IT strategy: All fall down – time to get business continuity planning houses in order

Every major health scare is invariably accompanied by much scaremongering. This doom-saying will almost certainly include a series of dire warnings over the lamentable disarray that passes for business continuity management or disaster recovery planning.

We are advised, in such circumstances, to be ‘Very Afraid’ as IT and business planning will ­ for many companies ­ be totally disproportionate to the scale of the threat.

Despite the fact there has been much crying wolf in the past, the sky has consistently failed to fall in. So many are now arguing that we should take the growing sense of panic surrounding ‘swine flu’ with a pinch of salt. That said, every credible authority agrees we are overdue a global flu pandemic; it is not a question of if, but when such an outbreak will take hold.

At the time of going to press, the spread of the A(H1N1) influenza strain of swine flu that emerged in Mexico appears to be steady, but not devastating. It could be this strain that spreads to become a global pandemic, but the fact that cases are now being reported in the Far East should send shivers down our spines. Some experts think a new strain will develop when the infection merges with the better-known ‘avian flu’ that has been spreading in Asia for some time. Perhaps it will create a new terror ­ 'flying pig flu'.

But this is no laughing matter. When a pandemic occurs, businesses are going to be hit.

Some are going to be hit very hard and some will fail. It is estimated that a global flu pandemic could lead to between a third and a half of workers being struck down.

Research outfit Gartner notes that, pandemic or no, swine flu is already affecting companies. There are fears that global trade will be impacted as the disease spreads and the European Union has issued travel warnings advising would-be visitors to the US and Mexico to only venture forth for essential trips.

Sensible steps, such as minimising unnecessary business travel ­ not only to areas known to be infected ­ should be just the beginning of measures. Staff should be able to circumvent all but the most essential face-to-face meetings and, instead, communicate using technologies such as video conferencing or teleconferencing. IT managers must ensure such systems are in place and can be accessed by all staff to enable continuity of communications in the event of such a crisis.

A scenario of this sort is likely to mean the number of home workers will need to be dramatically increased to support employees who would normally be office-based. Is the kit available for staff to take home? Have staff been trained to use it properly? How do you cope with the increased IT support overhead associated with remote working? Connectivity issues need to be resolved. Security ­ always a major headache when it comes to remote working ­ should not be compromised in a headlong rush to expand access provision.

Information technology research group Butler says these employees will need to be provided with virtual private networks to access central systems securely ­ assuming such central systems can be maintained. They will also need instant messaging, remote support and collaborative workspaces. As such, it is also important that IT departments can establish, optimise and support such virtual infrastructures.

However, technology research company Quocirca points out that technology can only do so much to safeguard companies in the event of an oncoming pandemic. Home and remote working is all very well, but what if your staff are not well enough to access the systems that are in place for them? Companies have typically reduced single points of failure in their structures so that, if one key member of staff is incapacitated, the impact on the business as a whole will be minimised. But what if half the board is laid up in bed, unable to do anything but pop a few more Tamiflu?

In these circumstances, hardware and software cannot help. It is the human factor that needs to be addressed: what some techies refer to as ‘wetware’. Procedures need to be put into place that eliminate not just single points of failure caused by individuals going sick, but also, potentially, whole departments going offline. Businesses need to ask hard questions about which processes are absolutely, fundamentally core, which are nice to have, but potentially expendable and which are non-core. Then technical and human resource plans must be drawn up to focus what limited resources remain where they can do most good.

In terms of SWOT analysis, the swine flu threat provides an opportunity for senior IT and business managers to put their business contingency planning houses in order. It is time to check the effectiveness of planning and boost awareness. It is an opportunity that we cannot afford to waste.