CIANJ Commerce Magazine September 2020 Live | Page 52

■ Annual Best Practices Guide
Continued From Page 48
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Safari Solutions
By David Baron,
CEO
Our executive leadership team
updates the staff with weekly
e-mails about our corporate
position, both financially and
operationally. These updates include multiple
industry news briefs and adjustments—specifically
within our events division. Both our
event division and solutions advisor division
deliver technology to many clients in the country
and required help with developing a new
strategic plan. Our strategy pivoted to use the
pause in professional sports as a time to train,
plan and revisit many aspects of our business
to allow us to come out of the momentary
pause with new operational approaches to
once again support clients in the new normal.
Many internal projects and ideas that we
have wanted to implement over time became
fast-paced and were executed quickly during
the pandemic. Numerous projects, such as
software updates, deployment of new project
management tools, procurement of improved
hardware, inventory assessments and workflow
decisions were all executed while the professional
sports re-opening was defined.
SPHERE Technology
Solutions
By Rita Gurevich,
President and Founder
Driving cross-team collaboration
has been an ongoing
priority, especially in this new
normal of remote work. From a workforce
perspective that has meant getting creative
with employee engagement, we’ve implemented
regularly scheduled virtual happy hours,
fun fact welcome sessions (introducing new
hires) and curated WFH newsletters made by
and for our staff, complete with polls, recipes
and Spotify recommendations. Organizational
shifts have also been collaborative— we’ve
placed increased focus on customer success
and continuity via a dedicated team to ensure
uninterrupted engagements and long-term
satisfaction. This cross-department effort has
enabled us to recognize gaps and implement
a QA/UAT first approach to operate deployments
successfully across our customer base.
United Network
Associates,
SMLR Group, Inc.
By Alan Heyman,
CEO
How have we prospered
during COVID‐19? By asking
our clients what they were doing. We uncovered
the fact that small accounting firms were
getting requests from Fortune 500 companies
to conduct outside accounting projects but
were running into IT and compliance challenges.
The big companies were streamlining
and needed expert help in accounting, IT and
compliance—our specialty since Ed Eisenstein
and I have been a practicing outsourced CISO
for years. Our accounting clients could handle
the accounting questions, but when they
got the 20-page compliance questions, they
were lost. We worked with our clients to set
up all their IT systems to comply with National
Institute of Standards and Technology
(NIST) standards. United Network Associates
is trained and certified as a NIST-compliant
organization. The accounting client got the
project and was so happy with the turnaround
time, they started recommending us to other
accounting firms.
LAW
Archer
By Christopher R. Gibson, Esq.,
President
As we face the uncertainty created
by COVID‐19, protecting
the health and well-being of
our firm members and clients
is a top priority. In March, we tested full firm
bandwidth and transitioned Archer employees
to work with remote access, allowing us to
continue our normal client service functions
without interruption. We embraced technologies
that help us to effectively serve our
clients no matter what the task. We handle
virtual mediations, depositions, court appearances,
bench trials and public land use meetings—many
with extensive documents and
exhibits. Our Litigation Support team works
directly with counsel, clients and witnesses to
ensure access and comfort. Regardless of how
long this pandemic is part of our lives, we are
prepared to continue to fulfill clients’ needs
to the highest level of expectation, which has
long been the hallmark of our firm.
50 COMMERCE www. commercemagnj.com
Bertone Piccini LLP
By Grace Bertone, Esq.,
Managing Partner
Our lawyers reinvented themselves
by becoming experts
in everything COVID-related
very quickly, ranging from
client guidance on workplace requirements,
state shutdown orders and PPP loan application
and forgiveness, as well as force majeure
provisions and other contract-breach-related
claims. Today, 99 percent of what we do
is electronic, including billing, meetings and
work-product transmission. We now communicate
more frequently internally both on
business and client matters, creating more
transparency. This has led to a workplace
that seems happier, more informed and more
efficient. We’ve also increased our types of
communication (e.g., calls, e-mails, texts and
video conference platforms). After just a few
months, we believe we may never go back to
required ‘in-person’ meetings. Our firm has
always been partially on a remote and temporary
work-from-home basis to accommodate
our part-time lawyers and unique schedules;
at this point, there’s a possibility that this way
of life is here to stay.
Brandt Law &
Mediation, LLC
By Jennifer Brandt, Esq.,
J.D., MA
I am an attorney and mediator
and one of the founders
of the Global Mediation Exchange
Center in Jersey City, New Jersey. The
way I have reinvented my business to meet the
challenges of COVID‐19 is through increased
communication. I contact my clients, including
prospective ones, and colleagues with
whom I work. I send e-mails and updates. I
even share thoughtful, heart-warming videos.
Instead of a regular telephone call, I opt for a
video conference so we can see each other faceto-face
for a more personal interaction. At a
time of growing isolation and uncertainty,
the human touch goes a long way. It lets the
clients know you are there and that you care
for them.
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