I've resisted writing about the swine flu (sorry, H1N1 flu) and its possible benefits to the telepresence/Unified Communications industry. I just thought it was sort of, I don't know, unseemly to speculate on how your industry could benefit from a worldwide panic that appeared to be at least somewhat media-driven. Now that some of the news seems to be getting a little bit more encouraging, or at least less dire, maybe we can take a slightly more measured look at this issue.If your initial reaction to the new flu (now that'd be a catchier, less ominous name for it) was to run out and buy a bunch of $300,000 telepresence systems-or even to think seriously about doing so--I would question that move. Reacting to flu pandemic needs to be an element of every disaster mitigation plan, but the response has to be sensible.
What we've learned from the H1N1 experience so far, and the implications for communications is, first of all, that there isn't a lot of time to react: Mexican authorities first noticed the outbreak in mid-March; the U.S. Centers for Disease Control issued its first alert on April 21, and by April 28, cases were being reported around the world.
And though the disease itself may not be as virulent as first feared, the effects-closing of businesses, schools and other public establishments-were prudent precautions given all that we didn't know. Yet such a response, in the face of a more persistent and virulent epidemic, will certainly have a profound effect on business, if the closings wind up being long-term.
Another factor is that, while a pandemic, as the name suggests, affects everywhere, there are also particular localized effects, and yet I don't think these effects are necessarily predictable. Travel to Mexico was obviously the most severely affected thing this time; but I've seen no indication that, once this outbreak is under control, the next one's origins, or areas of greatest impact, are at all foreseeable.
The obvious conclusion here is that both your emergency response plan and infrastructure need to be kept current, so they can be put into action quickly and implemented as the situation demands. And you need to include scenarios where everyone works in isolation from everyone else. Telepresence (any room-based video, in fact) seems like a particularly bad fit here; if your telepresence units are in your offices, and you close your offices in an attempt to forestall transmission of the disease, the telepresence rooms are wasted.
An equally important corollary is to understand your service providers' emergency response plans. If they have to close their facilities, how well equipped are they to continue to support high-end network services that require more than just basic connectivity? And if your carrier's own operations are affected, can you at least assume that, one way or the other, basic Internet service will continue to be available, and so you can count on some lowest-common-denominator service?
Though some parts of the world went through SARS, for many of the rest of us, H1N1 has been the first experience dealing with pandemic fears. We've learned how important it is to be ready.
