CNN: Companies Preparing For Worst

There is a useful article available currently on CNN.com regarding some of the largest companies in the country preparing for the worst by starting to implement their pandemic contingency plans.  This is a good sign, as these businesses represent a significant portion of the economy.  A disruption in business operations for firms and institutions of all sizes significantly decreases the affected business’s income.  Therefore, it is important for businesses of all sizes to begin instituting pandemic plans similar to the ones being activated by these large companies.

The article relies on analysis by the Gartner research firm, including vice president Ken McGee.  From the article:

For companies that already have contingency plans in place, he says that they need to halt all other activities and direct all their resources to activating their plans. He suggests testing home networks of critical employees to make sure they are working. He also suggests talking with vendors to see their level of preparedness.

"This is not a snow day," he said. "Companies need to review their plans and find their weaknesses and gaps readiness. And then they need to fill them immediately."

For companies that do not have a plan in place already, McGee says they need to be aware of hotspots where the virus is already infecting people, and they should be preparing to set up home networks and possibly shut down their offices in those regions.

The CNN article also refers to the blog of Gartner analyst Nick Jones, where Jones outlines how companies must consider exploiting technology to minimize business disruption while keeping employees safe from a pandemic.  Thanks to technology like telecommuting/remote access from employees’ homes, wireless broadband, and high-capacity mobile devices, it is certainly possible to keep people working while closing an office location.  It is, however, essential that your organization would not be technologically overwhelmed by a significant increase of telecommuting.

GraVoc Associates, based in Peabody, MA, is willing to help your business design contingency plans for pandemic events and other disasters that put business continuity in jeopardy.  As GraVoc celebrates fifteen years of business in greater Boston, the GraVoc information security team has many years’ experience in business continuity and pandemic planning.  Please don’t hesitate to browse past posts regarding the swine flu outbreak in the GraVoc news blog.  For more information about the company, please visit the website at www.gravoc.com.  Also feel free to call GraVoc at 978-538-9055 if you need assistance in planning and preparing for a pandemic.

Second Line Saves GraVoc a Day of Business

As described in the last GraVoc news item, the company’s website was temporarily out of service, as a car hit a utility pole a few blocks from GraVoc’s Peabody, MA offices. The accident resulted in GraVoc’s T1 line going out of service thirty minutes into what was scheduled to be a busy day of business, including Microsoft Dynamics AX training for a client.

GraVoc was able to continue business largely interrupted, however, as the business also utilizes a broadband connection that did not run through the affected utility pole. GraVoc’s systems were switched from the T1 connection to the broadband connection, and instead of delaying the training and being unable to access the Internet, GraVoc was able to continue with minimal interruption and very little lost time.

The GraVoc.com website was dependent on the T1 line and was therefore out of commission for slightly longer.

In terms of business continuity planning, GraVoc was prepared to deal with the event of the traffic accident and had workaround procedures in place to continue operations while the T1 line was disabled. While many businesses focus more on blizzards, hurricanes, fires, or earthquakes in business continuity planning, smaller and more likely events such as this accident can disrupt business just as much. A similar incident took place at a client business less than two weeks ago.

This event also reinforces the importance of having a secondary line of communication between a business’s offices and the outside world. Without the broadband line, GraVoc would have sacrificed almost a full day of business operations. Like its clients, GraVoc does not have time available to fret about communication systems being out of commission. Thanks to business continuity preparedness, GraVoc was able to salvage a productive day without a main communication line.

Among a wide range of services, GraVoc Associates, Inc. specializes in helping clients design business continuity plans so that procedures are in place to resume business as quickly as possible following a disaster. Based in Peabody, MA, GraVoc is celebrating fifteen years of serving small businesses in the Boston area and beyond with information system implementation, technological services, information security, and financial consulting. For more information, please visit GraVoc.com (which is back up and running) or call the GraVoc offices at 978-538-9055.