Pandemic Effects
The pandemic is redefining normal, forcing us to move out of our comfort zones, look for potential pivots, and optimize the circumstances into an opportunity.
This response to the pandemic takes on several forms for us.
We’re Expanding!
While most of our team continues to work from home, we’ve begun construction in the basement of IntelliTect. Once everyone returns to the office, we’ll be beyond capacity, so this work-from-home season seems the most appropriate time.
Contractors Mike (left) and Robert (right) cut into layers of brick to help bring some light into the basement.
We’re adding more workstations and are considering adding meeting rooms for the many events that we’ve been hosting for the Spokane .NET Users Group and the Spokane DevOps Group, among others.
I’m sure it comes as no surprise that COVID has had an effect on IntelliTect. Several customers have had to cut back and focus on saving their companies. Sadly, a couple have had to close their doors permanently. But, we’ve also gained customers. As a result, we have more work to do than our current capacity permits, and therefore:
We’re Hiring!
At IntelliTect, we’ve always walked a very fine line between hiring and the number of projects that we have. As a bonus, we rarely need to ‘bench’ anyone as we always have some sort of work to be done. Despite COVID’s impact, we continue start projects within a month of a client’s request and have not needed to cut back team member hours or lay off anyone.
We’re Adjusting
While we miss our ‘hallway conversations,’ our team is finding ways to foster togetherness through our new online meetings and chatroom antics that follow them. Culture continues to remain a priority for us, despite the pandemic challenges.
At IntelliTect, I have been impressed with how well our team is working via Microsoft Teams and Zoom. It goes to show we’re adaptable.
Senior Software Engineer, John Leach, cooks pizza for our first ever socially-distanced pizza lunch.
Like many, we are continuing to look for ways to support our community, our clients, our team members and their families, as well as the communities that we support philanthropically around the world. One local example is our blood drive.
We’re Hosting a Blood Drive
While our offices have been closed to clients and visitors since March, we’ve decided to open our doors and volunteer at our first IntelliTect Blood Drive scheduled for August 31st from 11 a.m to 4 p.m. We welcome the American Red Cross to use our space at this difficult time.
We’re Encouraging Innovation
It’s comforting to see our community respond with compassion and uniquely innovative solutions to help friends as well as strangers. This creativity allows us all to continue to do what we love.
In Spokane, multiple organizations have found ways to stay connected.
Spokane Hoopfest
Our office manager, Stephanie Perko, smiles with her Hoopfest team, 2legit2quit.
Hoopfest, the “largest 3on3 outdoor basketball tournament on Earth,” and one of our oldest clients, is moving to a virtual event called “Homecourt 2020” comprised of challenges, drills, and contests created for everyone to participate.
Bloomsday
One of our architects, Chris Finlayson, is getting ready to run Bloomsday with a couple of block-heads.
Bloomsday, an annual 10K with tens of thousands of runners from around the world, is also hosting their event online. For the first year ever, Virtual Bloomsday allows participants to run any course – 7.46 miles in distance – anywhere in the world. Register, walk your own 10K, and get a shirt mailed to you.
Spokane Civic Theatre
Zac Jones, our Senior UI Architect, stands in front of some of the Civic’s season art that he designed for the 2016-2017 season.
The Spokane Civic Theatre hosted familiar plays online at the beginning of the lockdown. Their online audience was able to connect in the comment section and many reminisced about what that play was like when they saw it or acted in it at the Civic.
I’m sure there are many more creative acts of ingenuity, both here and elsewhere around the world. There’s comfort in knowing that while we can’t do what we love, at least the way we’re used to doing it, we can still find togetherness.
We’re Resetting Expectations During the Pandemic
After months of upended lives, lost jobs, sickness for many, and death for some, it’s easy to want to return to normal, to let these past months fade into distant memory. This ‘new normal’ isn’t necessarily anything anyone wanted to endure. The truth is, I believe that for the first two or three months of quarantine, many of us expected to return to normalcy relatively quickly.
Alas, this is going to be the new norm for a while. Even so, I’m thankful to say that IntelliTect is weathering this storm well. We’re very stable and will continue to look for ways to help foster community for those in Spokane and beyond.
- Mark Michaelis, President and CEO, IntelliTect
