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10 Tips for Swine Flu Planning for CIOs and IT Leaders

As the swine flu outbreak spreads, CIOs and other IT executives are dusting off their pandemic plans and preparing for the possibility of high levels of employee absenteeism and extended telework scenarios. We talked to several experts in the business continuity and IT operations, and here's the advice they are offering CIOs.
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As the swine flu outbreak spreads, CIOs and other IT executives are dusting off their pandemic plans and preparing for the possibility of high levels of employee absenteeism and extended telework scenarios.

The swine flu threat comes at a time when IT shops are already stretched thin as a result of layoffs and other cutbacks because of the ongoing recession. We talked to several experts in the business continuity and IT operations, and here's the advice they are offering CIOs:

1. Stay calm. Model the behaviour you want to see from your employees. This includes continuing to be productive but also shoring up your supplies of hand sanitiser and bottled water. "What CIOs and other managers of a company have to do is say this is business as usual, but practice better personal hygiene," says Richard De Lotto, principal analyst in Gartner's Banking and Investment Industries Advisory Services Group. "Other people will pick up on the examples set by executives."

2. Involve the entire executive team in business-continuity planning. Planning for a pandemic is not an IT issue; it's a business issue. "IT doesn't need to be driving this because it's more than just data backup," says David Potterton, vice president of global research at IDC Financial Insights. "It needs to be driven by senior business leaders...You have to understand what are your core systems and that's a business decision, not an IT decision."

3. Update and test your calling tree. Many companies have had layoffs in the last six months, and they may not have up-to-date lists of employees and multiple methods for reaching them, including current home and cell phone numbers. Update your list and conduct a test of your emergency calling system to make sure it works. "You need a reliable channel of communications known to everybody," De Lotto says. "It's either a number to call to check if you need to come in. Or a lot of companies have outbound calling systems with robotic voice notifications."

4. Check access to your data centre facilities. Call the building owners of your data centre facilities around the globe and make sure you will have full access to them in the event of a local flu outbreak. You may need to establish a remote hot site or to shift work from one data centre to another. If you outsource data centre operations, include vendors in your business continuity plans. "One centre might need to pick up additional work, or you may need to fly employees out of an area," Potterton says. "There are lots of scenarios that need planning."

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Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.

More about: Gartner, Google, IDC, Skype, Yankee Group

Comments

1

Frank Costanza

Wed 06/05/2009 - 19:18

Open Plan

While every CIO I've ever dealt with has their own spacious office, the situation is very different for regular IT staff.

In the hell hole I work at, we have all (non management) IT staff in an open plan office with no partitions or barriers between staff. While our CIO probably got a hefty bonus for reducing the floor plan by implementing battery hen conditions for staff, it has created an environment were infectious diseases are easily passed on between staff.

Thanks very much CIOs of Australia. I hope you can maintain the IT infrastructure while all your staff are sick at home.

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