Superheroes who don’t wear capes

Circa March, 2020.

The prospect of complete lockdown was looming large and like every other corporate in the country, teams at GEI were working their way through business continuity plans. Amidst all the chaos, GEI’s IT team had a more pressing issue at hand – fixing a problematic server solution to keep the fleet of systems running till it was time for everyone to work remotely.

Ironically, the dialer platform solution for Contact Center Team was crashing repeatedly around the same time when the IT Team had to migrate the entire staff (about 900 odd people) to a new work set-up within a matter of days – an uphill task in itself.

One of the solutions to get over the challenges posed by the dialer platform was to build a new one. However, considering the scheme of things amid pandemic, building a new dialer platform was a rather daring move to make. But then, that’s what the IT team did – they dared against all odds and decided to build a new hardware platform from scratch. So now there were three major things for them to deal with, all at the same time – Ensuring existing dialer platform served smoothly, building a new application server to replace the existing dialer platform and, migrating the entire staff to a new work environment – Work-From-Home setup.

That’s when some of the toughest days for GEI’s IT team started. The pandemic toll had gained momentum and the state and central governments called out for complete lockdown – read no transport services, no delivery/freight services, no retail services. There was a particular strain on IT/ITes equipment procurement. Corporates scurried to pick every last piece available in the retail market while they could, to have a backup in place for the uncertain times ahead.

“I can never forget those days. It was all very different, as if we were part of a sci-fi movie plot – empty roads, empty offices…it was thrilling! I am glad I was able to contribute my bit and help others through my skills though.”  - Sandeep Thallam, Engineer, Information Technology

Understanding the criticality of the problems at hand, IT team was divided into smaller teams – each focussing on individual issues. It was a race against time for each unit to keep the business afloat. All of it came at the cost of IT team members prioritising their professional commitments over their personal lives. They were sweating it out in the background to keep things running. Some of the engineers were practically in the office round-the-clock for days, catching up on a few hours of sleep lying on floors.

Once the lockdown came into effect, things got all the more challenging. It was difficult for the IT team members to travel as there were police patrols at every nook and corner. Every time, one had to explain to the officials that they were part of ‘essential services’ who were authorized to commute. Add to that the problem of arranging meals - since food delivery services were suspended, whoever was able to carry food from home shared it all with others – even if it meant skipping a meal himself. That aside, when there was a shortage of drives to rebuild the servers, IT team members reached out to their friends and acquaintances to procure the equipment as retail buying was out of question. All these issues were part of the million other things that the team was enduring and dealing with at that crucial time.

In today’s digital age, a company can’t function without a robust tech system in place. But what’s more important for a company to function is to have people who rise to the occasion on the call of duty and make the show happen, come what may. And that’s what the IT team proved – they made the show happen against all odds, came through for its company when it was needed the most.

Now you know – we have a bunch of superheroes at GEI who don’t wear capes, they wear courage up their sleeves to take adversities head-on and mysteriously, everything else finds its way to work!