Firstly I hope you and your families are safe and well. The pace at which the COVID-19 virus has swept through the world and impacted all of our lives has been staggering. A little over a month ago I was leaving for my honeymoon, and whilst it was known about it was still a problem seemingly on the other side of the world that hopefully wouldn't be a big thing in the
UK. Fast forward a couple of weeks and we arrived back from our honeymoon a little bit early as place were going in to lockdown, and soon so was the UK which meant we had to close our shop.
Businesses across the world, both large and small, are having to adjust to this new normal and rapidly adapt to a new way of working. So what are we doing at Aurac? Firstly we installed a new phone system a couple of years ago which allows us to access it from our mobiles, so if you call us you can leave a message and be assured we will call you back, and obviously we are still getting and replying to e-mails.
Since this started we have been remotely helping our clients remotely over the phones, via e-mail and even by video call a couple of times. If absolutely necessary we are still also visiting clients, following all Public Health England guidelines. Last week for example we installed a new hardwired and WiFi network for one of our clients because their existing set up wasn't up to video conferencing and having their kids home streaming all the time.
Lastly we are doing something that we weren't planning on doing and that is introducing a transactional website for the first time. I have always been of the belief that a website is a great tool to get information out there, but the sort of products we sell should be sold in person with the correct advice and with the ability to back it if the client needs help, which is something I don't think you can effectively do from the other side of the country. Because of this we are starting out with a few selected products which we know the manufactures package well (to protect against courier damage, no OLED TVs just yet!), and we will only be supplying locally, so if you do need help we can still offer our local service. Due to the fact that the shop is closed so you can't do pick ups we have reduced our minimum order for free delivery to £100 which should cover most things we list.
This has been a fast paced thing to get up and running so please forgive us if there are any errors or problems with the site, just let me know and we will get them sorted.
We are in the office a fair bit sorting things out which we can't do from home, so whilst we can't open our doors to you please do give us a wave if you see us!
Best wishes as always,
Graham