Rothstein Associates Inc. Business Survival ™ Weblog

A paper which was published in the September issue of the Business Continuity Journal highlighted a significant gap in current pandemic planning guidance. Preparedness For A Flu Pandemic In Europe: Gaps In Advice by Alexandra Conseil and Dr. Richard Coker, of the Department of Public Health Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, presented a gap analysis of European pandemic planning guidance. It concluded, among other things, that post-pandemic recovery planning is an area which almost all pandemic planning guidance has failed to address.

The paper’s authors believe that post-pandemic recovery planning is of vital importance, stating that “There is an urgent need to encourage organizations to prepare for their recovery and this area should be addressed in all organizational guidance.”

The above research leads to a question which was beyond the scope of the paper: has lack of guidance meant that post-pandemic recovery planning is generally being ignored in pandemic plans?

So why is post-pandemic planning important?

1. If pandemic planning focuses solely on the pandemic period, then the organization will be prepared for the well-documented business continuity threats that will be engendered. It will survive. But what of the post-pandemic threats? How long will it take for critical infrastructure to return to business as usual? Will long-term national security be compromised? Will travel be restricted for an extended period? What new legislation and regulations can we anticipate? How will the political risk map change? How will business markets change in the long term? If no thought is given to these areas then the organization’s post-pandemic survival may be very short term.
2. Pragmatically, a key consideration for post-pandemic business continuity is succession planning. Organizations need to take a cold, hard, look at the expected mortality rates and the impact that this could have on staffing levels. How will general staff shortfalls be handled? How will senior management losses be filled? The job-market for experienced staff may become very constricted, with well-qualified people being in much greater demand post-pandemic, as organizations compete to fill mission-critical vacancies. What internal training and progression processes can be put in place now to ensure that critical positions have a better chance of being filled by internal promotion post-pandemic? What knowledge management processes need to be implemented to ensure that critical information is not lost?
3. The aim of business continuity management is to enable an organization to emerge from a period of disruption in as healthy a state as it was prior to the event. This is certainly the case for small-scale day-to-day disruptions. However, when it comes to a major wide-area and long-lasting period of disruption, such as that which would be caused by a pandemic, it can be argued that the ultimate aim of BCM is to enable an organization to emerge in an even more competitive position than it had before the incident. During a pandemic, many businesses will fail. The ones that survive will be able to fill the gaps left by these failed businesses. Therefore, another reason that post-pandemic planning is important is one of competitive advantage: plans need to be in place as to how the organization will capitalize on the situation. Should it prepare acquisition funds NOW to use in a post-pandemic market? Should it put aside cash NOW for expansion projects in a post-pandemic world?

Author: David Honour is editor of Continuity Central. To view the article, click here.

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A Pandemic Preparation and Response Plan should be an essential component of any Business Continuity Management Program.