Floods force Jabra to evacuate Egham HQ
Headset vendor says it is business as usual for partners after rising water levels forced controlled power-down of its building
Headset maker Jabra says its channel partners should see no disruption in service after floodiing forced it to evacuate its UK headquarters in Egham.
The vendor's 18 office-based staff will be working from home for at least the next few days after rising water levels forced the Electricity Board to carry out a controlled power-down of its building at lunchtime.
Jabra rents space in offices owned by analyst giant Gartner situated in Runnymede, a historic area of Egham near junction 15 of the M25 that has been badly hit by the floods due to its close proximity to the Thames.
"In the summer, Runnymede is lovely, and you can walk down the Thames and see where the Magna Carta was signed," said Amanda Bowbanks, customer marketing manager at Jabra UK.
"But unfortunately, it has borne the brunt of the floods."
Jabra's car park (pictured, top) had already been flooded for days but another deluge this morning overwhelmed its power room. The vendor was able to power off its servers before the shut-down and a backup was performed by its IT team based at its Copenhagen head office. Exhibition equipment kept in the power room was also moved to higher shelves in the nick of time. Its staff had been using portaloos (pictured, above left) for several days.
Fortunately, Jabra ships stock to the UK from a hub in continental Europe, meaning it can still get equipment to its distributors, Bowbanks said. Its resellers should see no disruption in service levels either because staff are kitted out with Microsoft Lync, she added.
"If we didn't have a unified communications platform, we would have been forced to shut up shop for a while," Bowbanks (pictured, right) said.
"If partners need advice on product, our support staff are available as per usual, as are our account managers. We are very much treating this as business as usual.
"We will only be back in the HQ when the Environment Agency allows Gartner to reopen the office - with the predicted rainfall this may or may not be next week."
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