The Swine Flu: Do you need a separate disaster plan?

Last week I spoke with a reporter who had some questions relating to the H1N1 virus, which I will refer to as the “Swine Flu” from this point forward (the politically incorrect name has more of an appeal to me). The conversation brought up some really interesting points, which I wanted to share.

Basically, the reporter wanted to know whether our customers are worried about being prepared for the Swine Flu, and what we’re advising them to do.

My response, while it seems obvious to me, seemed to surprise her, and I’m finding out that it is definitely not obvious to everyone. Keep in mind that Interphase Systems is an IT services firm, so we focus on architecture, solutions and business continuity/disaster recovery. (I just want you to know where I’m coming from as you continue to read.)

In a nutshell, here was my response: no, we’re not paying special attention to Swine Flu. The reason for this is that any good business continuity plan should already contain components that would help you maintain your business, regardless of the impacting event. In other words, a thorough plan will give a business the tools necessary to mitigate the risks associated with potential power failures, network outages, etc. AND loss of personnel (no matter what the cause). As our friends at Sungard often say, it’s not just the hardware recovery that you need to consider, it’s the people recovery aspect that many companies overlook. An effective Business Continuity Plan (BCP) should have proactive and reactive accommodations for this aspect.

Let me clarify my response further as it relates to the proactive and reactive statement, because this applies to all aspects of the BC plan. If your business is located in the state of Florida, you may institute a proactive policy to failover your datacenter to another location far away from the path of a potential hurricane path. Likewise, if someone in your office is diagnosed with the Swine Flu, you may enact a portion of your BCP to initiate an emergency “work from home” policy. The key is that you have a line of sight into a potential disaster and initiate a response to avoid that disaster. The reactive portion of my statement relates to situations when a disaster is declared, giving you no time to be proactive. This is where disaster recovery is necessary.

Whether you agree or disagree, let me know. I’m interested to see what others are saying as it relates to this topic. Are your customers asking about H1N1?