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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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9. Develop a degradation plan. Consider what it would take for you to run your IT shop for 13 weeks with 60% of the current staff, De Lotto recommends. "Figure out what you're not going to do so you can degrade gracefully to a lower operational status," he says. Also create lines of succession, so you know who will run your department if the boss and his boss are sick. Delineate who will be in charge, and make sure these people have proper permissions and access to data.

10. Take care of your people. The proper response to a pandemic or other disaster is for executives to make sure their employees are safe and then worry about resuming business. "Companies need to think about their people first. They tend to look at plant and equipment and not look at their labour force," Potterton says. He adds that companies need to understand that employees will take care of themselves first, then their families, and then worry about their jobs and clients.

Overall, the swine flu outbreak can be an opportunity for IT departments to refresh their business-continuity plans and to win back some loyalty from employees demoralised by layoffs and pay freezes by being sensitive to their needs. "Businesses should do what they can to be model citizens," De Lotto says.

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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.

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Comments

Frank Costanza

1

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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