Productivity Enhancement Solutions

The possibility of a widespread flu outbreak is prompting companies to think about business continuity & how options such as teleworking or telecommuting may become a necessity. Other unexpected events such as terrorism natural disasters including ice storms & even a transit strike or severed cable can similarly affect your ability to do business for a short or long period.

An emergency such as a pandemic can have three main effects on your operations Loss of workplace loss of technology or access to technology & loss of staff. All of these can have a long-term impact on your business particularly if it already weakened by the economic downturn. Business continuity planning BCP aims to keep your staff connected secure & protected during a disaster.

The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 2001 emphasized the importance of BCP that includes both human resources & infrastructure. In its advice on pandemic preparedness the government of Canada notes that lessons learned from Sept. 11 include anticipating the loss of key personnel analyzing dependencies & interdependencies & the importance of telecommunications.

Issues specific to a pandemic that may affect your operations include * Reduced frequency of face-to-face meetings * Reduced or eliminated business travel * Government imposed quarantines and/or self-imposed quarantines * Increased or reduced customer demand * Varying levels of absenteeism over many months as a pandemic occurs in waves Additional absenteeism for child care because of closed schools or caring for ill family members Teleworking can reduce the impact of all these scenarios avoiding reduced productivity lost revenue & damage to relationships with customers & other stakeholders. Depending on the scenario telework locations can include your satellite locations clients’ facilities employees’ homes or public or private sites such as cafes hotels & municipal facilities.

A report by the Information Technology Association of Canada ITAC exploring teleworking as a business continutity strategy states that organizations that have remote work policies in place fare better in an emergency situation. “Their teleworkers already know how to gain access to corporate systems remotely are more adept at handling technology & connection problems on their own & are able to work more successfully unsupervised.” ITAC points out that geographic dispersal of staff achieved by teleworking also protects them in the face of a disaster.

Infrastructure is not enough

In many cases organizations have much of the infrastructure for teleworking in place. Employees are now much more open to the idea of teleworking than even five years ago & many workers are already mobile. Some organizations already use audio & video conferencing to connect geographically separate workgroups. All of this makes teleworking a natural business continuity strategy for many organizations. It does not however mean they are ready to cope with a disaster tomorrow.

Two key pieces are essential to be ready to put a teleworking infrastructure into action in an emergency a formal policy & frequent testing.

Don’t fall into the trap of putting the infrastructure in place without establishing structure for the users. Formal policies & procedures allow employees to operate independently & confidently even if key players are unavailable.

Even formal procedures won’t assure success without frequent testing of both infrastructure & culture or human-resources structure. Now is the time to begin testing your teleworking procedures with the people who will actually be using them.

ITAC recommends that your BCP identifies telework-ready employees & logs their capabilities contact information & equipment. Reorganizing work processes now to facilitate electronic communication & eliminate paper-based processes provides useful flexibility & cost savings in ordinary times that could prove invaluable in the case of an emergency.

This brings up the economies of a teleworking solution for business continuity. ITAC estimates the annual per-seat costs of a dedicated hot-site for business continuity at $15,000 to $20,000 compared to $300 to $2,200 per seat for a telework solution. As we have discussed here before using teleworking solutions on a day-to-day basis also garners other benefits in cost productivity flexibility environmental impact & employee satisfaction.

The right teleworking solution

Obviously none of this can work if you don’t have the infrastructure in place. In an emergency employees need secure remote access to data computer applications & network & phone services with sufficient capacity to do their jobs & maintain seamless communications with their own team other departments customers & other stakeholders.

Key components to consider in a virtual workplace solution include:

Security Security is always critical for virtual workers. During a pandemic network security & data security become even more important.

Collaboration & social networking tools It will be vitally important to have the right collaboration & social networking tools in place to ensure co-workers can communicate during a pandemic. Sharing information through blogs & wikis for example can be invaluable.

Mobility tools These tools ensure your team can continue to prospect & interact with customers while remaining connected to your organization.

Project management A formal telework policy establishes a culture in which telework is accepted & includes frequent testing of both technical & human resources.

There are a range of solutions available to keep your employees connected secure & productive during a pandemic or disaster. Work with a partner that understands technology process & culture. Click here to evaluate & learn more about options for meeting your organization’s specific business continuity needs. http://www.virtualworkplace.allstream.com

Allstream is leader in the evolution of business & workforce continuity solutions. Learn more at Allstream?s Virtual Workplace Software & Teleworking Solutions resource portal.