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Thuiswerken | Working from Home | Coronavirus
Thuiswerken | Working from Home | Coronavirus

Working from home, but staying connected

There’s no escaping the impact of the Coronavirus. It’s changing all our lives, at home, and at work. The Dutch government has closed restaurants, sports clubs and schools. At least until 7 April. A few weeks ago, such drastic steps to contain the Coronavirus (COVID-19) seemed unimaginable. They’ve also advised people to try working from home, to reduce social contacts. BSL started making changes last week. Changes designed to protect clients and our team. We’re working from home as much as possible.

Coronavirus – BSL working from home

Working from home full time is not always easy. BSL has a few advantages over some organizations. Our IT focus means we can access most of our network over VPN. We’ve of course had to solve a few technical issues, and scale up our network services. It’s sometimes difficult to get all devices (mobiles, tablets, Linux, OSX, Windows) playing happily together. And the coffee machine remains out of reach 😔. But we’ve got through most of the teething issues. Our engineers, designers, and our admin are now up and running, all working from home.

Each morning our stand-ups take place using Monday.com. Just the same as in the office, but thanks to Google meetings, distributed over kitchen tables, home offices and gardens throughout Holland. It’s been great to see our team all pull together. Although we’ve had to introduce new house rules 🙂 – No pyjamas, no eating breakfast, and covered (at least from the waist up).

Working from home – software development

You might ask, can our developers create complex software working from home? The answer is a resounding yes! Our developers have continued work on their projects without too much interruption. Our project planning, time registration, gitlab and other essential services are accessible. They’ve even started new projects this week on behalf of NBD Biblion and ABN AMRO. Via VPN, they can access development servers at our Breukelen office. And via our virtual stand-ups and Monday.com, we discuss and plan our work for the coming day. We exchange ideas, tips and chatter too in our Team hangouts. It’s been a steep learning curve. And of course, we have to get used to the idea that we can’t wander into each other’s offices. But our infrastructure keeps us working together as a team. As far as possible, it’s work as usual 😀 at the Bright Side of Life.

Customers

Eek watching our serversWe need to protect everyone from Coronavirus (COVID-19) by working from home. But we are also doing everything we can to minimize impact on our customers and services. Our development work continues as normal. Conference calls replace face-to-face meetings. A telephone service relays messages to our employees. There’s also someone on standby to monitor our servers. And as usual, our support site is available 24/7. Yes, BSL is well-prepared to deal with this unprecedented situation!

Looking to the future

No-one can predict what will happen in the coming weeks and months. And working from home means companies and individuals have to make significant adjustments. We all need to follow the advice given by specialists. So BSL employees will continue working from home as long as recommended. But one thing hasn’t changed. The whole team is motivated. We will work hard to complete our projects on time, and within budget.

And if you need advice about our custom software or websites, we are of course still available by phone or via mail. We can’t offer you a coffee and a chat, but we will be happy to arrange a video call!

Best wishes – and stay healthy

On behalf of the BSL team, we wish you, your company, and your families all the very best during these challenging times.

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