This is where we update our policies and also you on how we are currently working to combat the Coronavirus.
Coronavirus statistics: The base lab
Coronavirus Map update: CV cases map
Coronavirus UK Focused stats: WHO CV19 Stats
Whilst Covid in the UK seems to have been brought under control somewhat, we are seeing huge spikes in covid cases in China which is starting to disrupt services once again.
Depending on the location of the covid lockdown, we are seeing draconian "Zero covid" processes put in place once again, which effectively shuts down commerce in that area.
China has, what is proving to be, an extremely ineffective vaccination policy and this means that it is likely that we see Covid out of control once again in China. We are keeping our eye on things and will be ensuring we have enough repair stocks to cover any support during this period. Lead times for certain new products may continue to be impacted until well into the new year.
Covid rates in the UK continue to rise and main Chinese manufacturing and export provinces have been locked down for 1-2 weeks, including Shenzen, Guangzhou and potentially Hong Kong.
This will impact our supply and shipping by an estimated 2-3 weeks. Please take this into consideration when ordering or using our repair services.
Covid rates in the UK have been rising once again and more concerning is the hospital admission rate and deaths going up. Our business has been extremely resilient against covid but only because we made swift and early changes to our processes.
We have also been made aware that Covid is surging in China, and whilst our suppliers are telling us it is business as usual, we wanted to pass on precautions of potential disruption to manufacture and shipping again.
We have decided that all covid processes will be re-started in full so we are fully prepared before Covid becomes an issue once again.
With covid rates and general deaths now dropping to what the government states are "Seasonal flu" rates, we have made the following changes to our covid process:
1. Removal of package quarantine process for goods in and repairs
We will continue to watch COvid rates carefully and will make changes accordingly.
With covid rates in the UK reducing, and business now opening up, we are now focussing on our suppliers and getting stock back up to levels. The Coronavirus has been extremely disruptive to our supplies, with many suppliers going out of business or still closed.
We have taken the decision that all staff will be working from home permanently and will no longer be coming to a central office. Only support staff, who will maintain the same covid rota, will keep support services running at our main address.
Please note that supply chains will be impacted for up to 12 months due to chip shortages and supply chain impacts lingering for far longer than covid.
We are removing our main phone number but ensuring that the best way to contact us will be via our main email address info@raptorhub.com.
Covid rates are declining now, however we are continuing to employ our covid processes that have proven very robust for our business.
All staff will be working from home where able, with support staff on covid rota to keep support services running.
The best way to contact us will be via info@raptorhub.com.
We do not foresee any changes to these processes in 2021. If any changes happen then we will post here.
After a decent period of very low risk in the Liverpool area, we have now been placed into Tier 3 with literally everyone around Liverpool already at Tier 4. This has forced us to re-implement our full Covid process.
There is no change to how we work, other than to emphasise that we are all working remotely and some staff are being rotated for Furlough and also support reasons.
Our priority remains keeping staff safe and essential services open. Please check for specvial requirements on our support website for more on that.
We are expecting things to get worse than they get better, however we are open for business and trading normally, just doing it under our covid processes.
We have had no change for a while, however due to the rate of increase in new cases now hitting nearly 5000 today, we feel we need to update our community.
We have not changed the way we have worked all the way through, so we will be continuing to work as many people from home as possible and maintain a support rota to ensure support times are met. These processes have proven very robust since the beginning of the pandemic.
So far there has been no further impact to supply chains, we have reasonable supply times for most suppliers. The impact of China holidays and the usual Q4 rush is higher than the Corona Virus at present. We also have no ipact to domestic deliveries with DHL, who are our courier partner.
We believe here that things will be getting a lot worse, we are preparing for a lock down and hoping for better. We'll update here as soon as we know more, a lot of what happens will probably depend on what decisions are made my government.
Stay safe everyone, abide by the rules because if we don't we just make this problem bigger.
We're going to move to monthgly updates from now on, as the virus subsides for now at least.
We are now fully open, operating with Covid processes to ensure rota and support is met and sales are fully open.
Supplies are returning back to normality as more planbes are in the skies. We still not as quick as pre-covid days so allowances for any orders need to be made.
We are keeping our eyes closely on global rates as we enter August. We are seeing a few mini lock downs in the UK, as well as Covid all but still raging in countries like the USA and Brazil so we are keeping a close eye on where it is prevalent and how it could affect our business.
Next update will be the end of August
The UK's curve is debatable in our view and we urge everyone to look at the stats and graphs and to make your own conclusions as to what is safe. These are going to be some hairy weeks for all of us as we are told to return to normality but in conditions that may not necessarily be ideal. Our plan is to therefore maintain our current processes that are proving robust. Our Red/Orange/Green status will no longer be use because we are now operating with a new set of permanent rules and processes that have minimal impact on all aspects of our business. Therefore we consider our business back to GREEN We are now operating permanent COVID19 processes until further notice.
With no CV19 cases here at all, we are now beginning to take staff off the furlough scheme. We aim to do this slowly, safely but surely with a return to normal staffing levels by the end of July.
All staff will continue to work from home. We have a robust remote working framework so this will have minimal impact on customers.
Essential onsite staff will continue to be on our proven rota so that we maintain all services.
We still have slight impact on supplies, this is largely due to there still not being many aircraft flying. however we are only seeing a short time impact on supplies.
Domestic UK deliveries are seeing almost zero impact to our next business day service.
We have a plan in place for returning workers, with testing, PPE kit and a process to ensure our staff adhere to our more stringent rules so that we can keep services open and our people safe.
We are supporting any staff who do not want to send their children back to nursery/school.
The UK's curve is still maintaining a flattening out profile. These are going to be some tough weeks for all of us as we see the virus subside, but very slowly. Our plan is still to PREPARE for end of July ,to EXPECT for an end of June but still hope for an end of May time line for the lockdown to ease. However we are currently experienicing very minimal impact to business at this point.
No change to 16/04 update
Sales are fully open and operating from home on rotation.
Support is fully operational, we have been repairing on average under 2 days.
We have daily,rotational warehousing presence at our main site and are receiving supplies on a daily basis. We are sending out same day with slightly earlier cut off times of 12.00 noon to utilise and help DHL's resources best. We also have a quarentinbe period for supplies to minimise handling risk to our staff and customers. please contact us for further advice/impact.
We are best contacted using our "info@raptorhub.com" email where we have a response time of a few minutes.
It's early to be sure but it looks like the curves are flattening and the UK governments measures are starting to work. Whilst deaths will lag about 2 weeks, the charts for hospital admissions and detection rates are starting to slow which is promising. At Raptor our plan is still to PREPARE for end of July ,to EXPECT for an end of June but still hope for an end of May time line for normality.
Business is as usual here, our counter-virus measures are proving to be robust and as such we have very little impact since the last update to our services.
The repair centre is open and repairing as normal. Slightly slower repair times are expected, but our average repair turn around has been 1-2 days.
Sales are open. We are getting stock and supplies through from all our suppliers. We are managing longer delivery times internationally and this is due to there being very few aircraft that products can travel on, however these are being managed and whilst stock is lower than normal in the UK, it is being managed and we have stock.
Our next business day service is being impacted on a postcode basis. This is simply due to DHL having impact to their workers due to the virus hitting. We have so far seen very little impact to our deliveries though with only a few deliveries experiencing an impact.
We are operating on a skeleton staff structure. I want to highlight that all furloughed staff at Raptor are on 100% pay and this will enable us to hit the ground running when the coronavirus rules are lifted. Our skeleton staff, along with our technology and processes are proving resilient and business is currently as normal as the restrictions allow.
In an effort to ensure we keep essential support services open for as long as possible we have decided to close down some areas of our business until further notice. People affected will be furloughed and paid 100% salary by us until further notice. This will impact all areas of our business except for our repair centre.
If you require any support or products then please contact us via email: info@raptorhub.com or for larger accounts please contact your account manager directly.
We are focusing on protecting our essential services by keeping our support services open, at the expense of turn around times and presently we have no plan to close support services. As long as the extra protection measures are used by us and customers we should remain open.
Please follow all guidelines set out on the support portal to ensure minimum delays to your repairs.
We are a resilient and flexible business and in times of crisis we will put people before profit every time, so despite some big changes happening already, we have so far coped quite well with the impacts of the CoronaVirus. Most of you already know that we prefer a “proactive” approach to our support and it has been no different to our response to date against the CoronaVirus situation. To clarify what we are already doing:
Inline with the UK government rules:
We have taken advice from our courier DHL and also key research on handling of packages and the spread of CoronaVirus which will impact our processes from this point onwards. CoronaVirus has been found to be able to live and be actively transmitted from surfaces for the following periods:
If sending in a device for repair, we are asking that customers adhere to the follow extra precautions outlined on the repair portal home page.
We take the well being of our staff and the spread of this virus very seriously. Any deviation that puts us at risk is likely to lead to extremely long isolation for devices at bext or return and banning of the service until further notice.
Please bear with us. We are placing priority on having an open and functioning repair service, rather than a fast one during this time. If we aren’t slightly paranoid, we will continue to lose workers, ultimately leaving us with no-one to operate our service centre, so please help us to help you. If you do not follow the above process, or are found cheating the process, then your devices will be put to one side for special weekly cleaning here, delaying your repair times by at least 7 days. In some cases we may send back devices unrepaired. Our priority is keeping people safe here and our service open to everyone.
We are constantly looking at new rules and ensuring our staff adhere to these as well as keep themselves, and their families safe. Like all other businesses we also have economic and business impacts to consider. We are currently reviewing the following:
Potential removal of some roles/jobs that are appropriate under the \"Job retention scheme\". These employees would no longer work for Raptor tempoarily but would receive full pay from us and would return when allowed. We will announce this and any closures at the right time.
Will Raptor be able to weather a shut down for 2 or 3+ months?
We have plenty of cash reserves, we have no loans and owe no money which makes us a very resilient business. We’re not going anywhere and we’ll still be here after this has all finally passed over us.
Will our hardware repair services remain open
Yes but there will be some restrictions going forward as we receive packaging advice and how we must stop the spread via packages. We envisage short delays on repairs where customers have followed the emergency process. We envisage longer delays (up to 2 weeks) or no provision of service for those who do not.
I have a support contract, will my 2 or 3 day turn arouind time be affected
If you follow the emergency RMA process then your impact will be minimal. However all repairs could have potential delays. Not only do we have to quarentine packages, we also face a reduced repair through put as we look to keep the service open in favour of fast repairs and then having to close.
Do you envisage your repair centre closing at any point
To keep our repair centre open we need skilled people, we need the ability to come to work and we need parts. If customers help by minimising our exposure risk by following the RMA process, we should have very little risk to staff. We are fully stocked with parts and will harvest parts form new devices in stock if required. We are able to man the repair centre presently as we are deemed an essential service due to the clients we have, including multiple NHS operations. Our main risk is if the rules change on travel and no-one can get to the repair centre or if we deem packages and devices to risky to handle.
How long do you think this will go on for
Our opinion is not from any kind of medical background but we envisage serious business impact for at least 2 year, we are preparing for more. There will be huge backlog to supply chains and shipping and we are also seeing chip shortages occur that could impact supply for 18 months.
Wil you be laying staff off and potentially closing Raptor fully
At this point we are considering closure of the sales side of the business, all staff will benefit from 100% salary being paid so they will all return. The repair centre is open for business with no current plan to close it.
Can I come and collect goods
You can't do this anyway, our stock is not in 1 place, our sales team are very mobile at the best of times and we are not allowing anyone onsite other than key individuals in the repair centre.
Have you changed any of your terms and conditions
To get through Covid we must all work together. Suppliers cannot survive through unprecedented times if customers are not understanding and flexible to the new pressures Covid brings on supply chains. As we have a large projects/special order based business it would be life threatening to us to have orders cancelled that we cannot get refunded or sell on easily simply because they were impacted by covid. We have therefore made a change to section 12 of our hardware supply terms, which ensures clarity and respect that goods will take longer to provide due to covid. We decided to be completely open about this from the start to give customers choice.
Are rugged devices able to spread Coronavirus
Yes they definitely are able to spread the virus. We have asked couriers about touching devices and also read key research on plastic, glass, rubber and cardboard and any mobile and its box are capable of sustaining the virus for up to about 5 days. All it takes is someone with the virus to sneeze into their hand, to use a device and then to pass it to someone else and they could be infected.
Who can I talk to or contact about the Coronavirus and Raptor?
We are happy to advise, help or talk when it is truly needed, but please bare in mind we are already working at 120% to ensure services are kept open. emailing is best, email us at info@raptorhub.com.
Please check back regularly for new additions to this page - Dave, MD and chief tech dev