How DigitalSuits Cope with the War and Continue Doing Business

A month has passed since the Russian Federation invaded Ukraine. Since February 24th our life has completely changed. Businesses are getting used to this new reality and operating even in these tough days. As a responsible company, we needed to adapt to the new rules and rebuild our daily operations. Now we are completely on track, all team members are safe and working on their projects. In this material, we want to share with you how we are managing to do business in war conditions.

Our team

Our head office was located in Kharkiv city. Unfortunately, Kharkiv became one of the prime targets of the attacks. Our main priority was to help employees to relocate to the western part of Ukraine or abroad. We assisted each team member with the necessary informational support: free-for-movement routes, transport, availability of refueling, temporary locations, and facilities.

In addition to information support and guidance, each team member was provided with financial assistance to relocate and return to normal conditions of life and work.

For now, all team members are safe — they have relocated to safer regions or abroad. They are feeling secure and performing their tasks on a daily basis.

Continuous workflow

Engineers who were in urgent need to move out of their cities were replaced by other team members who were available and safe. We did our best to ensure a smooth workflow for our clients, so they knew that their projects were in progress.

To make it happen, the managers assisted all employees with 24/7 support, guiding them with safe routes, free accommodations, and safe locations. Our office manager provided each employee with the necessary equipment and working environment. Thanks to fast and coordinated actions we kept our work process uninterrupted.

Business contingency plan

We were ready for any scenario, which is why we prepared a Business Continuity Plan in advance. We created an action plan and budget for fast relocation, informed our team, and supported them with information and finance. The plan provided for urgent emergency actions regarding:

• movement of employees and their relatives to safer areas of Ukraine or abroad
• organizing the process of issuing or replacing the employees’ equipment
• preparing budget to support employees financially

Financial support and assistance

To make the relocation process smooth and fast we provided funds for the relocation of employees and their relatives to safe parts of the country and abroad. It was important for us to make all team members flexible and to ensure sufficient financial resources, so they could leave the dangerous areas without hesitation.

Communication with clients

We continued to deliver high-quality work the following way:

1. We allocated our resources and quickly organized employees that were always available.
2. We communicated with our clients on a daily basis to keep them updated on their project status and availability of the team.
3. If some of the team members were temporarily unavailable, we replaced them with other employees and worked overtime.

We truly did our best to ensure a stable workflow for our clients, so they didn’t feel any consequences of the war in Ukraine.

Internal communication

Daily communication has always been an important part of our company. During the war we have been spending more time communicating with team members and their managers. Half of our employees were initially in the west of the country or abroad — they were safe and ready to work. About 30% left the invaded cities on the first day, and only 20% were not available for two working days. Our aim was to continue delivering highly qualified work — we replaced the employees who were on their way to a new place with those who could take on their duties.

At the moment, the whole team is safe and working as usual. For proper supervision of the workflow:

• We provide support to keep the staff informed and minimize risks of unforeseen circumstances.
• We keep daily communications to update everyone on any changes in the projects and improve our performance.
• Our HR managers provide constant face-to-face meetings with all employees to check their needs and to get updates about their current state.
• We are looking for a professional to help employees to cope with stress and improve their health condition.

Thanks to the support of our team members and managers we keep the working process uninterrupted, feel less tension and work hard.

Motivation to do quality work

Our team is motivated to perform our work at a high level. We understand that financial support is as important for our country as military help. Our team wants to rock — write code, pay taxes, support their families, provide humanitarian aid and help the army.

Conclusion

Ukraine is famous worldwide for its IT talents. Our IT community is probably the only sector of the economy that is not affected by the war. That’s why we are eager to work, to do what we do best, to pay taxes, to support our country and every peaceful country in the world which is against war and aggression.

Glory to Ukraine!