technologies to operate as normally as possible. Our actions, policies and status are further detailed below. We will also be equally well-prepared for the eventual economic recovery as the world emerges from this crisis.
As a developer of security and communications products, and as a supplier and service provider to a large number of critical national infrastructure sites and organisations, many of our products and services will play a significant role in ensuring the general safety and security of many national communities and even in controlling and defeating the virus itself. We are proud to have already supplied equipment and support for a rapidly constructed field hospital and also long-distance network connections for mobile Coronavirus testing stations. The Veracity Team is assigning the highest priority to all health-related projects and customers.
We provide further details below. Due to the volatility of the Coronavirus Pandemic and government actions implemented around the world, these statements and status updates are liable to change at short notice. We will endeavour to keep everyone informed as changes occur.
Remote Working Policy
Veracity has implemented a remote-working policy for every member of staff. Only Operations and Logistics staff, who are working on a rotational basis to minimise contact and remain safe will operate from the shipping warehouses. The Veracity group of companies is a highly distributed business. A large proportion of our team in Sales, Support and Software Development work remotely, so the overall impact on our operational effectiveness is minimal and carefully managed. We extensively use cloud-based tools for ERP, administration, communication, development and support, so we are well set up for very effective remote working.
Travel
All business travel has been cancelled or postponed.
Services & Support
Our Technical Support services are operating normally, by phone, email and remote login services. Should any of our customers require essential on-site support, we can make arrangements for this on a case-by-case basis with health and safety as an absolute priority. We recognise that we have many critical national infrastructure customers who may require essential and significant support over this crisis period. We will make every effort to meet this challenge.
Sales
Our Sales Operations are continuing normally, with all lines open, orders are being accepted and fulfilled. Our Sales Teams are arranging virtual meetings instead of travelling. They can also arrange for online product training sessions for System Integrators as required.
Operations & Shipping
Our fulfilment and logistics operations are continuing as normal, as far as is possible within local regulations. We have full stock levels of our major sellers in our product ranges. Our logistics/shipping partners are also operating normally, with some understandable minor delays.
Manufacturing
The crisis is impacting our manufacturing partners, but so far, they have been remarkably resilient, and we expect this to continue. There may, of course, be eventual component shortages that will affect the entire electronics industry. We anticipate that such shortages will be temporary and also mitigated by a significant drop in demand from other sectors, especially in non-essential consumer products.
Acknowledgement & Thanks
The entire Veracity Team would like to pay tribute to all the medical and healthcare workers who are putting so much effort into helping those affected by COVID-19, often at considerable personal risk. We would also like to thank everyone in the food supply chains, warehouses, delivery drivers and others who are working so hard to keep everyone supplied with the essentials during these difficult times. We encourage everyone to follow official guidelines rigorously so that together we can win this battle against the virus.
We sincerely hope that the entire world will emerge from this crisis with a renewed perspective and appreciation of the things that really matter. We all share the same planet, and we should all spend more time looking after it, and each other.
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Alastair McLeod
GROUP CEO
Veracity
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