Planning For Business Continuity

The CDC has released a guide on how businesses should be preparing for a possible outbreak of COVID-19 (commonly referred to as the Coronavirus). While the guide has a lot of great information, we wanted to summarize it and add a few more details that Central Texas businesses should be reviewing now to limit the impact of an outbreak on both employees and operations. If you have any questions about the items listed below, please let us know!

1. Review/update or create your business continuity plan. Examples and guidance can be found here: https://www.ready.gov/business-continuity-plan
2. Review the list of people who have the ability to work remotely.  If your office needs to be closed for 2+ weeks, make sure that everyone who needs remote access has it. Pay special attention to Payroll, AP, and AR roles.
3. Confirm that the people above have recently tested their remote access, especially if it is used infrequently.
4. Publish and review the continuity plan with your employees. A plan that no one else knows about is not helpful.
5. Make a plan for forwarding your published phone numbers from your system. If you are on VoIP, this should be easy.
6. Review and publish an updated contact list with cell or home phone numbers, especially for key staff members.
7. If you have a lot of meetings, ensure that you have a web conferencing tool that can accommodate potential attendees. Ensure that you have cameras and headsets if needed.
8. Provide hand sanitizer stations, hand soap, and plenty of paper towels for your employees. Consider posting instructional material about the proper method and importance of hand hygiene. The CDC has released a lot of great material for this available here: https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/campaign.html
9. Check for frequent updates that could impact your community and employees. Here in Central Texas, some great places to check would be:
   1. Bell County Public Health District
   2. Waco - McLennan County Public Health District
   3. Temple ISD
   4. Belton ISD
   5. Killeen ISD
   6. Waco ISD
10. If your employees don't have laptops but may be expected to work from home, now is the time to consider getting them company-issued laptops.
11. As with any world news, there are already coronavirus phishing messages making the rounds. Be careful (as always) with opening unexpected messages that are designed to elicit an emotional  response.

If you need to talk with a trusted advisor regarding your plans to maintain business continuity, Lighthouse IT is ready to help!