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 Back to 2005 Press Releases
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Gartner Says Business Continuity and IT Leaders Must Direct Preparations for Impact of Potential Avian Influenza Pandemic on Organisations |
Egham, UK, 19 October, 2005 - Gartner today urged leaders of business continuity programs in organisations to prepare to react quickly and effectively to a potential outbreak of avian influenza, or "bird flu", by reviewing and updating their crisis management and business continuity plans now. Gartner also advised information technology (IT) leaders to ensure that their organisations plan from the boardroom down through basic operations for a possible pandemic whose course and consequences are potentially catastrophic.
"Business continuity and IT leaders are ideally placed to plan for avian flu's threats," said Steve Bittenger, research director at Gartner. "Organisations rely on IT to keep the business running, and they can leverage IT to ensure their business operations continue if travel and transportation restrictions, quarantines or problems with vendors or employees because of illness or fear occur."
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), if an avian flu pandemic breaks out, the scale of infection might be considerably greater than it was with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which infected 8,096 people and killed 774 in 2003. For the most up-to-date information on the avian flu impact, visit the WHO web site at www.who.int.
"Organisations must include the possibility of an avian flu pandemic in their business continuity planning and crisis management preparations to ensure they can react quickly and effectively" said Roberta J. Witty, research vice president at Gartner. "But this is not business continuity planning as usual. It requires a re-think of some of the most basic business processes. Use scenario planning to assess possible business impact, and as the basis for developing appropriate contingency plans for different situations."
A pandemic would not affect IT systems directly, but it could cause considerable economic disruption through its impact on the workforce and on business activity. The 2003 SARS outbreak suggests that a pandemic would effect international and local travel, supply chains, health systems, personnel and schools. It would also have direct economic impact on most industries, but particularly travel, tourism and hospitality.
Gartner recommends organisations perform the following key activities:
- Work with your public health department - demand a plan
- Make your workforce aware of the avian flu threat and the steps your organisation is taking to prepare for it.
- Assess your business continuity preparedness for this type of workforce outage scenario and try to improve it - few to no organization has planned for a 30% absenteeism rate, and sustained over a period of weeks and months, not days.
- Assign someone in your business to track biological threats such as the avian flu. This person should regularly review business continuity plans and update them in response to new information.
- Establish or expand policies and tools that enable employees to work from home with broadband access, appropriate security and network access to applications. Plan for absenteeism rates of 25 to 30 percent.
- Expand online transaction and self-service options for customers and partners.
- Work with customers and partners to minimize any disruption by developing coordinated crisis response capabilities.
- Re-think your approach to just-in-time inventories. If transportation systems are down, it could greatly impact the delivery of an organisation's raw materials.
"We advise these leaders to use experiences from SARS to plan for a potential avian flu outbreak to ensure business continuity," said Dion Wiggins, research vice president at Gartner. "If a pandemic occurs, the spread may be rapid, affecting many industries, economies and regions worldwide - directly and indirectly. This will leave little or no time to prepare contingency plans."
Press Contact:
For more information or to speak to Steve Bittinger, Dion Wiggins and Roberta J. Witty, please contact Bite Communications on Tel: +44 (0)20 8834 3508 or email: gartner@bitepr.com.
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About Gartner:
Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT) is the leading provider of research and analysis on the global information technology industry. Gartner serves more than 9,000 clients, including chief information officers and other senior IT executives in corporations and government agencies, as well as technology companies and the investment community. The Company focuses on delivering objective, in-depth analysis and actionable advice to enable clients to make more informed business and technology decisions. The Company's businesses consist of Research and Events for IT professionals; Gartner Executive Programs, membership programs and peer networking services; and Gartner Consulting, customized engagements with a specific emphasis on outsourcing and IT management. Founded in 1979, Gartner is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, and has more than 3,900 associates, including more than 1,200 research analysts and consultants, in more than 75 countries worldwide. For more information,
visit www.gartner.com.
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