Coronavirus fears fuel increase in remote working

IT departments need to be flexible in how they manage changing conditions to keep their business humming if the outbreak continues to spread.

As the Australian government continues to put more stringent precautionary measures in place to curb the spread of Novel coronavirus (COVID-19), businesses are faced with the reality of having to restrict or ban travel, cancel events, support a remote workforce and potentially close their offices.

IT departments need to be flexible in how they manage changing conditions to keep their business humming if the outbreak continues to spread.

How prepared is your business to respond if conditions worsen? What’s in your collaboration toolbox to keep employees healthy and productive as they’re encouraged to work remotely?

Prepare for business disruption

A pandemic isn’t your usual business disruption. The uncertain time frame of outbreaks means organisations need to arrange short and long term plans for ensuring continuity of operations by protecting employee health, understanding the impact on the supply chain including all IT service providers and vendors, and planning for remote working.

Such a dynamic situation, which could span months, has the potential to be as or more disruptive to an organisation’s continuity of operations as a cyber intrusion or natural disaster.

Gartner considers a pandemic to be an operational risk that must be managed at the highest levels of the organisation because it cuts across every department and location in which it operates.

Proper planning helps minimise the impact on staff, service delivery and IT infrastructure. It can protect corporate reputation and reduce financial impact, as well as enable the organisation to return to a new normal as soon as it can.

One way that coronavirus will manifest in operations is in a major increase in temporary absenteeism and remote work. According to public health organisations, a pandemic can result in a possible staff absenteeism exceeding 40 per cent for extended and sequential periods.

This will be the result of potential quarantines, travel restrictions, school closures and employees staying home to care for sick family members or just being afraid to be in a group setting. Understand what that means for your business operations and be prepared to make some hard decisions, if needed.

Plan for remote workers

Most organisations already have at least some existing remote workers, whether sanctioned officially or allowed by informal arrangements. Determine what work lends itself to a remote model by analysing responsibilities, tasks and the roles that can fulfil them.

Remote work can be equally novel — and unsettling — for employees, managers and the organisation at large.

Effective remote work programs require more than just giving employees smartphones, laptops and email access, and then allowing them to work from home. These programs can be undermined by a lack of trust, when managers aren’t equipped to deal with employees they can’t see.

Establish a foundation of trust by empowering both employees and managers to be effective in remote work scenarios. Set accurate expectations, enable supportive interactions and arm them with collaboration and meeting solutions to keep them engaged as much as possible.

IT infrastructure is key to the effective performance of these workers. The specific elements will depend on the type of work for a given role, but much of the focus will be on ensuring applications and platforms allow employees to connect remotely and work efficiently. It’s important to stress-test existing IT infrastructure to ensure it can scale to support remote work.

Decisions must account for training, support and levels of service, so employees are enabled to work well from multiple disparate locations. Consider if your business has minimum home office requirements, such as having a room or space dedicated for work. Or if there’s a minimum internet speed they need to procure and who will pay for internet access.

Other tools that can help you establish command and control over a pandemic:

• Crisis management platforms manage the overall response to a crisis event.
• Emergency/mass notification services send messages to employees when they’re not in the traditional workplace.
• Travel risk management services provide up-to-date pandemic travel advisories for employees still travelling for work.
• BCM program software helps prioritise business operations and associated resources including facilities, the workforce, IT and suppliers/third parties.

 Be prepared to respond

While coronavirus will lead to uncertain disruptions, having short and long term plans for responding if and when required, your organisation will be in a far better position to ensure continuity of operations.

As an IT leader, you need to take the lead in helping managers and other stakeholders overcome their fears of implementing a remote work program.

Roberta Witty is a VP analyst at Gartner, in the security and risk management group. Her primary area of focus is business continuity management.