The rapid spread of COVID-19 across the globe is of major concern for everyone – not only to our health, but to our businesses. It’s a challenging and uncertain time. Over the Wire (OTW) is monitoring all Government advice and our systems closely, so we can make the best decisions for the well-being of our team and everyone who relies on our network.
We would like to reassure you that as of this moment, we do not anticipate any disruption from COVID-19 on our ability to deliver our solutions to our customers.
What action are we taking?
We are working hard to keep your critical network and voice services running as smoothly as possible in the wake of COVID-19.
Our Business Continuity Plan is in action and our platform infrastructure has redundancy built-in to continue to maintain our uptime Service Level Agreements. Our Technical Support experts will continue to be available for you 24 hours a day, 7 days per week through the usual channels. Please call 1300 689 689 for assistance.
We have convened a COVID-19 incident team comprising our senior executives to review developments and adjust our approach as information comes to light during this quickly evolving situation.
Network capacity
The OTW network is set to meet and exceed the highest levels of traffic that we are seeing and we are well set-up to manage an increase in capacity demands. Our engineering teams continue to monitor all aspects of our network and are set to upgrade capacity should this be required. We have spare equipment ready and will deploy this as soon as we see peaks beyond our normal high range.
Voice capacity
We are already seeing much higher than usual demand for voice services and have adjusted capacity accordingly. All of our voice platforms are performing well within their capabilities and are expected to continue as such, with our engineers continuously monitoring performance. Our platform is ready to handle the highest levels of demand.
Data Centres
Our Data Centres are operating for business as usual. Some remote hands or cross connect requests may take a little longer than normal as some of these team members are working from home.
Customer Service
Flexible working is already a common feature of our operations and so this experience leaves us confident that an increase in remote working will have no impact on our ability to continue to provide high quality service.
Many of our team members are already working from home and we’re ready for all of us to do the same if necessary, including our customer support teams.
Our customers
Many Australians are being encouraged to work from home in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Remote working helps support social distancing and will help stop the disease from spreading. Some of our customers have already commenced remote working. As demand for this is increasing, we have created simplified processes and put measures in place to assist with the following activities:
- Urgent increases to voice and some Internet/private WAN capacity requirements
- Addition of remote working capabilities, such as SSL VPNs
- Increased capacity requirements for additional SSL VPN users
- Increased resources on our Cloud (IaaS) platforms.
To stay connected, we advise you to ensure:
- You have the right connectivity and infrastructure
- You are protecting your remote users and data
- You team are able to collaborate effectively from remote locations
If you have any urgent capacity or remote working requirements please call your account manager directly, or 1300 689 689. They will help you to develop a contingency plan for your operations.
Vulnerable groups
To protect vulnerable groups, there may be some restrictions on our partner’s ability to attend aged care and similar sites. Again, we will work closely with any affected customers to minimise impact.
Suppliers and Partners
All of our critical suppliers have implemented and tested their Business Continuity Plans and each has implemented infection prevention protocols in line with international, federal and state health department guidelines. There may be some delivery delays due to these protocols and changed working arrangements. We are working closely with them and are receiving early notification of any delays. We will advise any customers affected to minimise potential impact.
Our staff
We have taken some important steps internally to ensure the safety of our own employees and are updating them daily with the latest guidance and advice. We have procedures for responding to emergencies and maintaining business continuity. We have instigated our remote working policy so our staff will be available to you without interruption. We have also implemented additional procedures and safeguards in place for our teams that are not able to work from home. Hand sanitisers have been deployed across all offices and we have increased the frequency and type of office cleaning. All of our staff are observing social distancing protocols and have been encouraged to use various methods of connectivity rather than face to face meetings.
To sum up
The situation in Australia is changing daily. We are closely monitoring developments and will be following guidance from the World Health Organisation and the relevant Authorities as it is announced. We will continue to provide further updates as they evolve.
Our team and customers are our priority and we are here to support them all.
Please contact us with any concerns
Regards,
The OTW Team