Helen Nicol, Head of Presales, Vermeg
What’s one significant way coronavirus has affected your work?
For me, the biggest impact of this pandemic has been the lack of travel and face-to-face meetings with both clients and prospects. Having spent much of the last decade travelling globally it’s a little strange to be constantly working in the UK, never mind from home. That said, there has been increased interest in our products following the spikes in trading volumes and the knock-on effect on operational functions, and organisations have been keen to have meetings – albeit virtually!
What’s a typical day like for you right now as we “shelter in place”?
Mostly I try to get up at the usual time and use what would have been my commute time to exercise. Then it’s a normal day “in the office” in my home office. Typically, I have multiple calls throughout the day with both clients and Vermeg's global teams. Projects are continuing and we have recently won some new business, so implementation projects are underway. The working day has become longer as lack of commuting means the time can be utilised to focus on both projects and putting a greater level of process in place.
What’s something that has given you hope for the future after this pandemic?
The main thing I have noticed applies to both the work environment and outside – people are much nicer to each other, simply saying hello while endeavouring to maintain social distancing in supermarkets or out exercising. More effort is being made to check on elderly neighbours too, to ensure they have all they need. Hopefully, this will continue. From a business perspective, we’ve seen that clients have been keen to utilise new functionality within the system and are looking to future requirements and potential moves to cloud infrastructure with a keen interest in resiliency.
