Swine Flu Business Contingency Planning

The Swine Pandemic that is sweeping North America has businesses big and small launching their Business Contingency Plans. These include:

- Employees equipped and able to work from home
- Distribution of employees cell phone number and alternate contact numbers
- reconnecting with customers and vendors to ensure there is not a disruption to their business that might impact your business

For those businesses that survived SARS, you may have a plan already in place.

There was an interesting article on CNN today outlining how some large companies are mobilizing their business contingency plans.


Companies plan for possible swine flu pandemic

Following the outbreaks of SARS and Avian Flu earlier this decade, Sprint Nextel has taken the threat of a global flu pandemic very seriously. And in 2005, the company created a special group within its Emergency Incident Management team to plan what to do in such an emergency.


Passengers wear protective masks as they arrive Wednesday at Los Angeles International Airport.

Late last week, when the World Health Organization started alerting the international community to the threat of the swine influenza that originated in Mexico, Sprint's four years of planning came into action and Sprint has been working through its checklist of actions.

On Friday, it started posting information and updates on its internal Web site for employees. And by Monday, when the virus had started showing up in dozens of cases in the U.S., the company restricted travel to Mexico.

It also asked any employees going to El Paso, Texas, or anywhere else near the Mexican border to notify the company. But Sprint, which has only one call center in Mexico, has not closed any facilities yet.

By Wednesday, when the World Health Organization raised its pandemic alert to level 5, which is the second-highest level of alert that indicates a swine flu pandemic is imminent, Sprint started considering more drastic actions from its check list.

While it's still unclear exactly how severe or deadly the swine flu will be or even how devastating it will be the global economy, U.S. and International health officials are taking the threat very seriously. And as a result, so are many companies.

But the level of preparedness varies greatly among companies. And experts say that it's important for companies to take action now rather than wait until a full pandemic.

Research firm Gartner has been advising its clients to prepare as quickly as they can for the worst case scenario. For companies like Sprint that already have plans in place, the firm is advising clients to call their vendors to make sure that they are also prepared to do business during the outbreak and to test any remote communications contingency plans already in place. For those without a formal plan, Ken McGee, a vice president and research fellow at Gartner, suggests they get one as soon as possible.

"As the World Health Organization moves from a phase 4 alert to a phase 5 alert, which goes beyond the level achieved by both the Avian and SARS outbreaks, the likelihood of a major pandemic is almost certain, " he said. "And it's very important for companies to have a pandemic contingency plan in place. That said, this is a time not for panic, but for straight talk and preparation."

Sprint Nextel is not the only large company to have developed a flu pandemic contingency plan. Several large technology companies, including Microsoft, General Electric, IBM, and Dell already have plans in place.

At least initially many companies are focusing on keeping employees healthy by restricting travel and encouraging workers in affected areas to work from home. But as the threat level rises, so will their reactions to situation. For example, Sprint is now considering whether to sanitize call centers and offices in regions where the virus has been identified or whether it should eliminate face-to-face meetings with employees who are living in regions where the swine flu has already shown up.

"With the alert level rising, we are having a lot of conference calls to decide what to do," said Crystal Davis, a Sprint spokeswoman and a member of Sprint's Emergency Incident Management team.

Microsoft has also activated its incident management team, which responds to various types of diseases, natural disasters and other emergencies.

"We're following the guidance from the Mexican government as far as our offices and employees," said Microsoft spokesman Kevin Kutz. "We are strongly encouraging everyone to work from home. The Mexico City office is open, but we are asking folks only to go in if it is absolutely necessary."

Global conglomerate GE has already decided to restrict employees to essential travel only to Mexico and it has updated its existing contingency plans to deal with a potentially larger impact from the swine flu, according to a representative.

Following the bird flu and SARS diseases earlier this decade, IBM in 2006 started including pandemics as part of its disaster contingency planning. The company has done an assessment of how many employees can work at home and what skills they have in the case some employees get sick. Outside of Mexico, though, IBM has not put any measures in place in response to the swine flu.

Cisco Systems, which also has offices in Mexico City, says it has not closed its office there. So far, no Cisco employees have been affected by the swine flu, but the company has decided to implement a range of precautionary measures. For example, it has restricted nonessential travel to, from and within Mexico. And since many schools in Mexico City are closed, it's allowing employees to work from home.

While most companies say they are monitoring the situation and providing employees with information about how to minimize risk of infection and what symptoms to look for, not all of them said they were restricting travel or making other major plans to deal with the situation.

Japanese electronics giant Sony has operations in the Mexican cities of Laredo, Mexicali, and Tijuana. The company is not restricting employee travel, but is "closely monitoring the situation at all of our facilities," a Sony representative said.

PC maker Dell, based right outside Austin, is also not asking employees to change any travel plans or temporarily closing any offices right now. Company spokesman David Frink said Dell does have a pandemic flu plan in place.

And Verizon Communications, the nation's second largest phone company, said that it is "simply monitoring the information coming from global and national health organizations about cases and casualties but we continue to operate on a business as usual basis with no travel restrictions or constraints on activity of any kind. There's no need at this time to take further action," according to a company spokesman.

But Gartner's analysts say it is very important for companies to develop contingency plans in case an outbreak of swine flu forces them to close offices or take other operation-disrupting actions.

Nick Jones, another Gartner analyst, recommends in a blog he posted earlier this week that companies consider using wireless broadband in addition to cable or DSL service to enable remote working from a range of locations. He said that a remote office can be set up using wireless 3G technology.

Some adapters come with built-in Wi-Fi, which provides another potential connection mode, if the person is near a Wi-Fi hotspot. Jones also suggests that companies set up these smaller home-based networks across several geographic areas and networks in case one access network becomes overloaded. And for people outside wireless broadband coverage there's always satellite, he said.

Companies should also look for ways to use mobile devices, such as sending a copy of the disaster or contingency plan to employee phones and maybe using video phone calls as a substitute for in-person meetings, he said.

And finally, he suggests that companies have everyone's mobile number handy to contact them in the case of an emergency.

As the threat level increases, Gartner analyst Ken McGee says that companies need to move quickly.

For companies that already have contingency plans in place, he says that they need to halt all other activities and direct all their resources to activating their plans. He suggests testing home networks of critical employees to make sure they are working. He also suggests talking with vendors to see their level of preparedness.

"This is not a snow day," he said. "Companies need to review their plans and find their weaknesses and gaps readiness. And then they need to fill them immediately."

For companies that do not have a plan in place already, McGee says they need to be aware of hotspots where the virus is already infecting people, and they should be preparing to set up home networks and possibly shut down their offices in those regions.

"If they haven't prepared for this up until this point, there isn't much they can do in terms of getting support from vendors or communications providers," he said. "They're just too late for that."

As for Sprint, Davis says the company has already planned how it can offload functions to other offices and call centers throughout the country depending on where the outbreak is occurring. She also said that the company is well-prepared for many of its employees to work remotely.

"We are a mobile wireless communications company," she said. "So a lot of our employees are already mobile and working remotely."


http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/04/30/tech.companies.swine.flu/index.html

Conferencing RFP Questions

We work with many Audio & Web Conferencing end users who are looking to evaluate a Conferencing Service Supplier. Below you will find a list of questions and topics that may be valuable in assessing a vendor and controlling your conferencing costs.

Just to give you an example, we have been working with a customer who's negotiated rate is $0.12 with Intercall. When we conducted an invoice analysis, (total number of minutes divided by the total pre tax amount of the invoice) her rate was $0.39 per minute. The ancillary fees tripled her costs.

Through an RFP process or an informal RFI, costs can be flushed out and therefore remove any fee surprises. As part of your investigation, it should be assumed that your conferencing vendor charges for everything unless they indicate otherwise.

Best regards,

Recite Conferencing



Conferencing RFP Questions

Service
Reservationless/On Demand
Operator Dial Out
Event Calls (Operator Answered)
Event Calls using PIN codes Access
Web Conferencing
Video Conferencing
Video Conferencing Equipment
AV Integration
Streaming/Web Casting

Web Conferencing
WebEx
Netspoke
IBM Same Time Unyte (WebPro)
IBM Same Time Unyte (Web Lite)
Microsoft Live Meeting
Adobe Connect
Citrix Go To Meeting
Citrix Go to Webinar
Contex Presenter
Unified Meeting
Avaya Meeting Exchange
Ready Conference Web Meeting

Features
Online Tools
Self Provisioning
Invoice Details on line
Recording
Downloadable recordings
CD Copy of Recording
Soft Copy of Recording
Touch tone Audio commands
Post Conferencing email call summary
Security features
International Toll free Access
North American Toll Free Access
Wallet Cards and Welcome Kits
Welcome Kits
Maximum Number of Participants
Languages offered
24/7 support
Paper Invoice
Electronic Invoice (PDF version)
Billing by Second or Minute
Transcription
Participant List

Ancillary Fees
Moderator Set Up Fee
Unused Line Fee
Participant List
Scheduling Fee
Cancellation Fees
Conferencing Fees
Unused Moderator Fee
Paper Invoice Charge
Communication Line
Wallet Card
Recording
Download of recording
Call Minimums
Leaderview or Event Call Viewer
Custom Bridge Prompts
Set Up Fees
No Show Fees
Any other fees not specified here
Archived Call Fees
Archived Call Extension Fees
Archived Call Participant Lists
Event Call Participant Details
Event Call Participant Verification
Transcription
Streamed Audio

Contracts & Agreements
Minimum Commitments
Contracts
Contract Penalties
Auto renewal
Company Information
Where is the Customer Service Call Centre Located?
Is the Universal Service Fund (USF) applicable? (9.5% to 11.75% U.S. FCC charge)
Where would my Account Manager be located?
Will my account have a dedicated Account Manager?
What Taxes will I be paying?
What type of Conference Bridges are used? (ensuring a carrier grade bridge is being used. You may also want to know if it is a VOIP bridge or regular phone lines)

Bridges located in the United States are subject to the USF fee as well as the Patriot Act laws. This may or may not be relevant to your business. The Patriot Act seems to be of concern to foreign government agencies and not relevant for most other organizations.

If you have any questions on why we raised some of these questions, please feel free to contact us.

Managing Remote and Virtual Employees

Managing remote and virtual employees is a challenging role. There are personalities to take into account, communication styles people prefer to interface with as well as coaching and training.

We came across this article from the Puget Sound Business Journal written by motivational speaker and Bob Nelson. He brings up some valuable points to take into consideration when managing people remotely.


Build trust with remote and virtual employees

According to a U.S. Labor Department report, about one in 10 employees today has an alternative work arrangement. Managing employees who are not physically located near you is a particular challenge.

Perhaps your employees are located at a different facility or even in a different state (remote employees), or maybe they're telecommuting (virtual employees). Regardless of the reason for the separation, these new "distance" working relationships make it harder for managers to identify and acknowledge desired behavior and performance.

Managers must be more systematic and intentional in looking for opportunities to recognize their employees when those instances are less obvious.

If you are charged with the responsibility of managing remote teams, consider these ideas:

Build a foundation of trust. The starting point in almost any strong working relationship -- virtual or not -- is trust. Without the daily face-to-face contact between manager and employee, trust is more vulnerable to breakdown. Virtual and remote employees, in particular, must know that their managers trust them to carry out everyday work functions, be competent to do the basic job with little or no supervision, and perform to the established standards.

Make time for people. Despite the advances in virtual offices and remote locations, there's no substitute for "face time" when it comes to building trusting relationships. Managing is a people job so, naturally, you need to make time for people. If your employees are in the office infrequently, meeting with them when they are around has to be a higher priority. How time together is spent makes a difference as well. Talk about real issues of importance to employees.

Maintaining a sense of teamwork. When employees are not in the same place, organizations must still create and sustain a strong sense of camaraderie, commitment and collaboration. Managers can take a proactive role in fostering a sense of teamwork by establishing regular times for telephone calls, e-mail messages, teleconferences, videoconferences and computer chats. Electronic message boards can be used for ongoing communication about progress on critical aspects of the team's work. Communicating in these ways gives virtual employees the opportunity to exchange ideas with team members, talk about the problems they may be having, discuss ways to improve, evaluate the team's progress, share ideas, get feedback, brainstorm new ideas, and discuss strategies. Everyone needs a forum in which to share problems and acknowledge successes.

This last point is critical. For team recognition to be effective, you must acknowledge success. If you don't focus on positive results along the way, you won't get more of the same.



Bob Nelson is president of Nelson Motivation Inc. in San Diego and an author of numerous employee business books. Reach him at bnelson@bizjournals.com.

To view this article at it's source, please visit http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2003/09/15/smallb4.html

We hope you found this helpful!

Steve Maynard: Guest Speaker at Wilfred Laurier University

Steve Maynard, Director of Sales has been invited to lead Alumni Career Connections sessions at his alma mater, Wifred Laurier University:

B2B: Career Connections (Student Event)

Confused about which career path is right for you?

If so, join us at Career Connections to meet and receive career advice from Laurier alumni who have chosen their path!

Laurier alumni who have found a career in a variety of industries will be available to answer all of your questions. Spend a great evening:

Acquiring professional advice
Networking with Laurier alumni
Discovering potential career paths


Event Details:

Date: Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Time: 5:30 - 7pm
Cost: Free!
Pre-registration is required.
Location: Senate & Board Chamber


http://www.laurieralumni.ca/alumni/events?calendar_id=101


Read what Laurier has to say:

Stephen Maynard, Director of Sales and Founder
Recite Conferencing
Table 6—Sales: Telecommunications
Major: Economics
Extracurriculars: Icebreaker, Fashion ‘n Motion, Winter
Carnival, UBG
Number of Years in Industry: 6
When starting his career, Stephen aligned himself with large organizations to build his
résumé. A mentor encouraged him to move from a purchasing role to a sales position
within Nortel as he was displaying natural ability. Stephen then obtained a sales
position with a small start up company in the conferencing industry (telephone, video
and web conferring). He is now with his third start up company and has moved back in
the conferencing industry as a founder of Recite Conferencing. His role as Director of
Sales is heavily focused on training and supporting the sales team, acquiring new
customers and planning the strategic direction of the company. Stephen has also
completed multiple sales and management courses and a number of industry‐specific
technical certifications to become the company specialist in certain fields.

http://www.laurieralumni.ca/bank/pageimages/Career%20Connections%202009%20Program%20-%20For%20Web.pdf

If you are interested in participating, please register at the Laurier site.

Enjoy!

Telecommuting: Part of the Green Initiative

How can Canada go green in the knowledge age?

Here is an interesting article from Paul Lima at the CBC

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/tech/hightech/telecommute.html


TelecommutingWorking from home: Is it for you?
Last Updated January 30, 2008
By Paul Lima

I am not an environmentalist. The family recycles and we have a composter, but I have an SUV. I bought it before Al Gore released An Inconvenient Truth and environmental concerns became in-your-face issues. Having said that, I suspect most car owners, and even people who take public transit, burn up more fossil fuel than I do.

I work from home as a freelance writer, and have done so for almost 17 years.

Every day, I wake up, grab a mug of tea and commute from my bedroom to my home office. I haven't met most of my editors or clients. I file my work by e-mail and we communicate by e-mail unless an issue seems complex, in which case I pick up the phone. Occasionally, I attend initial client meetings, but they are rare. While I'd love to attend a meeting with my client in Belgium, I don't think that will happen any time soon.

In addition to freelance writing, I teach continuing education business writing and copywriting courses for the University of Toronto. Until last year, that involved commuting downtown one night a week. Not any more. All the courses I teach are now online. That means students and the teacher are not driving or taking transit anywhere.

All that being said, I do not have the world's most sophisticated technological set up. I have a phone and a three-year-old computer with a broadband internet connection.

If I can use this technology to successfully work from home — with editors, clients and students across Canada, in the United States and in Europe — then why can't more people in corporations, organizations and government offices do likewise? Why do they have to clog our highways every morning and afternoon to commute to work?

A number of years ago, management consultant and university professor Peter Drucker wrote, "Why would any company pay in salary and time to transport a 190-pound body, when all it needed was the body's three pound brain?" Was he just ahead of his time?

If he was, he's gaining supporters for the idea. While Daniel Pink does not think the office cubicle will disappear, he says there will come a day when far fewer people commute to central locations.

"Collecting people in giant office towers does not make sense economically and environmentally," says Pink, a business consultant and author of A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age.

A few companies pay lip service to telecommuting and virtual businesses, and they maintain pockets of employees in different parts of the country, or world. But in the downtowns of major urban centres, construction crews are still building skyscrapers for white-collar workers, many of whom commute from outlying areas of cities. Even if they take public transit, they often have to drive to and from transit parking lots. Such is the idiocy of urban transportation.

Take, for example, Change is in the Air: Toronto's Commitment to an Environmentally Sustainable Future, the city of Toronto's framework to tackle climate change. It contains 27 proposed actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but pays next to no attention to reducing commuting.

In fact, it sees commuters as a revenue stream. The plan calls for annual parking or motor vehicle registration fees. And, of course, there is talk of road tolls. Instead of reducing, and where possible eliminating, the city's fleet of vehicles that run on diesel, the plan talks of converting them to biodiesel fuel. I suppose we can then wait several decades for scientists to figure out what environmental problems and cancers such fuels cause.

Sadly, in the information age, we are still thinking like an industrial economy where workers have to be in one place to turn out a product. Management is not able to let go of the notion that bodies gathered in one place equal productivity. That is no longer the case when it comes to most white-collar, knowledge-based and information processing work.

On-line collaboration applications can run on internal networks or be set up for access via the internet. They can be used to help teams or departments span distances common in today's far-flung, mobile workforce. Instead of relying on meetings, the telephone and e-mails to get things done, groups can meet in real time in a portal — an on-line web-based meeting room — and use text chat to discuss issues while sharing files or viewing presentations.

Web portals can also be used as a repository for all information pertaining to a project or department. Defined users can access the portal to discuss or review specific aspects of a project. Documents that reside in the portal can be locked while one person is updating them so that others will not end up working from old material, or members of a team can meet in the portal to collaborate on creating a new document or revising an old one.

In addition, companies can use web conferencing to conduct employee training, introduce clients to new products and offer customer support.

While e-mail and instant messaging (IM) are considered collaboration tools, online or web-based tools are an important part of this growing market. The value of the collaborative application market in Canada will reach almost $160 million this year, and grow to more than $180 million by 2010, according to a recent International Data Corporation (IDC) Canada report, Finding the collaborative opportunity in Canada.

Sounds impressive, but that is a drop in the bucket of what it could be if we took telecommuting seriously.

If the environment is a problem and if we are serious about reducing greenhouse gas emissions, we will ban all but essential travel. We can start by emptying the downtowns of the world of white-collar commuters, workers who could be just as productive, perhaps even more productive, working from home.

This may seem like bad news for downtowns; however, Pink sees downtowns that are currently healthy, like those of most major Canadian cities, becoming centres of leisure, entertainment and art as people flock to condominiums and housing in the centre of cities.

E-mail, telephone, teleconferencing, videoconferencing and online collaboration tools are available right now to make it happen.

All we need is the will.

Maximizing People Talent

In any Corporate forum, People Talent falls in the top 10 topics of successful businesses. As we move into the information age, Intellectual property is key to securing and retaining customers and revenue. People become your competitive advantage.

The ability to bring in specialists from around the country or around the globe can bring credibility to your product/service.

Independent consultants are a good example of specialized individuals bringing their knowledge to companies on a project basis. Thus saving companies money by leveraging their specializations to move their business initiatives forward.

The best way to reap the benefits of your People Talent specialists is to get them in front of as many people as possible. This includes customers, prospects, leads, PR people, internal functional groups and others to increase your brand.

Web Casting vs. Web Conferencing: Tips on how to choose

Web Casting vs. Web Conferencing

As your organization evaluates how it is going to communicate to employees, investors, customers and other audiences, there are a few ways to deliver your message.

With Web Casting (Also known as Streaming) and Web Conferencing, both offer an excellent forum for communicating, though there are some differences that can bring value to your specific event or meeting.

So when should you choose Web Casting and when should you choose Web Conferencing?

Web Casting

Web Casting is a Broadcast Tool. Web Casting takes compressed media and "Stream's" it over the internet and is available for review via a URL.

Here are some of the key highlights of Web Casting:
+ Audio, slides and video can be viewed easily via a URL
+ As a Broadcast medium, Participants can only interact with the Host via a chat feature or if a separate Audio path has been preestablished
+ Cost effective for over 100 participants, either simultaneouly or in total over the course of the campaign
+ Registration, Polling, Testing, and Feed Back fields can be added to gather key information
+ Web Casting offers superior reporting capabilities for pre and post event

As a communication medium, Web Casting is ideal for Press Releases, Investor Relations, Employee Addresses, Training and any large event.


Web Conferencing

Web Conferencing is truly a Collaboration tool. Web Conferencing is often used in conjunction with an audio conference for full integration between the host and the guests.

Here are some of the key features of Web Conferencing:
+Web Conferencing offers application sharing, white boarding and publishing of documents
+ Host controls can be passed so that documents and applications can be viewed, altered and shared dynamically in real time
+ Cost Effective for 1 to 100 concurrent participants
+ Polling and testing can be added as well as Video Images through the use of a Web Cam
+ Web Conferencing offers on demand presentation capabilities that can be launched anytime anywhere

Web Conferencing is ideal for customer presentations, internal company meetings, training, document reviews and for meetings under 100 participants.

Pricing can vary. Web Conferencing can be purchased as a per seat or room model or on a per minute basis. Web Casting is similar to a flat rate model.

Enjoy your day!