Over the past year the pandemic has put organisations’ business continuity plans to a real test. Across the world enterprises are continuing to respond to the consequences and changing restrictions.
Maersk, a global integrator of container logistics, had to scale from 4,000 to 44,000 employees working remotely within a very short timeframe.
The massive implementation of teleworking practices seen at the outset of the pandemic demanded efficient remote collaboration and up-scaling of customer relations resources. It demonstrated just how critical it is for companies to ensure the availability, security and integrity of networks to ensure seamless operations.
The urgent need for business continuity and how Maersk and Orange Business Services teamed together is described by Tim Ferguson, head of user and distributed technology at Maersk. “We needed to go from 4,000 to 44,000 [employees] to be able to work remotely. The scale was 1,000%. We were on calls with Orange every single day, several times a day, because they understand our setup, they understand how we work, and they were able to support us through quite a challenging few weeks.”
According to Ferguson, the speed at which Maersk had to make some really quick decisions to remain operational was one of the scariest things. As a global integrator of container logistics, it is responsible for 20% of global trade. Given the circumstances, they had to prioritise medical supplies and personal protective equipment to reach every corner of the world.
At the same time, just like any other company, Maersk needed to ensure the safety of its employees, follow restrictions and scale up their teleworking capabilities within a short timeframe to allow their employees to work from home. Currently 90% of Maersk’s workforce can work from home, and their global Command and Control Centre is completely accessible remotely.
Maersk needed partners to help them think outside the box, to repurpose their infrastructure and add more capacity. We intensified our collaboration with Maersk and leaned on our trusted partnership.
To hear Tim Ferguson explain more about the partnership and how Orange Business Services ensured their business continuity see this video.
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