European Union and British Union Jack flag flying in front of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament
Chris Grant (he/him) October 01, 2019 A 2 minute read

Brexit: An update

As you are no doubt aware, the UK is set to leave the European Union on 31st October 2019. The way in which the UK will leave the EU remains unclear and as a result, O’Brien Media has, for some time, been preparing plans to ensure that we are able to support our customers through this period no matter what the outcome might be.

Below is our Brexit strategy document which explains our preparations in order to assure you that we are fully prepared to support your needs.

All the O’Brien Media team are here to fully support you through this transitional period for the UK.

Thank you for your continued business and be assured that we are working actively to ensure that our support and service provision to you are as seamless as possible during the coming weeks and months.

Brexit Plan

Due to so many unanswered questions about Brexit, O’Brien Media has been preparing for the worst-case scenario and how to mitigate any disruption of service to our customers and wherever price increases arise limit what is passed on to our clients. We have investigated all aspects of the business and have put the below procedures in place.

O’Brien Media Staff

We have evaluated the staff at O’Brien Media and we don’t anticipate any issues in relation to Brexit. We are focused on supporting our staff through the Brexit transition should any issues arise. Planning for the worst-case scenario, in this instance, we are confident service provision will not be affected.

Servers and Hardware

We have been busy speaking to our hardware and software vendors and part suppliers, most of which are based in the UK. Any parts that are purchased from Europe are sourced through a UK company that have been increasing their stock of parts to decrease any shipment delays after the 31st of October. We have been analysing spend patterns for IT system parts and have also increased the hardware we hold at our premises.

Digital services provided to O’Brien Media

Again, we have been working closely with our connectivity and digital service providers to ensure there will be no disruption to service provision for clients. All service suppliers have indicated that they do not anticipate any service supply issues after the 31st October.

Services and operating cost increases

Approximately half of the digital services provided to us are sourced from the EU or the US and as such we are billed in EUR or USD, due to exchange rate fluctuations and the reduced buying power of the pound we do foresee that we may need to increase prices for some services we provide to clients.

We have increased fixed-price contracts with service providers where possible to reduce the risk of sudden price increases after 31st October. We are working to minimise any price increases that could need to be passed along to clients.