Corona led to creative solutions at Systematic

Three employees share their experiences of working and socialising in cyberspace during the corona shutdown.

In an interview with the IT professionals' trade union magazine, PROSA, three employees of Systematic give an insight into their particular experiences of working remotely, after the COVID-19 outbreak closed the office and sent 1,100 employees home to work.

For Systematic, the outbreak of COVID-19 in the spring of 2020 meant that all employees in 11 countries had to move home and work remotely in a matter of days. The development of critical software for the healthcare and defence industry was not to be affected by the lockdown, and this caused many technical and capacity challenges for IT manager Tim Timmins and his staff. Their success and hard work got them loud applause and praise from colleagues at the first company briefing after the lockdown.

Implementation Consultant, Aron Rauff, was busy working on a task and logistics solution at seven hospitals in Sweden when the corona outbreak sent him back to Denmark. After this, all training and customer support had to take place virtually, which for Aron was not optimal. On the other hand, it went so well that the implementation process is running exactly according to the original schedule.

User Experience Designer Sebastian Højholm received an extra title thanks to the lockdown. He and several colleagues in other countries were appointed ‘Chief Corona Entertainment Officers’ (CCEO). They were given the task of continuing the tradition of arranging social events for their colleagues - simply moved into cyberspace.

It has not been without challenges to hold virtual bingo, meditation and live music for colleagues in all countries - on the other hand, there is a lot of learning to gather from this experience with regards to cultural and time differences, as well as technical limitations.

- COVID-19 meant we had to rethink our activities into a virtual setting. It also made it easier to think globally. We have found that we can do something across offices. We have a greater consciousness. There is something bigger - a spirit that binds us together, said Sebastian Højholm in the interview with PROSA.

The full article can be read here in Danish