'The Israeli tech sector can deliver even at times of war'

The brutal attack by Hamas on southern Israel on October 7th did not only start the Gaza War but also aimed at driving extensive damage to Israel’s economy, especially vis-à-vis the huge draft of reservists, home-front resilience, and national mood and stamina. The Israeli home front joined in the war effort and showed what solidarity means, as well as commercial companies, the hi-tech sector, banks, insurance companies, and the healthcare system. All have joined hands to assist with thousands of civic and corporate initiatives wherever possible.

An excellent opportunity to delve deeper and examine the Hi-Tech sector’s response to the war presented itself in an interview recently held with Yinnon Dolev – CEO of Sompo Digital Lab Israel. This interview, like many others conducted in the past three months, clarifies that the Israeli Hi-Tech is not going anywhere; if anything – it is cooperating with the army and civil organizations, contributing wherever possible and ensuring business continuity even during an impossible situation.  

Dolev says it took the Israeli site a few days to comprehend and cope with the situation. Although they suffered no losses, some of their employees had lost friends or their relatives were taken hostage. Sompo, like many other Hi-Tech companies, switched to working remotely, incorporated stress management Zoom sessions, and encouraged employees to share their experiences and feelings. “As the CEO, I spoke to employees on the phone on a daily basis.” A foreign employee who was placed on assignment in Tel Aviv left to join his family and returned to Japan.

Business continuity was soon restored, especially vis-à-vis foreign sites and stakeholders. “One of our missions was to demonstrate that the Israeli tech sector can deliver even at times of war,” says Dolev. In the first two weeks, I started to create daily video clips for my management. They were deeply concerned about our safety and had no real understanding of the circumstances in Israel. The video clips explained the situation but also demonstrated that we are ok and that the teams are operating.” Picking up on past experience from the COVID pandemic, the tech industry embraced such challenges as maintaining work-life balance when schools were closed, keeping up employees’ morale, and proving that innovation continues to charge forward, even when a war is raging outside. 

The results are evident: Dolev proudly shared that two PoC agreements were signed with startups, and a big development project was kicked off. He added: “In addition to meeting our business commitments, it was important for us to give back to society. We volunteered to give lessons to students of displaced families from Kiryat Shmonah and Sderot. We taught a variety of topics ranging from math, cyber, cooking and even meditation.” The key takeaway from this interview and the Israeli tech industry is resilient. Right now, there’s a war to win, and it will not be at the expense of the Israeli economy.