Filed under: Knowledge, software | Tags: business continuity, swine flu, disaster preparation, business disaster, disaster recovery software, business continuity software, Phoenix software, KingsBridge Disaster Recovery, H1N1, swine flu education, business impact analysis, NDM-1, pandemic
Just last week we posted on this blog about the World Health Organization’s announcement about the end of the H1N1 pandemic…. And now just less than a week later, we’re reading about a new possible threat to our health and safety.
That’s right the NDM-1 enzyme which creates an antibiotic bacteria. This superbug can exist within bacteria and the concern is that it can make such bacteria resistant to antibiotics, thereby creating a “medical threat”.
Most often people are contracting this bacteria after visiting Southeast Asian countries for medical travel. That’s right, travelers visiting countries such as India and Pakistan with the purpose of receiving specific medical care are returning to their home countries having contracted this drug-resistant bacteria. This, medical officials are warning could result in the next pandemic.
So what does this mean for you? What did you learn from the H1N1 pandemic?
- Did you develop a business continuity plan?
- Did you do a review with your staff to determine what worked and didn’t?
- Have you developed a disaster recovery plan?
- Have you done your due diligence and researched the impacts of a subsequent pandemic on your business?
- Have you done a threat risk analysis and business impact analysis?
Are you responding accordingly to this new possible global medical threat or are you going to “sit back and wait”?
The really only smart choice is to react now. Remember that in times of crisis and disaster, it will be much too late to start developing a business continuity and disaster recovery plan. Take the time now to do a Threat Risk Analysis and Business Impact Analysis. Identify what the threats are to your business and move forward. Develop a plan, test the plan, refine the plan, and be confident that your business is protected and ready in the event that this does turn into the next pandemic.
Really, to be completely blunt about this, you’d be foolish not to do something. With all the information there is now about impending threats and disasters, you’re not going to get much sympathy when at your shareholders meeting, you say “Well, we just didn’t know. We didn’t think it would end up ruining our business supply chain and result in such a huge loss.”
So think about who you want to be, the businessman who can tell his shareholders that his company was protected and was able to respond to the NDM-1 outbreak and it was business as usual or the businessman who has to tell his shareholders that he ignored the warning signs, resulting in a massive financial loss and bankruptcy.
That business continuity and disaster recovery plan does more than protect your business – it protects you.
About KingsBridge
KingsBridge is a Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity company specializing in Software, Seminars and Consulting. If you are looking for a Microsoft Office integrated recovery planning tool, Phoenix is not only an excellent tool, but the only completely integrated planning tool. Our seminars (online and in-house) are some of the longest running seminars in the recovery business. KingsBridge uses turn-key consulting for those who need the plan done, right the first time. For more information about KingsBridge, checkout www.disasterrecovery.com
Filed under: Knowledge | Tags: business continuity, swine flu, disaster preparation, business disaster, business, disaster recovery software, business continuity software, Phoenix software, KingsBridge Disaster Recovery, H1N1, swine flu education, business impact analysis
Way back on November 9, 2009, we first wrote about the H1N1 flu virus. What at first appeared to just be another in the typical “winter flu” phase, quickly turned out to be much more than that. Seemingly overnight, we went from flu epidemic to flu pandemic.
Cue the panic. Cue the stress. Cue the chaos.
No one was prepared. The international health bodies weren’t prepared. Business wasn’t prepared. School boards weren’t ready. The general public was either consumed with hysteria or sticking its collective head in the sand pretending that H1N1 wasn’t an issue.
Really we should be very relieved that we all came out of this pandemic as well as we did. And just to reinforce how well we did survive this pandemic, the World Health Organization announced on Tuesday August 10 that the H1N1 flu pandemic was officially over.
But this doesn’t mean that you can forget about this pesky flu bug. Rather, this is the perfect opportunity to pay extra attention to what worked and what didn’t work during this tense and stressful period. We should all take this experience with H1N1 as a learning opportunity and use it to be prepared for the next pandemic or equally serious threat or disaster.
In an article in the Vancouver Sun on Tuesday August 10, Dr. Kumanan Wilson, the Canada research chair in public health policy at the University of Ottawa, said “we need to be prepared to shift rather quickly our seasonal flu programs to reflect this new reality. It’s a new disease. It’s not the same disease as we’ve been treating. It’s a disease that affects a different population with a different mortality rate.”
All this to say, that what worked in the past, won’t necessarily work in the future. Just because your company survived the recent pandemic with little to no interruption to your business processes, doesn’t mean that this will always be the case. Take a look at your business continuity and disaster recovery plans, did they include:
- Emergency contact information
- Work from home options
- Details on the nearest hospitals and clinics
In addition, did you take a proactive approach for your employees and look into vaccinating staff against this disease? As we all know, the ad-hoc vaccination clinics set up through-out North America were not that effective in vaccinating people. How many work hours did your company loose to employees spending up to six hours waiting at their local clinic for the vaccine?
If you’re still thinking of brushing off the H1N1 pandemic as a bit of hysteria on the part of the governing international health bodies, consider this statement from WHO director-general Dr. Margaret Chan, “pure good luck” helped prevent H1N1 from morphing into the killer first feared last year. The virus did not mutate during the pandemic to a more lethal form. Widespread resistance to oseltamivir (Tamiflu) did not develop. The vaccine proved to be a good match with the circulating viruses and showed an excellent safety profile.” She added that the international community support ensured that countries with weaker healthcare systems were able to detect and report cases quickly.
“Had things gone wrong in any of these areas, we would be in a very different situation today.”
So, a few things to think about when looking at your current business continuity and disaster recovery plans. Just because your business survived this recent pandemic, will you be prepared in the event of another such pandemic? There is no time like the present to update your plans – or if you don’t have a plan – to do a complete threat risk analysis and business impact analysis and make sure your company is ready with well-defined and practical business continuity and disaster recovery plan.
About KingsBridge
KingsBridge is a Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity company specializing in Software, Seminars and Consulting. If you are looking for a Microsoft Office integrated recovery planning tool, Phoenix is not only an excellent tool, but the only completely integrated planning tool. Our seminars (online and in-house) are some of the longest running seminars in the recovery business. KingsBridge uses turn-key consulting for those who need the plan done, right the first time. For more information about KingsBridge, checkout www.disasterrecovery.com
Filed under: Knowledge, software | Tags: business, business continuity, business continuity software, business disaster, business impact analysis, Continuity of Operations, COOP, disaster preparation, disaster recovery software, KingsBridge Disaster Recovery, swine flu education
Like any niche business, this one of Disaster Recovery Planning and Business Continuity Planning has its own jargon and terminology. Often for people new to thinking about and considering how their company can be best protected in the event of a disaster, this jargon becomes overwhelming.
So to help clear the air and keep things simple, lets review some of the key terms of our industry – hopefully making it easier for you to discuss Disaster Recovery Planning and Business Continuity Planning with your colleagues.
Disaster Recovery Planning (DRP): refers to the recovery of IT services following a major hit or service interruption.
Business Recovery Planning (BRP): a superset of DRP and refers to the recovery of IT and all other aspects of the business. This includes everything from finance to administration to engineering to manufacturing.
Business Continuity Planning (BCP): includes BRP and highlights vulnerabilities that might cause losses to your business and plans for the continued conduct of your business. These vulnerabilities can include things such as poor security procedures following a disaster or the lack of effective backup procedures.
Emergency Response Planning (ERP): includes all aspects of DRP, BRP, and BCP but adds evacuation planning, medical aid, and security issues.
Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP): refers to the preparations and institutions maintained by the United States government to ensure survival of federal government operations in the case of a catastrophic event.
This is a brief primer of some of the key terminology that is integral to understanding how you need to prepare your business in the event of a disaster. By clearly understanding this basic terminology, you are ready to take the next step and start considering how to best approach protecting your business.
About KingsBridge
KingsBridge offers private businesses and government organizations a unique combination of industry knowledge and cost-effective disaster recovery / business continuity solutions. KingsBridge products and seminars provide the tools to assess possible threats and create tailored plans which mitigate risks and minimize losses in the event of a disruption to business. Kingsbridge is headquartered in Ogdensburg, New York, with offices in Ottawa, Canada and Burlington, Vermont. For more information visit us at www.DisasterRecovery.com.
Filed under: Knowledge, software | Tags: business continuity, business continuity software, business disaster, business impact analysis, Continuity of Operations, disaster preparation, disaster recovery, disaster recovery software, KingsBridge Disaster Recovery, swine flu education
Is the sky falling? Or are we over sensitive?
June 23rd 2010 is a date that for some will remain an important day, but for most of us, it was just another day. On this day, there was a 5.0 magnitude earthquake in the North East of North America. If you live in an area that experiences these types of tremors on a regular basis, you’re probably giggling at the near hysterical response that did occur… If you live in the North East, you experienced a one in 500 year phenomena!
How does this relate to Business Continuity?
Was this an incident? Yes.
Or was it a disaster? Hardly.
Ottawa, the largest city in the center of the earthquake, suffered slight damage with some windows breaking and cracks in the foundation of some buildings. So, this would definitely class itself as an incident, not a disaster. However, the response from many of the residents and businesses was one of major catastrophe. Most building evacuated in downtown Ottawa, which is against the established steps of “Stop, drop, hold”:
If you are indoors: “DROP, COVER, HOLD”
▪ Stay inside.
▪ Drop under heavy furniture such as a table, desk, bed or any solid furniture.
▪ Cover your head and torso to prevent being hit by falling objects.
▪ Hold onto the object that you are under so that you remain covered.
How does this impact my Emergency Response Planning (Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery or COOP)?
All incidents are a chance to take and learn lessons – this is no different.
“Should we have an earthquake response in our plan?” This depends on the likelihood of another one coming. When you did your Threat Risk Analysis (TRA) you most likely looked at the statistics and considered the likelihood of an earthquake in your region. In the North East at least, the odds of having another earthquake of similar magnitude is less than 2% and according to Scientist John Adams, of the Geological Survey of Canada the earthquake would have to be at least 10 times stronger before any damage would occur to buildings, thus dropping the likelihood to almost zero.
So, to answer the above question of adding similar incidents to your response plans, if you live somewhere that has regular incidents (snow storms, flooding, wild fires, power failures), then yes add these to your response plan. If such occurrences are a one in 500 year incident, survive it, learn from it and be better prepared to ensure it remains an incident and doesn’t turn into a disaster.
About KingsBridge
KingsBridge offers private businesses and government organizations a unique combination of industry knowledge and cost-effective disaster recovery / business continuity solutions. KingsBridge products and seminars provide the tools to assess possible threats and create tailored plans which mitigate risks and minimize losses in the event of a disruption to business. Kingsbridge is headquartered in Ogdensburg, New York, with offices in Ottawa, Canada and Burlington, Vermont. For more information visit us at www.DisasterRecovery.com.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: business, business continuity, business continuity software, business disaster, business impact analysis, Continuity of Operations, disaster preparation, KingsBridge Disaster Recovery, Phoenix online, Phoenix software, Saas, software, swine flu education
In addition to an online Threat Risk and Business Impact Analysis tool, we are working on a repository for your Phoenix generated plans online!! Side Note: We have been asked for a hosted planning tool for several years, but due to technical restrictions with the internet and Microsoft, we aren’t able to integrate Microsoft Office with an online tool. To date, our customers (you) have told us they would rather have the ability to edit in Microsoft Word, than have a hosted solution. But we have also been asked to make the plans available online (once they are completed) and we have responded. Currently this feature is in Beta, if you would like to have an input on how it works, please let us know and we’ll be in touch. We are very excited about this new feature as it will make accessing your plan anywhere that much easier and faster.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: business, business continuity, business continuity software, business disaster, Continuity of Operations, COOP, KingsBridge Disaster Recovery, Movember, Phoenix software, swine flu, swine flu education
What is it?
The CDC announced in April 2009 a new influenza called 2009 H1N1, Swine Flu. Why is it called “Swine Flu”? Lab test show that the virus is very similar to influenza that is normally found in pigs in North America.
So far, 6250 people worldwide have died from H1N1. Of that, 4175 have been from the United States. Because of the rapid spread, countries like Sweden have started selling Tamiflu without a prescription.
The World Health Organization has been monitoring the spread of the virus and has seen the spread affect over 200 countries and territories.
How do you get it?
People infected with the virus can spread the virus by touching their nose and mouth and touching other surfaces. Also, infected persons coughing or sneezing in public can spread the virus.
Because the virus is highly contagious, if you suspect that you have the virus, you should seek immediate attention from your physician. Also avoiding contact with others will reduce the ability of transporting the virus.
Although all cases do not carry the same severity, most cases do not require medications to treat, but in those severe cases, patients have been prone to develop pneumonia.
Symptoms:
- Fever – particularly a fever of over 100 degrees
- Sore throat
- Cough
- Chills and fatigue
- Body aches
- Headache
- Occasionally, vomiting and diarrhea
- Trouble breathing, including rapid breathing.
- Gray or bluish skin color
- Not drinking enough fluids
- Sleeping constantly and not interacting when awake
- Being especially irritable
- Not urinating or no tears when crying
- The symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough
How do you protect yourself???
- Stay home when you’re sick or have influenza symptoms.
- Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
- Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezing
- Washing your hands often will help protect you from illness.
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth
How do you handle employees with it??
Large employers like CitiGroup and Goldman Sachs have acquired vaccine for their employees to help cut down on the spread. Although this may not be possible in all cases, employers should consider developing a corporate policy regarding work areas and staff affected by the virus.
Thing to consider:
- Publish information regarding H1N1
- Provide contact information for local health departments
- Provide anti-bacterial hand wash in common areas
- Require employees to keep workstations clean.
- Common areas should also be wiped with greater frequency
KingsBridge is a Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity company specializing in Software, Seminars and Consulting. If you are looking for a Microsoft Office integrated recovery planning tool, Phoenix is not only an excellent tool, but the only completely integrated planning tool. Our seminars (online and in-house) are some of the longest running seminars in the recovery business. KingsBridge uses turn-key consulting for those who need the plan done, right the first time. For more information about KingsBridge, checkout www.disasterrecovery.com
