Double award-winning electrical and security installer, Mace, has now been without its MD for the best part of two weeks. And it’s all been down to the Icelandic ash cloud.

Founder Simon Chapman took a late Easter break in Iberia and got trapped out there amongst many others who are unable to find return flights to Birmingham.

However, fortunately the company had already set up contingency plans for the unexpected, including natural disasters.

Critically, the plans, put into operation within half an hour, allowed the Mace team of engineers to remain fully functional.

But, like many other businesses, the team didn’t expect to look in the direction of the North Atlantic and Iceland for the first opportunity to set their plans into action.

Despite being 850 miles away, Simon was able to monitor the exact location of all the Mace vehicles and the work being undertaken and completed by the engineers.

“The system worked flawlessly”, he added, “With trackers on each van and PDAs issued to our engineers, they have been able to file their job sheets and copy them to me”.

The office team led by Sandra Nelson have forwarded regular reports to their MD - every three hours – with any issues being resolved without major delays.

“Our national and regional customers have the expectation that we will be able to provide seamless services in 99% of all situations. We have now been able to prove to them that we can achieve that final one percentage point giving us the magic 100% coverage”.

Mace operates a 24-hour support service that monitors many of its clients’ electrical and security systems. This system has been linked into the company’s own network so that full visibility can be maintained in these unusual circumstances.

For several leading clients round-the-clock safe and security of their staff is paramount; and the continuity in the 24/7 monitoring has provided just that level of protection.

And whilst the contingency plans have worked well, Simon Chapman is not intending to remain an absent MD. He expects to be back behind his desk at Granary House just as soon as flights resume.

UPDATE: Simon Chapman eventually returned to his desk on Thursday 29 April.
 

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