Heads in the Sand: IT isn't ready for the bird flu
Category Business Continuity Management Briefing BCM - BCM & Risk Management - IT - H5N1
Will IT be able to cope during a Pandemic?
If there's a bird flu pandemic, IT will be critical to business continuity. So why haven't more organizations started planning?
While a bird flu pandemic is still only a possibility, if it does hit, it’s expected to cause high rates of staff absenteeism, supply chain disruptions and travel restrictions. Can IT staff cope with these increased demands?
Companies like Kichler Lighting could feel the effects of a pandemic well before it hits U.S. shores. A failure of Kichler’s back-office IT systems won’t stop the business right away, but the firm may not have any products to ship. “Most of the company’s products are manufactured in Asia. If it hits [there], we’re pretty much going to have to shut down,” Schindler says.
At UPS, the data center is an integral part of operations. “If our computer systems don’t run, scanners in our locations all over the world won’t work. Our revenue stops because our business stops,” says Sgroi.
Like most large companies, UPS can remotely manage most aspects of data center operations, with the exception of hardware maintenance. But UPS also has a plan for moving workloads. If a major site in Asia or elsewhere goes offline, the company’s plan calls for diverting data to another location, which must have enough capacity to take on the added workload, Sgroi says.
UPS is also adding a Web-based absenteeism application to help managers during a crisis. “During a pandemic, we would need better control over how many people are in and out of the office. This doesn’t exist today,” Sgroi says.
Ainslie says it isn’t enough to have backup power. He’s looking at how to keep running for extended periods without utility power or access to fuel for backup generators. “You have to have enough [fuel] for an extended period of time, if practical,” he says.
Sgroi is confident that IT can function with an absentee rate of 25%, but she says a rate of 40% would require additional steps. Even Deloitte, which advises clients on pandemic planning and has invested considerable time and effort in its own plans, isn’t ready for a 40% absenteeism rate. “We still have a lot of work to do,” Ross says.
Organizations that have outsourced parts of their IT operations should also take a hard look at their collocation facilities and other outsourced IT services, says Rasmussen. “You need to be working with them to make sure you have a right to an audit. Look at their business continuity plans and what processes are in place to execute those plans,” he suggests.
Although telecommuting can help some staffers continue to work during a pandemic, in some cases it just isn’t practical. At Kichler Lighting, where IT staffers are already engaged in an ERP rollout, a project to support remote access for teleworkers is at least 24 to 36 months away, says Schindler.
Aetna isn’t counting on remote access during a pandemic. Bennett is concerned that users working from home might have extremely slow Internet connectivity — or no last-mile connectivity at all — if their Internet service providers aren’t capable of handling the expected surge in usage.
The bigger problem, however, is that many job functions simply can’t be performed remotely. “Sending everyone home to telework isn’t viable in our business,” Bennett says. Instead, Aetna is focusing on reducing workplace risks, by using its intranet and e-learning systems to train employees on practices such as “social distancing” (staying three feet away from others), the use of protective masks and gloves, and environmental cleaning.
At other businesses, remote access will be crucial. “The principal role of the IT team has been to enhance our remote working capability,” says Dennis Jobin, managing director of the business continuity planning division at The Bank of New York Co. The bank is also ramping up its internal Web site to support more concurrent users.
Security is a concern. Businesses may want to distribute laptops in advance to ensure that endpoint devices coming into the virtual private network are properly secured, says Ross.
Bank of New York has a VPN but is in the final stages of choosing a thin-client, desktop application virtualization technology that’s capable of securely supporting remote access by a large population of users working from home. The new system will securely support any computer equipped with a browser, thus eliminating worry about the security of home computers or supplying company laptops. Configuration and management will all occur on the back end. “The solution we choose will minimize or eliminate any visits to people’s homes,” says Jobin.
Cross-training employees can help the business cope with skills shortages by making it possible for remaining employees to get critical tasks done, but training must occur before a pandemic strikes. “That has to happen now. You can’t wait,” says Ross.
But cross-trained employees taking on new roles will need access to different parts of the company’s computer systems. “Which applications you can use, which data you have access to, will change,” Ross says, and identity management tools will be critical to such provisioning efforts.
Ultimately, dealing with a pandemic is a problem that must be coordinated at the executive management level through a cross-functional team. “IT is not the problem, nor the full solution,” says Rawlins. But it is part of the solution. And in a true emergency, information systems might just be the glue that keeps employees in touch — and holds the organization together.
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