How to handle H1N1 at the office

Eric Bozich, Vice President of National Services, Qwest Communications, answered a series of questions from Judi Hasson, editor of FierceCIO, about the potential impact of H1N1 at the workplace and how to keep a business operating in the event of a pandemic. Although it is still too early to determine how bad this flu will affect your business, be prepared. So far, 48 states are reporting the illness. At least 300 people have died and thousands have been affected.

Judi Hasson: With H1N1 on the horizon, what should businesses be doing to make sure their offices keep operating in the event of a pandemic?

Eric Bozich: In addition to the basic health care precautions, we're seeing a lot of interest in services that will allow employees to work securely and efficiently in the event they cannot physically be in the office due to H1N1. That quickly leads us to a discussion of Qwest Mobility because it provides that secure, reliable connection to the corporate network.

JH: Do employees need to be trained to telework in the event of a pandemic?

EB: Employee training is absolutely key to ensuring an enterprise can keep functioning in the event of a major flu outbreak or natural disaster. Making sure your business can keep running-despite the unexpected requires solid disaster recovery and business continuity planning in advance of an actual incident. To survive a crisis successfully, planning and training are essential.

JH: How can you make certain that an employee working from home has a secure system in place and is protected from cyberattacks?

EB: Today's world puts pressure on IT departments to maintain business continuity in the face of many challenges. Can you protect company information from unauthorized access? Can you enforce security and compliance with company policy wherever workers are? Can you actually increase productivity and reduce costs? With the right people, processes and technologies in place, the answer to all of these questions is "yes."

JH: How do you keep information secure when an employee works from home?

EB: Earlier I touched on Qwest Mobility, which is a service that provides a very secure, reliable connection to the company network. It's a simple managed solution that not only enables secure mobile access to the corporate network, it allows for administrative updates and enables reporting to help monitor that workers are complying with company policies regardless of where they physically are.

JH: There are predictions that the Internet will get overwhelmed and bogged down in the event of a major telework endeavor to keep the office running if there is an H1N1 outbreak. Is there any way to avoid this?

EB: Qwest runs one of the world's autonomous networks. As a Tier One carrier, our network and technology people anticipate these types of events, and we are confident our network will more than keep pace.