BR Interview | Mihai Iancu (Rezolv IT): We created special processes that limit the human contact to minimum and offer full safety

More than ever, in times of crisis, each company representative needs to know that he /she can rely on certain suppliers and partners that will keep their business running as smooth as possible. The covid-19 pandemic and the physical limitations imposed created a lot of possible problems in the work from home environment.

BR talked with Mihai Iancu, entrepreneur and CEO at Rezolv IT and found out more about the solutions he provided for the companies he is working with, but also for his team during this period of time and his take on the economic crisis we all forsee.

By Romanita Oprea

How is your business adapting to the covid-19 pandemic?

We are among the companies that adapted fast and easy to the work from home situation, part of the IT services being dedicated to the IT support for the companies’ employees that are our clients, support than can be offered from distance – remote work, phone consultancy and specific IT procedures.

Ever since the beginning we started working from home with the help of the collaborative work platforms, the vpns, the videocalls and remote.

Most of our business procedures are automated – starting from the contracts and invoicing management that are created and sent automatically towards the client, are instantly registered in the company’s accountancy soft in order for the roads towards the client to be unnecessary. Moreover, the primary accountancy is also done completely automated, as well as the process of receiving a request from a client that is registered in a ticheting system in which the clients can see the status of the processes and situations, as well as the process of automated monitoring of the infrastructure that can announce us when a system is not functioning properly or there are problems with a supplier (Internet, transporter, online store, hosting etc) , or security alerts such as trying to access internal protected documents, from outside or inside the network. All of these can be resolved remote or by phone – and the security ones through direct reports to the business’ owners.

The processes of upgrading the IT infrastructure that need a physical presence from our engineers were postponed with the accept of our clients if it was possible, but if they were necessary because they were impacting the clients’ businesses we took the measure that the engineers worked alone or in a group of maximum 2 people, in the technical rooms or the clients’ headquarters, after the work program, in order for the interaction in groups bigger than 2-3 people to be impossible.

Has the situation impacted you and in which manner?

Unfortunately, the big impact on our clients reflected over us as well, RezolvIT being a company that offers support to other companies, when their business was closed or reduced. At the beginning of the crisis when the companies migrated towards working from home our team was able to handle successfully in a short period of time the configuration of the clients’ infrastructures and the employees’ equipment necessary for the new conditions. Since the middle of April the effects of the crisis started to feel stronger when it comes to the encashments. We continue to support our clients, but we were forced as well to take measures for reducing the operational spendings.

Having clients from several fields such as production, commerce, services, we noticed that even some businesses were 100 percent impacted and some were forced to close for the time being, some, a few of them, still need developing and at the same time an adaptation of their IT systems that will help them in that growth.

Rezolv IT offers pick up and drop off for the computers and laptops you are repairing. Have you always been offering that service or is it adapted to the situation?

Besides laptops and desktops, in this period of time, we configurated all types of equipment – starting from phones, firewalls, routers, wifi, servers, and even up to personal printers and scanners.

One of the challenges of the period is the limitation of the social contact when were called for the hardware repairs or installations of systems bought recently for work from home. Taking in account that normally it was needed the physical access to the equipment of our engineer, the fastest and the right solution was to use internal couriers, with the company’s cars that would take the equipment, disinfect it and deliver it to the engineers’ home and after he was done, the equipment was delivered to the client. The whole process was thought and created in order for every step to be done in maximum safety, limiting the contacts between people and disinfecting everything.

The most important request that we handled in this period of time was the one of creating vpns and access at the video-conference and collaborative work platforms because all the companies started really fast to orient themselves towards working from home. The whole process involved effort from our behalf in order to prepare the infrastructure and, most of all, in training the employees and helping them handle the new conditions, some of which were new to them. Our colleagues succeeded in teaching them by using mini tutorials, videocalls, etc.

How did you come up with the idea and in which conditions do you offer this service?

It was a solution that resulted from a state of necessity. We insured that the process is adapted to the new safety requirements. The service is offered only to the companies we have a contract with and occasionally to partners (clients, suppliers) of those companies, based on their recommendations. Taking in account the fact that some of the equipment contains important and confidential information regarding the companies and their employees, before starting this service we need to sign a contract and an NDA in which we are defining the responsibilities of each party involved, following the legislation.

How are you helping the companies in this moment? How have you calibrated your offers and selling strategy accordingly to the situation?

In this moment we are in discussion with our clients impacted by the pandemic to find the best supporting solutions or, in some cases, of conservation. Mainly we are insuring that the companies’ data are protected, that they have backs and written procedures in order to easily continue when they are back to work. For the companies that have support IT and are in difficulty we have a special offer in which, with the help of our partners, we offer services with a reduced cost of up to 75 percent, free licenses for a period of 3 to 6 months at backup software and network security, collaborative work, cloud , documents’ processing and antivirus or hosts support for the online stores (Microsoft office 365, Bitdefender).

What message would you send to your target audience at this moment?

I know that everybody is using the word digitalization, but I would say that right now the most important thing for companies is the reorganization of processes and their standardization, using where is possible the digitalization and the RPA (Robotic process automation is a form of business process automation technology (sometimes referred to as software robotics; not to be confused with robot software) based on metaphorical software robots (bots) or artificial intelligence (AI)/digital workers.^[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robotic_process_automation).

The procedures, not only the IT ones, will be essential in the management of the business’ scrisis and especially when the growth will come, because it will help their scaling, in the benefit of the whole company.

How is Rezolv IT positioning in the market and what are its clear differentiators?

RezolvIT has been present in the market since 2005. All these years we grew, became better and were close to our clients, offering cost-effective solutions and offering them the tranquility needed that we are taking good care of their IT and they can focus on their business.

We have always differentiated through the fact that we are close to our clients, we understand them and we are helping them with any problem that we can fix, offering them a support they can really rely on.

We have a large experience with companies from different fields of activities and we are adapting our services according to the companies’ needs, even they have 3-5 employees or over 200.

What is a must know about Rezolv IT?

We always have a solution. We are the partners and the consultants any company needs in developing its processes and its business.

You also passed through the 2008-2010 crisis. How would you compare them?

It’s a more sudden and acute crisis, a little misleading and dangerous especially for those that do not prepare for the period that is about to come and that believe that everything will be as before. It’s a crisis that, in contrast to the one in 2008 is generated both locally and internationally. We will be impacted by the local loss on top of which there will be added the world economic ones that have impact in important sectors of the Romanian economy and that on their turn support local businesses.

Unlike 2008, the main impediment of the economic relaunch will be exactly the fear generated and the legal restrictions imposed, the people’s personal fear that will consume from the energy they would otherwise use in their development and that will drive them into an area of conservatism. The legal restrictions will determine the stiffening of the market rules, high operational costs and a lower flexibility, exactly what the entrepreneurial and small companies were offering compared to the big ones.

How is your previous experience helping you with the crisis right now? What have you learned from the past?

During the last economic crisis, we had a very good growth because our services are exactly shaped in order to reduce the costs. Moreover, our experience with other companies offers us the advantage to come up with new ideas, with already tested solutions and with small prices obtained through partnerships with software and services production companies.

What are your goals for 2020?

2020 is, once again, the year of rebirth and redefining of the way we offer services based on the moment’s necessities and up to the sales process and beyond. It’s the moment we are becoming better, more agile, more adaptable and we can offer more to the companies that need IT services.

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