Honestly, I’m still in two minds as I type… Everyone’s talking about it, everyone’s tired of it, everyone wants to hear just one single piece of news related to it – that it’s finally over. But it’s unfortunately not.

And while, normally, in these articles I get very technical, at this point I feel the need to get very human about it all. This situation is new to everybody and everyone is just trying to find the balance between staying safe and healthy, protecting their families and loved ones, keeping their businesses (or businesses that employ them) healthy & running – and staying sane in the midst of it all.

In our line of work, we are used to being available to our customers with advice, technical support, turning up on site in their production plants, dealing with their technical issues as if they were our own, feeling a part of their maintenance or design engineering teams, frowning together upon attempts that don’t work out and high-five-ing each other in triumph over the ones that do.

Evidently, we are currently not able to do that in the same old way we were used to. And that puts us in front of so many questions. How much do we call and stay in touch? How much is too much? Are our customers aware we are there for them even if we are not physically present? Which digital tools to make available for them to feel as comfortable as possible in our long distance cooperation?

Sounds a bit like that early stage of dating, doesn’t it, when you watch carefully who called / texted last and how badly misconstrued it may be if one person insists on contact more than the other. 😊

Clearly, as I’ve gotten this far, I must have resolved my dilemma from the title, as it’s pretty obvious I am writing about this. I guess what I’m trying to say is, that at the end of the day the communication tools don’t matter (whatever technically works and is available is just fine), the frequency of contact is likely to matter some. But both only matter if there is substance behind the exchanged content. And much like in dating, in business too, only those relationships will survive that had substance and quality before all hell broke loose.

To conclude, before I get too soppy and poetic: we are here for you! If we can help and support in any way that is within our expertise, don’t hesitate at all to reach out to us. Meanwhile, we will check in once in a while, sometimes to see if there’s anything we can do, sometimes just to hear – that all’s good and you’re doing fine.