In early March 2020, there have been nearly 3,100 deaths and more than 90,000 people infected with the respiratory disease known as COVID-19 across the globe.\u00a0 After months of watching this take place in other countries, the previous few cases in the United States have begun to rise \u2013 including one here in Fort Lee, NJ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For now, the Centers for Disease Control recommends several common-sense and very reasonable precautions. \u00a0These include regular hand washing or using alcohol-based hand sanitizer, covering coughs and sneezes (with your elbow or several tissues), and staying home and avoiding public spaces if you are feeling sick. \u00a0I\u2019d like to point out that these are inherently smart things to do during flu season anyway, but I realize that most people don\u2019t fear the flu despite the number of people who die from that disease each year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So what should<\/em> you do if local health officials declare a quarantine? \u00a0You should have a ready supply of your prescription medicine, tissues, pain-relieving medication (Tylenol or Advil), hand sanitizer (if you can find it), and face masks.\u00a0 Don\u2019t forget to keep your phone charged so that you can call someone for help if you develop symptoms (or they worsen).\u00a0 There is significantly more information available by conducting an internet search (or using the Resources listed below).<\/p>\n\n\n\n But I want to shift this discussion to businesses \u2013 either the one you own or one for which you work.\u00a0 How do you handle something completely different than your everyday normal?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Try to Prevent Further Infection<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If your business has many employees or if it serves the public, you must think about ways that you can reduce the chance of spreading infection. Some options include providing hand sanitizer dispensers, wiping down frequently touched surfaces with household cleaners, and a more frequent cleaning schedule for common areas and restrooms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If your business has delivery or service vehicles, you\nshould clean the steering wheel, commonly touched dashboard or smart-drive\nappliances, door handles (both inside and out), and the key fob.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Given the current circumstances, you might begin to avoid\nshaking hands with customers and colleagues. \nTouching elbows should suffice in a pinch or even a distinct nod of your\nhead as a way of greeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Internal Communications<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If public health officials discourage people from attending\nlarge gatherings, you should begin to think about how your company will\ncommunicate with staff members who are forced to stay at home. Many businesses allow that kind of flexibility\nanyway, so you probably already have some informal communication channels via\nphone and email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You should start to formalize those mechanisms now so that you are not scrambling at the last minute.\u00a0 Make sure you have an updated list of contact information (phone numbers and email addresses), so everyone can contact co-workers quickly. \u00a0If your business uses VOIP, make sure that everyone understands how to use soft-phones, and provide a quick reference guide to configure an office phone at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Have your staff check to see if they can access their email\nat home from a web browser to ensure that all remote access rules are in place\nand that the staff members know their passwords. If you have not yet implemented multi-function\nauthentication (MFA) for your email, now is the perfect opportunity to do\nso. Similarly, it\u2019s worth making sure\neveryone has email access from their smartphones or tablets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For some businesses, chat systems like Slack or Microsoft\nTeams can be effective mechanisms for your staff to remain in touch with one\nanother in real-time. Another\nalternative, if you need to conduct meetings frequently is Zoom. If you don\u2019t use this kind of technology now\nand are interested in investigating whether you should, please contact me for a\ndiscussion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Remote Access to Your Business<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Make sure your staff has access to your remote desktop access software and knows how to use it so that they can connect to their office computers.\u00a0 (Don\u2019t have remote access to your office? Again, contact me to discuss how your needs can be met.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Do you have specific business resources, like your accounting system, that has unique security requirements?\u00a0 If so, think about what additional provisions are necessary for someone working from home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your Office on Empty<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If most or all your staff are working from home, what does that mean for your office? \u00a0Do your physical security systems or climate settings need to be adjusted? \u00a0Do you want to set up video cameras or other remote monitoring hardware? \u00a0Heck, who\u2019s going to water the plants? \u00a0On a more serious note, if you have an on-premises server, you want to make sure it can be administered entirely remotely, including power cycling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s also worth determining who will have responsibility for\nthe office in the event of any problems, which could still occur even if no one\nis there. What if a water pipe in the\nbuilding breaks, or there\u2019s a burglary? Make\nsure it\u2019s clear who will respond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Everyday Business Functions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Think about the regularly scheduled aspects of running your business, with an eye toward those tasks that assume the presence of certain people. \u00a0Can they run payroll, accounts receivable, and accounts payable from a remote location? \u00a0Try to ensure that every key position has at least one backup, so if one person falls ill, your business\u2019 ability to function won\u2019t be compromised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If international travel is a significant part of your business,\nyou\u2019re already figuring out how to compensate through videoconferencing and\nsimilar technologies. But if you\nregularly travel only within the country or your area, think about which trips\nare essential and which you can replace by using online conferencing tools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, consider how your clients and customers will react\nto this new situation. It\u2019s\nunfortunately likely that there may be less work taking place so that you might\nsee a decrease in your revenue stream; on the other hand, some businesses may\nsee an increased workload. For instance,\nif the number of patients in hospitals skyrockets, those business owners who\nsupport healthcare systems may struggle under the load alongside the doctors\nand nurses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I hope and pray that all these preparations prove\nunnecessary, but they\u2019re worthwhile to consider and implement just the same. Too many businesses have failed after a fire,\nhurricane, or earthquake renders an office uninhabitable, and such natural\ndisasters are all too common. Others\nhave closed their doors because a ransomware attack caused too much disruption\nto their day-to-day activities. Planning\nfor a better outcome now \u2013 while there is time to think clearly about what must\ntake place \u2013 will ensure your continued business success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Resources<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n World Health Organization<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n US\nCenters for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n New Jersey Department of Health<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n New York City Department of Health<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In early March 2020, there have been nearly 3,100 deaths and more than 90,000 people infected with the respiratory disease known as COVID-19 across the globe.\u00a0 After months of watching this take place in other countries, the previous few cases in the United States have begun to rise \u2013 including one here in Fort Lee, …<\/span> Read More →<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-everyone","category-security"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heliotropicsystems.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heliotropicsystems.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heliotropicsystems.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heliotropicsystems.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heliotropicsystems.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=364"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.heliotropicsystems.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":365,"href":"https:\/\/www.heliotropicsystems.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364\/revisions\/365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heliotropicsystems.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heliotropicsystems.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heliotropicsystems.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}