How Covid-19 has widened the gap between Zipporah and non-Zipporah Clients.
"As early as February, while other European countries began their lockdowns and the severity of the crisis became clear, we realised that now more than ever, our solutions and expertise would be absolutely critical to the crisis management of the country."
- Scott Burton, Technical Director
Anticipating the potential risks of the pandemic, Zipporah acted quickly to reduce the on-site workforce to a minimum at the end of February this year, sending the majority of staff to work from home. Despite a number of tendering processes being put on hold, and a sizable amount of projects coming to a temporary standstill (as client organisations enacted furlough schemes and shutdowns), Zipporah worked hard to ensure the efficiency of the organisation in meeting the forthcoming needs of our clients; while being reactive to a new wave of booking needs in a socially distanced world.
Scott Burton continues: "The Covid-19 crisis managed to concentrate the minds of organisations up and down the country. Quite quickly, there was a national recognition that data lead, distance-supported technology was now vital to ensure the provision of essential services – while maintaining the safety of all. Zipporah clients had the benefit of highly adaptable solutions, allowing them to adapt their services themselves, but clients without flexible, online services began to struggle with the new normal."
More than ever before, councils, central government and all sorts of other organisations realised the gross importance of effective, distance-supported digital technology. As the crisis worsened and the number of Covid cases in the UK accelerated, it became clear to all – some for the first time – that digital transformation had to be sought and implemented quickly. Zipporah’s expertise, knowledge and experience was called upon to action a wide number of requirements, from bringing forward changes and enhancements to our client’s solutions, to developing and implementing new solutions for new clients, be they local government or the NHS.
"It has not come as a shock to anyone at Zipporah that there has been an uptick in communication and relationships new clients. The Covid crisis has exposed the technology gap that exists in our UK industries, particularly in local Government. Thankfully, many organisations and bodies have now invested in digital technology – however this recent uptake will now even further expose the inequality between those authorities and departments who are connected and those who are not...
As Zipporah’s vision of the Post Covid Council begins to become a reality for many clients – old and new – there is no doubt that everyone will once again begin to enjoy and benefit from the physical and social interactions that come with office-life. By working together, with the assistance of safety and collaboratively that digital technology brings that we will move forward stronger and more effective than ever.
...the public have been, by and large, very supportive and understanding of their local authorities and other institutions who have been digitally underprepared. That being said, I don’t believe the public will tolerate it if something similar was to happen again. The public expect effective, broad-ranging digital technology which empowers them to manage (wherever possible) their own affairs on their own timetable. It will be down to Government and individual local authorities to ensure that they supply the public with these basic but vital tools.”
- Jobe Bruzas, Marketing Communications Manager
As Zipporah bring the bulk of their staff back to the office, the development and further enhancement of our solutions will increase.