Planning for a Pandemic: Turning Office Workers Into Mobile Workers for Business Continuity

Enterprises are being forced to take a new look at their business continuity and disaster recovery plans.

Enterprises are being forced to take a new look at their business continuity and disaster recovery plans because of the prospect of pandemics – epidemics affecting wide geographical areas for weeks or months.

Planners are contemplating new scenarios in which contagious diseases like SARS and avian influenza limit travel and prevent workers from congregating in offices.

The striking new challenge is how to maintain employee productivity when the workforce is confined to their homes or other remote locations. As one executive put it, “How can a company go from 20% of its employees working outside of the office to 70%?”

This white paper looks at some of the key issues facing enterprises that might need to turn office workers into mobile workers, rapidly and in large numbers. It examines:

• The technical and human challenges of supporting business processes during a pandemic.
• The planning required.
• Procedures to equip employees with the information and technology to remain productive.
• Potential impact on the infrastructure and on support staffs.