Experts are warning that the new coronavirus is showing signs of becoming a global pandemic, and it’s quickly becoming one of the most significant global public health concerns in recent history.
Along with travel warnings, public health officials are telling people to take precautions such as frequently washing hands with soap.
But in addition to some of the more common-sense individual steps to take, what are the ways that businesses can adapt to these kinds of global crises?
First, the background (in case you’re living on the moon and haven’t heard): Last week, the World Health Organization issued a global emergency warningOpens a new window about the spread of the new coronavirus that originated in China.
Dramatic steps quickly followed amid global concern about the transparency of China’s government concerning the extent of the respiratory virus infection that had spread and measures taken to contain it. Dozens of international airlines canceled flightsOpens a new window and the United States and Australia banned foreign visitorsOpens a new window who had recently been to China.
However the coronavirus is only the latest example of what the future may well hold.
With globalization and the spread of international travel, it’s important for companies to have a well-defined and deeply-ingrained response system. As the dean of Harvard Business School recently pointed outOpens a new window , it’s not enough to have a crisis response and management team on hand to develop response plans to crisis scenarios.
The companies that have a better chance of adapting quickly and efficiently to new threats are those with a distributed network of employees already embedded in the company and engaged in ongoing preparation.
Some of the best ways to be ready for a global crisis are deep structural changes that allow for quick adaption. There also are other tactics you can take to be prepared:
Think about communication
In this connected age, communication problems can come as a surprise. Whether it’s internet connectivity issues or trouble accessing phone lines, ask the IT department to conduct a global scan of the business to see where there are dependencies.
Almost every method of communication has an alternative and there are solutions for even worst-case scenarios. Implement those only where it’s desperately needed though — most of the time your best bet is to come up with a plan for when communication fails and work around it.
Expensive tools such as satellite phones and back-up generators are always an option but good planning should enable you to use them only sparingly, if at all.
Run scenarios
Have a global network of employees with various roles in the business structure who can also take on a part-time responsibility as members of the embedded-response team.
If employees from around the company are meeting once a month to consider different challenges and come up with plans for how to overcome them, then there will be in-hour knowledge of emergency procedures in every department. Then, even when communication problems arise, someone will be on hand who knows exactly what to do.
Create timelines
No matter what scenario the crisis team is considering, make sure to have them include solutions for different timelines.
It’s one thing to have a communication lapse for a couple of hours. But what happens when that stretches into a week?
Same goes for any other element of the contingency plans, whether they’re based on shifting production or finding back-up suppliers. Always take stock the plan’s components in the short- medium- and long-term.