One of Pakistan's biggest telecommunication services, Jazz, was the first in the industry to introduce the work from home model, much before the blanket lockdown policy was imposed by the government.

For the leadership and management at Jazz, including CEO Amir Ibrahim and CTO Khalid Shehzad, employees are the 'greatest asset'. This is why the company initiated its work from home policy on trial basis in Sindh and Baluchistan first to ensure all processes were seamless and in place, and employees had the right opportunities to ensure their work remains unaffected.

Jazz, a world class organisation which believes in facilitating its employees by providing maximum flexibility, already had systems for remote work in place; Jazz flex is an example.

At the forefront to help Pakistan fight the outbreak of Covid-19, Jazz also stepped forward to support the government in setting up a helpline network on federal and regional levels allowing people get in touch and seek help in time.

Working from home: challenges and opportunities

Connectivity

Seamless connectivity was the biggest challenge Jazz could foresee.

Once employees were sent home for remote work, the company had to ensure all network platforms remain accessible and ready to use; this meant an increase in security risks for the network.

Technical teams at Jazz rose to the challenge and within the very first few weeks of WFH set up network portals and platforms using VPN, all the while maintaining security and integrity of the network.

This ensured project delivery timelines and day to day tasks remained as efficient as they were before the WFH policy was introduced.

Staying ahead of the curve through data analytics

During the first week of lockdown, teams at Jazz conducted detailed network insight studies to analyse user behaviours, optimised its network and prepped strategies to handle traffic surges, prepped field teams for all possible challenges, and ran multiple simulations and analytics to gauge and forecast impact of shifting traffics.

Since the lockdowns forced all customer experience centers to remain shut, Jazz established various alternate digital touchpoints for customers such as Jazz WhatsApp and IVRs to facilitate seamless customer service.

This preemptive approach allowed Jazz to stay ahead of the curve.

Ensuring employee wellbeing and health

During these uniquely trying times, Jazz was faced with the challenge of ensuring employee wellbeing across its many offices in the country.

For starters, under the #JazzCares program, safety/care packages were delivered to all employees at home nationwide; these contained hand sanitisers, masks, and a guide for precautions.

To ably address the challenge of healthy safety for employees, here's what teams at Jazz did:

• Conducted daily online counseling sessions and workout classes under JazzFit program
• Launched one-stop digital solutions to deliver e-health services in partnership with Sehat Kahani, a leading e-care provider in Pakistan
• Medical coverage plans for Covid-19 added to pre-assigned medical limits
• Regular disinfection of offices to ensure safety of business-critical staff coming in
• All work spaces equipped with personal protective gear
• Travel restrictions with close monitoring; only catering to unavoidable business criticalities
• Live Covid-19 dashboard on Jazz’s local intranet for employee awareness
• 'Elevate and applause' employee portals revamped to give feedback and appreciate work digitally

The game plan: what really went right

Over everything else, Jazz prioritised operational excellence with round the clock first and second level of maintenance support.

SOPs were formulated under strict guidelines of health and safety to ensure that teams in the field were at minimum risk and exposure, and were handed sufficient PPE.

Employees were connected to seamless, uncapped mobile data 24/7.

Technology teams shifted the entire Jazz NOC (Network Operation Center), operating 24/7 and responsible for monitoring all network issues and initiating timely response, to a virtual platform within a day.

Jazz is working to implement quick and cost effective soft actions to ensure that the connectivity of its customers is not interrupted. This includes increasing back-haul capacity and enhancing the LTE spectrum to cater to the burgeoning data traffic.

Keeping in view the demand of data especially in remote work settings, specialised data bundles were designed with specific websites whitelisted.

CEO Jazz Amir Ibrahim said in an interview to Duniya News, “Whenever we see that data traffic increases and the bandwidth is strained, we augment and add capacity. We see that people make fewer calls but rely on high-speed internet more. There is a lot of capacity still at Jazz but the government can also help enhance spectrum for Covid-19.”

The impact: how Jazz remained consistent

Ensuring network excellence during these tough times was a mammoth task which the teams at Jazz were not afraid of.

With all preemptive steps taken in time, seamless systems ensuring productivity for teams staying home, and detailed analysis and insight studies of the network, Jazz was able to continue serving its customer base of 61 million with employees working from home as well as maintain its lead in OOKLA.

Jazz still is the fast network in Pakistan according to OOKLA that continues to lead the industry with unparalleled motivation shown by employees who remain safe at home as they continue their fight against the increasing threat of Covid-19 with the rest of the country.

This content is produced in paid partnership with Jazz and is not associated with or necessarily reflective of the views of Dawn.com or its editorial staff.