Cross Company is a manufacturer and distributor of industrial solutions—everything from robotics, to flow and safety technologies, to mobile systems integration.
For decades, the company has built a reputation as a trusted provider of mission-critical technologies and services for industries as diverse as energy, mining, aerospace, and pharmaceuticals, among dozens of others.
But as the coronavirus outbreak began to unfold, Cross Company took on an even more significant role. Following guidelines from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), a division of the US Department of Homeland Security, Cross Company was able to qualify as an official “Member of the Essential Critical Infrastructure Workforce for COVID-19.”
A provider that essential businesses count on
The essential-business designation makes sense. After all, Cross Company’s solutions are needed by businesses that are themselves essential during a time like this: food companies, energy companies, chemical companies, transportation companies, healthcare companies… the list goes on.
The recent statewide shelter-in-place order issued by the government of North Carolina, where Cross Company has its headquarters, could have been highly disruptive to the company’s operations. And that disruption could have had an even more serious ripple effect on the other essential businesses that need Cross Company’s solutions.
But luckily, the company had the technological capability to easily transition most of its 500 employees to remote-working arrangements—with minimal disruption to productivity.
Transitioning to a 100% remote organization
Before the coronavirus pandemic, most of Cross Company’s staff worked in one of the organization’s office locations. Only a handful—mainly sales associates—were already working from home.
In 2019, the company migrated its entire workforce to RingCentral’s cloud communications solution. Because of that decision, everyone in the company already had a RingCentral account and the ability to make and take calls, join and host video conferences, and engage in real-time team chats from any device.
So, when the executives made the decision to close their main locations and transition the office-based associates to working from home, the adjustment was quick and smooth.
As IT Support Specialist Nicholas Laws points out, “I’m hearing over and over from our employees, ‘Hey, if you get a chance, give RingCentral a big pat on the back for making this transition so easy.’”
Continuing to serve the industries society needs
Now that they’re working from home, Nicholas explains, employees use RingCentral’s unified communications app throughout the day to get their work done.
They make their work calls either from their computers, using the RingCentral desktop app and a plug-in headset, or with the RingCentral mobile app on their own cell phones. Employees are also holding video conferences, using the built-in RingCentral Meetings, far more these days than they ever have in the past.
And because they were able to transition so quickly to a remote organization, Cross Company has been able to keep helping its customers in key industries deliver much-needed products and services—including medical supplies, food, water, and energy—at a time when society is counting on them more than ever.
Originally published Apr 23, 2020, updated Aug 12, 2020
