Are you prepared for an outbreak?
It seems that every year we have something that threatens to take out the human race. This year it's the coronavirus.
Now, I'm not downplaying the virus, but I want you to understand this applies to any event like this. It could be something like a hurricane, a flood, a fire, or even a union strike.
If you're a business owner, you need to prepare. If you're an employee, you need to ask and make sure the company is prepared. You're livelihood depends on it.
So what would happen?
Let's start with your workforce. Can you survive if 1/4 or 1/2 of your employees are out sick?
It depends on what kind of business you are. If your business is a contractor, a plumber, an electrician, or any other business where you workforce is out in the field, you're not going to be able to perform as much work, if any.
What about distribution, retail, warehouse? In my circle, all I hear about is remote work this and remote work that. In their world, that works. In my world, I see companies that have employees that have to be in certain physical locations to function. You can't build a building remotely. The concrete work, plumbing, electrical, HVAC, framing, drywall, painting, etc. cannot be done remotely. You can't ship things remotely. Remember, even Amazon has to either have automation or people for packing and shipping, but they still rely on humans for delivery.
However, even in those businesses there are some people who could work remotely. Maybe your business has multiple locations and not all of the locations are affected.
As business owners, you need to come up with a business continuity plan to plan for these disasters. Without a plan, you will certainly fail. This plan has to include your IT, whether it is in-house IT or outsourced IT. You can't just spring it on them at the last minute.
That brings me to another point. IT needs to be included in your executive meetings. You may not believe it, but IT is always thinking of ways to improve your business. However, it may seem like they aren't when you're both not on the same page. IT might be thinking the business is going one way and trying to prepare for that, but you are taking the business a different way. Get them involved. Make sure you are on the same page.
I can't stress this enough. Don't take disasters likely. I remember after the mass evacuation of Houston and the surrounding area for Hurricane Rita. It took, what seemed like weeks, but might have been a few days, to get going again. It was a catch 22. Businesses couldn't open because they depended on hourly employees, the hourly employees weren't coming back because they didn't have a job. It was a mess. Be prepared.