COVID-19 Preparedness & Business Continuity Plan

In an effort to prepare for, and prevent the spread of COVID-19, the System 3 Group of Companies is following the direction of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) and Global Standards advisories issued out by World Health Organisation (WHO), as well as Centre for Disease Control (CDC).

How is the System 3 Group Impacted by the COVID-19 Corona virus outbreak?

• The System 3 Group and all it’s companies have a well-established process to coordinate our efforts during outbreaks like COVID-19. For information, please see our Business Resiliency program.
• System 3 Group has activated our pandemic response plan. Our global response is being coordinated by a dedicated incident management with 24/7 coverage, reporting to our leadership team. The team is monitoring the situation closely and providing directions based on advice from our Corporate medical advisory team, from recognised international health bodies, together with the official guidance from the government, municipal and local authorities.
• In situations like these, System 3 Group moves quickly to take action to minimise potential risk this may have for System 3 Group Employees, Customers and Business.

How is System 3 Group protecting its workforce from exposure to COVID-19?

• Our offices globally remain open for business-critical work, except where official guidance requires us to implement temporary closures. All System 3 Group offices are sanitised daily and cleaned as per guidelines, and team members that need to be quarantined (in case of flu or similar symptoms) are encouraged to work from h one.
• We have put in place strong measures to help protect our employees, including travel restrictions, the introduction of a visitor travel history declaration at all our facilities world-wide and a self-quarantine requirement for all staff who have been in high-risk destinations. We have also cancelled our participation in a number of events globally.

How does the Coronavirus outbreak in China impact System 3 Group’s supply chain?

• System 3 group has a well established process to ensure Supply Chain issues are taken care of, and this was quickly enacted. It is currently functioning and an ongoing daily assessment of critical activities, are in place to mitigate further impact to the business, and to restore operations to normal level.
• System 3 group monitors our supply chain for issues that may impact our operations, working closely with our suppliers to asses and minimise any potential affect.

Which products/product families/services are affected by this situation?

• As of  Saturday 14th of March 2020, as per Guidelines from the Government of Karnataka, Operations in Bangalore & Mysore are impacted. Our teams are working from home, and offices have been closed as per instructions received from the relevant authorities.
• All Other Operations of System 3 Group of Companies including, our Education Services Vertical, our Real Estate (Office Services) vertical, our Technology Services Vertical and our Data Center Services Vertical in all other geographies is fully operational.

How are System 3 Groups’ Technology Services / Help Desk impacted by COVID-19?

• Presently our services to our customers are operating as usual, except in areas where official restrictions are in place that prevents us from physically accessing a customer or partner site.
• Our Network of 24×7 Helpdesk enables us to continue providing remote support to sites that do not permit physical access. Appropriate remote access capabilities are in place to provide these support systems.
• System 3 Group uses a Cloud Based Telephony system, that enables us to route calls to individual people, without requiring physical presence.
• All critical support, services team members are equipped with Home Internet connections, Mobile Work stations, and access to necessary information that they may need to serve your requirement.
• We are actively working with our customers during this unprecedented time and have put in place proactive measures and offers to support the needs of our customers.

How is System 3 Group protecting it’s Employees rights during the COVID-19 outbreak?

• System 3 Group has been communicating with all it’s teams and suppliers to ensure that they are maintaining all focus on their workers human rights during the COVID-19 outbreak. We have reiterated our expectations for health and safety, management of working hours, and payment of wages, which could be impacted by the outbreak
• We are surveying all our facilities, to assess their management of these issues, and following up with our teams whose response indicate risk.
• All team members have been briefed on how to prepare for the outbreak, and to indicate early signs. Posters related to processes have been put up across all the facilities, and are being duly checked for adherence.
• Daily temperature checks of all members entering all our facilities is also being carried out.

Continuity Planning

• All critical staff members have accurately assessed all company functional requirements, both internally and externally. A readiness list of employees, materials, procedures, and essential equipment is identified and planned to keep the business operating, and functions that are critical to survival and recovery are documented.
• Emergency payroll, expedited financial decision making, and accounting systems are put in place to track and document any costs in the event of an unexpected business incident, and a task manager for each of these areas is identified for the duration of this event.
• Procedures for succession of management, are put in place, including having our leaders be at different locations. Worst case scenario planning for leadership team being unavailable, to plan for contingency for all people on critical roles have been established and shared with respective teams.
• Team members who will be responsible for emergency business plan and recovery from all levels in the organisation as well as active members in the emergency management team have been identified, and communicated to.

Clients and Services

A list of key customers has been shared with the emergency preparedness team, and a plan has been established on how to serve them for the duration. Since it is impossible at this time to know how long that will be, plan for at-least four to six months with identified priorities for each team, business division, and critical services has been put in.

Suppliers, Vendors, Contractors

Key suppliers, vendors, contractors, banks and other business we interact with on a daily basis, are identified, and all partners that serve critical role have been communicated with.  A backup plan in case one of our key partners are impacted has been put in place to ensure business continuity.

Quarantine and Premises

• Our core operations team does not come into contact with our clients, or visitors due to the nature of security in our business. But each team member has been asked to report any possible contact with someone who has travelled from an infected-location, possibly infected-location.
• A list of quarantine facilities, including home quarantine has been shared with our team members in case they need to self-quarantine, or need a quarantine facility.
• In case any of our facilities is involuntarily shutdown, a plan of action to service customers, continue with business as normal, and provide world class services that System 3 Group is known for has been put in place, including individual responsibilities and crisis management procedures.
• A regular communication with staff and co-workers is being followed, and frequent review of practices that we will need to do during the emergency and after the emergency is being done.

Communications and Emergency planning for employees

• System 3 considers its employees it’s most valuable assets. An Open line of communication has always been setup and has been communicated that is essential before, during and after any incident.
• Preparedness information and virus updates, procedures are being shared on a day to day level on our Internal communication systems.
• A Crisis communication plan is in place to communicate with employees, local authorities, customers and others for the duration of the event. Same information has been shared with our employees on how to communicate with the management teams in case of these situations.
• Senior management has all relevant information and has identified who will communicate updates to the public.
• In case a delay in service is anticipated, clients/customers are being communicated to respectively and how their services are impacted, will be restored, and actions being taken are communicated at the same time.
• VPN Access is setup for all Critical Team members
• All team members that require to provide customer services during a possible Quarantine situation, have access to Printers, Scanners, Video calling, Monitors, Keyboards, Mobile Workstations, Internet Access, and VPN Access.

Meetings & Conferences

• All non-essential meetings and conferences have been postponed.
• All meetings that are essential are now being either done on a voice bridge, or video conference to avoid any un-necessary exposure to any of our team members.