The seven-month timeline for the deployment was made even more challenging with the onset of Covid-19 . Just as the banks were entering into the critical final weeks leading up to the go-live , the pandemic hit , leading the Indian government to respond with protective measures that included a 21-day , nationwide lockdown .
Everyone working on the merger immediately rose to the task . Almost overnight , the entire TCS team moved to “ Work-from-home ” mode . This effort was aided immensely from strong support from the TCS Infrastructure teams , which quickly moved ahead with a company-wide deployment of Secure Borderless Workspaces™ ( SBWS™ ). The SBWS initiative ensures secured access to customer environments , giving high-level stakeholders the necessary reassurance about the security of remote operations , enabling the project to continue without a hitch .
With the dedicated and out-of-the-ordinary commitment from the TCS team , the go-live was achieved on time , with full balance sheet consolidation and merged Treasury operations ready for business on 1st April 2020 .
The dedication continued following the go-live . For certain confidential and sensitive operations , on-site processing was determined necessary , despite being in the early stages of the pandemic . To manage these critical activities , TCS proceeded carefully with limited on-site interactions under the strict supervision of the project management team .
Key safety measures included :
l Allotment of specific seating locations in conference rooms to maintain appropriate social distancing
l Strict food hygiene with no sharing – everyone carries in their own food and utensils .
l Alternate-week presence to ensure adequate rest and quarantine
With these innovative efforts , employees ’ friends and family members were reassured that everyone was in good hands with TCS . As a result of the full-team effort , on-premise operations were successful in protecting staff and their families while still ensuring Delivery Certainty for our esteemed clients .
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