swine flu

Surviving Swine Flu Outbreak with UC

The United States government is warning schools and businesses to be prepared for a Swine Flu epidemic this Fall. VoIP and unified communications can be a critical component of business continuity during an outbreak like Swine Flu.

We got a brief taste of Swine Flu earlier this year, but it wasn’t really flu season in the northern hemisphere so it was sort of a flash in the pan. Even that brief glimpse wreaked havoc and caused panic around the world. Mexico completely shut down to prevent human interaction and contain the virus. Schools throughout the world were shut down to ensure the Swine Flu wouldn’t spread through the student population.

Pharmaceutical companies are hard at work cranking out the vaccine for the Swine Flu, but there may not be enough for everyone so high risk groups will get preference. Besides, you may not want to be at the front of the line for a brand new vaccine that was rushed through development.

The United States government has issued some guidance for how to prepare for and respond to an epidemic outbreak. One suggestion is to cross-train employees on critical functions to ensure that the function will get done. That reminds me of Star Trek: The Next Generation. I always wondered how everyone seemed to know everyone else’s job and be able to jump in at a moment’s notice. It would seem to me that being an engineer of a starship and being a navigator of a starship would be very different roles and that it would be tough to become expert at both. I guess it was in the script though.

Another suggestion in the government guidance is to minimize face-to-face contact. No face-to-face contact means no opportunity for germs to spread. That is where UC comes in. With audio and video conferencing, instant messaging, and VoIP voice service many job functions can be performed from anywhere. Those who think they may be getting sick should stay home and work virtually. If employees start reporting that they are sick, businesses should implement work from home even on a temporary basis to eliminate face-to-face contact and allow business to continue without risking an even larger outbreak among employees.

Make sure your company has a plan in place for how to prevent or respond to an outbreak, and make sure that unified communications is a key component of that plan.

Using Virtual Meetings to Fight Recessions and Pandemics

Companies love to have meetings. In my experience, the bigger the company, the more they like to meet. While working for a Fortune 100 IT services company I once had more than 20 hours of my work week filled with recurring meetings. In other words, more than half of my available time each week was spent meeting about what to do instead of going and doing it.

One of the reasons companies like meetings is that there is an assumption that there is some greater camaraderie or synergy developed from the face to face interaction. Do you know what else is greater in a face to face interaction? Germs. Meetings are typically in enclosed spaces and involve handshaking, sharing documents, and other physical interactions that can result in spreading germs.

Some meetings are just local team meetings, but often customers, vendors, partners, or managers fly in from across the country or around the world to participate in meetings. Those trips incur travel costs, lodging, meals, rental cars, etc. Hopefully some Earth-shattering information is covered at the meeting to justify the costs.

In this time of economic recession and with the emerging threat of the potential pandemic of H1N1 (swine flu), organizations should re-examine the value provided by these face to face meetings. The fact is, the same meeting can be conducted and the same results achieved without the travel or germs. Joe Schurman agrees with this mentality in his recent post Swine Flu + Recession = Microsoft Office Live Meeting.

Preventing a Swine Flu Pandemic with Unified Communications

The swine flu is now suspected to have hit Italy, Spain, Denmark, the United States, Mexico, France, Canada, Israel, Australia, and New Zealand. It has claimed more than 100 lives in Mexico, and there are more than 40 confirmed cases scattered throughout the United States from Texas to Michigan and from California to New York.

With Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano declaring a health emergency in the United States and the World Health Organization (WHO) raising the pandemic alert level to Phase 4, people around the world are concerned.

Unified communications already presents a solid business case for cutting costs and streamlining business processes, but a situation like the current swine flu outbreak makes that case even stronger. When the world is healthy organizations can enjoy the cost savings of conducting voice and video conferences and collaborating online rather than spending money traveling around the world. With a swine flu epidemic threatening to grow into an official pandemic conducting voice and video conferences remotely rather than traveling and meeting face to face becomes a business imperative and a piece of a solid business continuity gameplan.

Minimizing travel and face to face exposure allows organizations to continue to meet with partners and customers, collaborate with coworkers, and conduct business while minimizing or eliminating the risk of exposure to infectious disease like the swine flu.

Save the planet and yourself. Use unified communications.