H1N1 Contingency Planning Shows Up A Downside of IT Consolidation

Photo: Gartner research vice president Roberta Witty.

The onset of H1N1 influenza or swine flu is forcing organizations public and private to proactively plan for absenteeism in such key functions as IT.

Roughly one-third of organizations surveyed in 2008 by Gartner, an IT research firm, have internal pandemic contingency committees that incorporate all of the major departments including information technology, states Roberta Witty, a research vice president at Gartner.

She expects an expansion in the number of organizations with such committees this year.
In addition, while H1N1 is relatively mild it could be the precursor for other more disruptive medical emergencies, Witty added.

"The premise is that 40 per cent of your work force could be absent. How do you continue your [operational] process, the delivery of your services? What are the human resources considerations that have to be thought through - your sick leave policy, your bereavement policy?"

The challenge is that many organizations including those in government are more geared up for the unusual and less likely scenario of a fire, earthquake, flood, hurricane or terrorist action, then they may be for other possibly more likely emergencies such as an infectious disease," states Darin Stahl, lead analyst at the InfoTech Research Group.

He says that contingency planning has tended to focus on "big bangs" in terms of disasters that verge on "the cartoonish," and where the facility containing the computer and networks is eliminated.

"The H1N1 influenza virus is causing organizations to review business continuity plans. Organizations need to prepare for the possibility that some employees will quarantine themselves by avoiding the office during widespread flu outbreaks."

Stahl notes that employers should be prepared for the possibility that public health authorities will order employees to work at home during an influenza outbreak.

While not all work can be accomplished at home, sufficient numbers of knowledge and IT staff can be dispersed in their homes across a city, state or region to maintain and work on their electronic files remotely in the event that the main facilities containing computer hardware is inaccessible, continued Stahl.

Organizations then face the matter of ensuring they have collaborative tools and technologies including instant messaging, email, telephony, web conferencing and team-ware to facilitate a dispersed workforce's access to the network and maintain sufficient productivity at the same time.