Pandemic preparedness and telecommunications resiliency: What should contingency planners be considering?
Abstract
Business continuity managers are faced with a different challenge when planning and preparing for an influenza pandemic. The current “bird flu' virus, designated as H5N1, is of immediate concern because it has already shown itself in parts of Asia and Europe. There is a fear that it may bring sickness and death on an unimaginable scale, devastate cities and towns, and bring business to a halt. While the virus has so far killed only a few people, there is a possibility that it will mutate into a form which is easily transmissible between humans, resulting in a global pandemic. Should this occur, the US Government estimates that it could result in 207,000 deaths, 776,000 hospitalisations and outpatients, and a staggering US$166bn in economic losses in the USA alone. While the US Government and various industry associations have published many alerts and planning guides, this paper discusses the practical problems of maintaining operations, when people can no longer meet in their usual offices and have to work from scattered locations. Finally, this paper examines the current telecommunications infrastructure, its weaknesses and the keys to a successful telecommunications plan that is sufficiently flexible and robust to maintain a company over many months of dislocation.
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Author's Biography
Joanne Deluca former Global Head of Crisis Management at Barclays Capital in New York, has over 24 years of financial services experience in operational risk management, accounting and control, business continuity and crisis management. In her role as global head of crisis management she established a robust crisis management framework to ensure the firm had the capability to plan for, respond to and recover from a significant business disruption. She was asked to lead the bank’s effort to establish a global pandemic plan and pandemic preparedness coordination group. She was instrumental in leading Barclays Capital’s recovery efforts during the September 11 crisis in 2001, and the north-east power outage in 2003.
Roy Pinchot Chief Executive Officer and President of TeleContinuity, Inc., has more than 40 years of management experience in telecommunications, information services, advertising and publishing. His areas of expertise include telecommunications disaster recovery and call centre telephony. Previously, Mr Pinchot was Director of Marketing and Sales for Spherix Inc., a leading call centre company and Director of Direct Marketing and vice president for two advertising agencies, where he was responsible for the United States Telephone Association and the Electronic Industries Association. He is also a recipient of the Echo Award from the Direct Marketing Association and the Blakeslee Award.
Citation
Deluca, Joanne and Pinchot, Roy (2007, August 1). Pandemic preparedness and telecommunications resiliency: What should contingency planners be considering?. In the Journal of Business Continuity & Emergency Planning, Volume 1, Issue 4. https://doi.org/10.69554/MGAV8175.
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