Poundbury Systems helped customers’ employees work from home during the cold snap.

The Dorchester IT specialists has had flexible working solutions in place and the foresight showed its value when the snow and ice hit.

Director Clare Jenkins said: “Many of our customers had issues in getting some or all of their staff to their offices.

“The solution was simple. The remote working facilities that we had set up allowed staff to use their home PCs to have quick, easy and secure access to their work files.

“No time was wasted and no business was lost.

“The picture was completed by diverting phones to home and mobile numbers, something that is quick and easy to do.”

Poundbury Systems is based in Middlemarsh Street at Poundbury.

Bob Cottell, of IPP, told how the systems had helped them keep their operation running.

He said: “At IPP, much of our work is time critical and, as we deal with our clients around the world, they don’t care what the weather is like in the UK and they expect us to have contingency plans in place.

“During the current weather, we are able to work equally well from home as we can in the office, thanks to Poundbury Systems putting remote access in place.

“We can access information and documents on our servers as normal, maintain email contact with clients and use instant messaging as an effective way to maintain internal communication.

“Poundbury Systems have given us the flexibility to allow staff to work from home and delay coming into the office until the roads are less icy.”