“Like a former, shadowy and formidable enemy, the novel coronavirus has taken on the previous role of the avian flu, which sparked so many disaster recovery and business continuity of operations (DR/BC) scenarios more than a decade ago…”
“Media coverage regarding business continuity for CIOs in the face of this new disease has been scant so far, behind the scenes these information leaders worldwide ignore the implications at their peril. Even without such depths of human losses as occurred in 1918 and 1919, significant business disruption is already occurring. In the U.S. airline travel restrictions are in place; businesses are suspending employee travel; conferences, concerts and similar crowd events are being postponed; schools are considering closure and even religious gathering and liturgy are under review.”
“While DR/BC plans have needed implementing over the last two decades, they has been exclusively local or perhaps regional, primarily weather- or natural disaster-related. A pandemic calling for nationwide DR/BC would be unprecedented.”
“Nevertheless, when a governor, mayor or even president asks their CIOs if they are comfortable with their DR/DC plans if your central state capitol or federal office campus is closed to employees for weeks or even months, what will your answer be?” Read the full article here.
Source: Are government CIOs prepared for a pandemic? – By John Thomas Flynn, March 2, 2020. Federal News Network.
