06 May 2009

Up-to-date disaster recovery essential for swine flu

Firms should ensure they have up-to-date disaster recovery programmes in place in light of the swine flu situation.

A column in the Economist says many business continuity plans are based around a short-term disaster, such as a hurricane, which is fairly straightforward.

However, many companies will not have sufficient preparations for the fallout from the potential pandemic.

The weekly newspaper said that the lack of staff may be the main issue, adding: "Britain's official pandemic plan, for instance, assumes that almost half of employees will take up to two weeks off work."

Another potential issue is that if too many people work from home broadband and telephone connections may be strained.

Productivity may also be affected, as many employees say they work less at home due to getting distracted, the source states.

Richard Coker, a professor of public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, says swine flu could be "enormously challenging" for Britain.

Continuitycentral.com states people should assess the reliability of their wide area networks to ensure their disaster recovery programme will work.