Ukrainian infrastructure was being destroyed back in 2022 but all customer support teams were always online!
We are often asked: “How did you do that”?
I am here to answer your questions and address your concerns.
As you know, Ukraine is going through challenging times now.
The country experienced power supply failures due to critical infrastructure damages caused by the Russian missile attacks in 2022.
However, WOW24-7 customer support & management teams work with no interruptions and stay online 24/7 to deliver an excellent WOW experience.
For those customers who wonder how we accomplish such results, here are some of the significant measures we’ve implemented to guarantee that we are able to deliver smooth, high-quality, and continuous service.
Being ISO-27001 certified, we already had a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) in place before the full-scale war started in February 2022. Obviously, the power or internet cut-offs across the country used to be rather theoretical. However, the comprehensive plan of action was formed years ago and was revised, updated & improved multiple times. Starting from February 2022, we just needed to ensure our actions aligned with our existing BCP.
Here is what exactly was done:
1. All the Customer Support Agents, Key Account Managers, and Team Leads are instructed on the plan of action if electricity or the internet gets cut off.
2. The servers were moved to Germany, and cloud solutions are utilized to ensure the connectivity between the server and agents’ working stations has no interruptions (both physical and virtual).
3. In each shared and dedicated customer support team, the members are located in different cities to make sure the backup agents can take over within minutes in case one or more agents’ electricity and internet connection is lost.
4. In some teams, up to 50% of the agents are now living in the European Union and North America with a low risk of electricity cut-off. Yet even if an agent living in the EU, US, or Canada loses electricity or internet, the backup agent can take over in minutes.
5. Agents follow recommendations for reasonable energy consumption, and it helps the hardware operate longer.
6. Our Managers created a backup schedule to support core agents in every team.
- During night & day shifts, supervisors monitor the availability of all involved agents.
- In case of internet connection loss, each agent is immediately replaced by backup colleagues in a matter of 1-2 minutes.
- All teams have at least two agents in the same role in separate locations to ensure uninterrupted customer communication.
7. Our 2 biggest offices in Ukraine (Lviv and Kyiv) are now equipped with power generators and satellite internet access (Starlink) to be able to work independently from central power and internet supply in case of need. These 2 offices are operating round-the-clock.
8. In smaller cities, the agents have received additional brand new laptops with at least 8 hours of battery life to ensure the work shift is fully covered.
9. One of the biggest challenges for us was to find an agent who lost the internet connection in real time because sometimes together with the internet connection the mobile phone network also was disconnected. For this reason, each agent in every shift is now connected to a separate live chat. We have supervisors looking at the number of agents online in this live chat at all times. Once one or more agents fall out of live chat, the supervisor brings a backup agent online within minutes.
We will continue doing our best to prove that any force majeure cannot stop WOW24-7 from contributing to your business performance and success. Our team appreciates your trust in our service and will continue to exceed your expectations.
Our customers are in good hands, and thank you for standing with Ukraine!!!
Slava Ukraini.
