WFH

The Corona Virus presents a number of challenges, not least being the fact it is spread through being in close proximity to other people. This means that many businesses are implementing working from home policies, however there are other things to bear in mind. This is exactly when your organisations business continuity plans should be put into action.

 This should consider a number of the points below:

 Internal communications to staff. 

How are communications internally to be handled, and by whom?

• A single point of reference for updates to your staff.
• A single point of reference for questions they may raise.

External communications to suppliers, and customers.  

How are communications to be handled, and by whom – and most importantly, what needs to be communicated.

• Is your supply chain impacted?
• Do your suppliers have policies you need to be aware of?
• Will this have a knock-on effect for your customers?
• Do your customers have policies you need to be aware of?

Training for your staff. 

How do you ensure that all staff have everything they need to work successfully, securely, and productively from home? 

• Use of remote working hardware and/or software.
• Remote access
• Remote collaboration
• Home working health and safety practices
• Data Security and Data Protection

Infrastructure. 

Do you have sufficient network bandwidth capacity and licensing of software, do your systems (either cloud, or on-premise) have the capability to support sudden increases in numbers of users? Do you need mechanisms to prioritise some key workers access, if required – do different departments have different remote access requirements?

• Do you have suitable hardware / software to support your staff working remotely?
• How will your telephone systems work?
• Will you have staff available to ship/receive goods?
• How will customers / visitors be handled

 Business continuity plans are created for a reason, and times such as now are one of those reasons. Use this time as a test, of your plans, refine and improve your plans where you can, there will be valuable lessons to be learned, and improvements that can be made to your security, and working flexibility.