Daily Cup of Tech

We’ve been hearing from the CDC all over the news today about how the swine flu has hit Mexico and parts of the US and Canada very hard.  There is even some speculation as to whether or not this is the upcoming pandemic that we are long overdue for.

I thought that I would take this opportunity to put IT departments on alert so that they are prepared for the possibility of a swine flu pandemic or any other public health emergency.

Increased Stain

The most important factor that IT needs to realize is that in the time of a pandemic, there is going to be significant strain put upon both IT staff and IT resources. 

It will start out as an increase in Internet traffic as people from work start researching “swine flu” and “pandemic”. There will also be an increase in e-mail traffic, both from people e-mailing about the topic and then also spammers attempting to capitalize the scare.  This will happen before there is a pandemic or even any cases of swine flu in your immediate area.

Work From Home Requirements

If swine flu symtoms are discovered in your area, then the pressure will really start.  People will be urged to work from home.  This will put increased pressure on your Internet connection and also your VPN setup.  At this point, it becomes critical that you have a solid plan in place to provide remote access to the following network resources:

• files
• databases
• e-mail
• workstations
• collaboration tools
• intranet websites

From a support perspective, also make sure that you can perform the following tasks remotely:

• reboot/troubleshoot servers
• reconfigure any network component
• access BIOS and POST on any server
• access user’s home computers and network components
• access workstations and laptops

When Disaster Strikes

But, no matter how hard you plan, something will go wrong.  It always does and someone will be required to go into your data center or server room.  If this occurs, you have two options for dealing with the situation:

1. Co-ordinate will all other individuals who may need to be in the office and ensure that there are never two people there at the same time, or
2. Have an IT person stock up for the long haul and spend his/her entire time at the data center, keeping everything running.

Option 2 is the best for maintaining everything and keeping it up and running.  This person can also act as a centralized contact point for getting non-digital information out to others.

Plan Now

While it is hard to say at this point whether or not we will be experiencing a pandemic, now is the time to plan for it, not later.  Make sure that you have a solid plan in place that will allow you to not only keep your company running but moving forward.  Some things to consider when planning for a pandemic:

• Who will co-ordinate everything?
• How will IT services be prioritized during this time? Who gets access to what first?
• What will have to go on hold until the situation is resolved?
• What critical outsourced services need to be running in order for your disaster plan to work? e.g. power, Internet
• Do you have sufficient redundancy in your systems to ensure that you can keep moving forward with your business?
• Create a list of critical employees that need to be given first priority for all things network.

Conclusion

I really hope that this is not one of those events that we see in disaster movies.  I really don’t.  But, if we do find ourselves in the middle of a public health emergency, it is important that the IT department be prepared.  How you respond to this situation could make or break your entire company.

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