Hosting in the coronavirus era: face masks, diesel, and food supplies

Throughout the past 14 years, we have experienced a lot of difficult times, technical problems, and other complications. The current pandemic is different in many ways. It is not possible to prepare for such a situation in advance and design a detailed crisis procedure for it. Although this is nothing compared to companies that had to completely “shut down”.

During the first days, we’ve made some elementary changes (we’ve subsequently informed about them on social media). We have, perhaps, approached the situation with too much paranoia but our intense measures have two goals: to postpone (or entirely eliminate) the infection in our company and to maintain operation at all costs.

Preventing the infection

First and foremost, we’ve made wearing face masks mandatory for all personnel in the building. This was days before the government announced this measure country-wide.

We also banned the use of public transport and introduced corporate car rides using the capacity of company cars. At the same time, we allowed the maximum number of people to work from home, although in our case it is quite complicated and we have significantly reduced our staffing capacity.

In an effort to prevent contamination, we also restricted all foreign persons from entering the building and asked clients to do so only in the most urgent cases. We subsequently tightened this measure and introduced a total ban on the entry of foreign persons as well as clients and suppliers into the building except for emergency situations. Our teams of admins and technicians solve all other issues on behalf of clients so that visits are not necessary.

Furthermore, we measure the temperature of all persons entering the building, disinfect work stations daily as well as door handles, etc.

Preparing for anything

One of the early measures was also filling up our diesel tanks with fuel for our generators (tens of thousands of liters purchased). We don’t expect the state to “pull the plug” on electricity for companies but we want to be ready for anything. This way, we can endure a several-week-long blackout without a hitch.

On top of everything, we divided the management in such a way, that they cannot get infected at the same time. The objective is that the full managerial operation of the company remains intact even if someone falls ill, our strict measures notwithstanding.

Paradoxically, our volume of work during this crisis has remained the same or even increased. This is due to most of our clients being online stores that are currently experiencing a demand comparable to the one before Christmas. Not only food is sought after but electronics or even sports goods as well. However, thanks to our wonderful colleagues, we are managing everything just fine.

Full lockdown? We’re ready

We’ve also prepared for an emergency “island-like” operation if the company in the event that the state enforces a full lockdown after all (as data centers fall under telecommunications and are thus not exempt from it). The building is now fully stocked with food and other essentials to make the continual operation of the company and the data center possible.

A big thank you to all colleagues, they all approached the situation responsibly and devotedly. In these tense situations, the health and strength of each company team come to light. At the same time, I would like to assure our clients that vshosting ~ is still running at 100% and is ready for all crisis options.

Damir Špoljarič
CEO