Develop a COVID-19 Pandemic Response Plan

• IT departments are being asked to rapidly ramp up work-from-home capabilities and other business process workarounds.
• Crisis managers are experiencing a pandemic more severe than what they’ve managed in the past.
• Organizations are scrambling to determine how they can keep their businesses running through this pandemic.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

• Obstacles to working from home go beyond internet speed and needing a laptop. Business input is critical to uncover unexpected obstacles.
• IT needs to address a range of issues from security risk to increased service desk demand from users who don’t normally work from home.
• Resist the temptation to bypass IT processes – your future-self will thank you for tracking all those assets about to go out the door.

Impact and Result

• Start with crisis management fundamentals – identify crisis management roles and exercise appropriate crisis communication.
• Prioritize business processes and work-from-home requirements. Not everyone can be set up on day one.
• Don’t over-complicate your work-from-home deployment plan. A simple spreadsheet (see the Work-from-Home Requirements Tool) to track requirements can be very effective.