Hartford Business Journal

22 Hartford Business Journal • May 18, 2020 • www.HartfordBusiness.com OPINION & COMMENTARY Greg Bordonaro, Editor EXPERTS CORNER Now is still a great time to make a business continuity plan By Andrew Tyler A s we begin the slow return to something resembling normal life over the next few months, there's an opportunity to plan for the next disaster while this one is fresh in our minds. The value of this perspective can't be emphasized enough — one of the biggest challenges of making a disaster response or business continuity plan is to imagine in detail how business opera- tions would be affected. Currently, we don't have to imagine. What makes a good plan There are many different types of disasters — weather events, cyber attacks, pandemics — but all good business continuity plans have certain things in common. The first is a high level of detail. As you likely just experienced, busi- ness interruptions are very stressful and you don't want to be making business-critical decisions under an extreme stress load. The more your plan can lay out clear actions for dif- ferent eventualities, the better. In fact, your plan should be so easy to understand that it can be executed by multiple people in your organization. As a thought experi- ment, take individuals who led your company in adapting to COVID-19 and imagine that they are unavail- able. Can the rest of your team implement the plan without them? One factor that is critical is com- munication. How will your team communicate in the event of a disaster? Your method of communi- cation needs to be simple and verifi- able. You don't want the message to go out to start the execution of the business continuity plan, and only three out of the five people who need to see it receive the message. Assess the unique priorities of your business Make a list of everything that is essential to your operations. Who are the key people and which pro- cesses rely on them? What technol- ogy do you need to function? Once you have a complete list, pri- oritize it. What is the very first thing that should be addressed next time a business interruption occurs? Be sure to include any partner organizations that would provide support during a disaster, but only those with whom you have a contract. If they're going to be part of your plan, you have to be certain you can count on them. Also con- sider your legal obligations, both in terms of your business, but also compliance or other requirements. Practice and update You can't expect to execute your plan effectively if you don't prac- tice. Live testing — in which key systems or sites are simulated to be down — is ideal. Tabletop test- ing, in which scenarios are talked through, works too. Just as you'll document what worked and what didn't in your response to the current pandemic, note issues with your plan dur- ing practice sessions and adjust it accordingly. Every company has strategic planning sessions. Make business continuity planning ses- sions just as routine. You can't predict the future, and that's OK Few saw this pandemic coming. It may feel futile to try to plan for the next disaster without knowing what it will be, but companies that had a business continuity plan of some kind heading into 2020 were in a much stronger position than those that didn't. Andrew Tyler is a senior consulting engineer at Glastonbury IT consulting firm Kelser Corp. Andrew Tyler EDITOR'S TAKE Here's why I don't plan to return to the office anytime soon A t the beginning of April I was ready to go back to the office. Handling both child care and work has been a challenge, but more impor- tantly I think in-person collaboration and socialization adds to a company's creativity and dynamics — even if you can't put an exact value on it. But as Connecticut prepares to partially reopen the economy May 20, I won't be racing back to the office. In fact, I may not return to office life full time until September, and I sus- pect many other office expats who have successfully adapted to a full-time, work-from-home environment will do the same. Here's why. First and foremost, an invisible public health threat still re- mains, even if hospitalizations are declining in the state. My main concern isn't getting the disease myself — though I'd prefer to avoid it — but rather passing it on to people I know who are likely to be much more vulner- able to the virus. Every company in the state will need to weigh the risks of exposing workers and customers to coronavirus with the benefits of reopening for business. It's not an easy call, especially for businesses that require in- person interactions — restaurants, tourist attractions, manufacturers, etc. We are also heading back to a workplace where social interactions will actually be frowned upon, undermining the value of the office environment's purpose. For example, under the office guidelines recently published by the Lamont administration, workstations should be at least six feet apart, while employ- ees must wear face masks unless they are in a private office or walled cubicle. Employee start and stop times and breaks should be staggered, while of- fices should be limited to 50% capacity. Boardrooms are no longer ideation factories since social gatherings must be limited to five people or less. That means some office workers will still have to attend in-office meetings virtually. It's also likely that shared amenities — like the office coffee machine — will be unavailable. And then there's the uncertainty of testing, contact tracing and medical privacy. All the sudden the comforts of your own home seem a lot more amenable, especially since videoconferencing provides a workable substitution to in- person meetings. Also, one of the attractions of working in downtown Hartford, where HBJ's office is located, is being able to walk the streets and bump into some- one you know or attend an in-person meeting or event on the fly. Those are no longer attractions or options during the days of coronavirus. To be clear, I'm not complaining about the new guidelines handed down by Gov. Ned Lamont's Reopen Connecticut Advisory Committee, although there certainly should have been more transparency in how they came together. These precautions and more should be taken by employers to safeguard their workers' health. I'm also not suggesting Connecticut is opening up its economy too soon. Businesses at one point or another will likely need to reopen while coronavirus remains a threat, since it could take a year or longer before a vaccine is readily available to the public. What I am saying is the decision to reopen and go back to work is a dif- ficult one, and employers must be flexible and patient with workers as we continue to navigate the threats of COVID-19. Companies that can continue to operate remotely should do so. If we can all maintain social distance through the summer, hopefully we can tame the virus and get back to a true normal this fall. Stay safe and smart.

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