Preparing IT Teams for the Second-wave of COVID-19 Outbreak

It’s the right time for the IT leaders to begin preparing their organizations for the second possible wave of the virus flare-up this winter.

While the COVID-19 outbreak seems far from over, even more trouble may suddenly arrive with its second wave. Even while the world has not really emerged from the first COVID-19 outbreak, the second wave of infections is expected to come in any time soon, forcing organizations to bring people back to physical offices to return to fully remote operations.

Preparing the organization to handle another significant COVID-19 outbreak requires detailed planning, insights which target a worst-case situation that, hopefully, will never come.

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Following these below steps can help to get started.

Evaluate IT resources to assure availability

IT teams should ensure that remote employees have all the required resources to work effectively from home, including both software and hardware. During this first shutdown, poor planning and lack of preparation allowed expensive IT resources to sit idle in deserted labs and offices while employees were working from home on comparatively inferior hardware/software platforms.

Now, it is time for the IT teams to plan better for the future to use the available resources more efficiently. Also, having access to back-up tools is essential to ensure uninterrupted workflows if a collaboration platform fails or becomes suddenly inaccessible.

Assess and update connectivity tools for work-at-home

Connectivity is the lifeline that makes the work-from-home possible, yet organizations experienced serious capacity issues during the initial lockdowns.

Depending on different remote access platforms, it is important to consider a sufficient amount of time to acquire and install network and hardware connections capable of scaling up, in order to support all users.

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Build a resilient culture

Specifically, IT needs to establish a culture that recognizes that future disruptions, pandemic, or otherwise. And, this will mostly result in increased demands on IT professionals.

IT leaders should also prepare their teams for the fact that a second major COVID-19 outbreak will require them to work for longer hours, and maybe travel to data centers and other locations.

In today’s uncertain world, it’s important to remain agile and in constant communication. To pivot rapidly, they need to be ready to successfully deploy new technology and workflows instantly.

Update the business continuity plan

Taking time to review the current BCP is the need of the hour – confirming that it contains all the valuable lessons learned from the primary execution and applying those lessons now, to ensure the firm is ready for the upcoming outbreak.

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Learn from the mistakes

Lessons learned months ago are gradually being forgotten by the IT teams as they are focusing their attention on new, more immediate concerns. It is the time to review the changes which could not be implemented back then due to a lack of resources and implement them promptly to fight the second wave better.

IT leaders need to keep their cybersecurity teams even more attentive than usual. With a reduction in staff, IT security and support teams can get constrained, giving cyber attackers enhanced opportunity through unpatched systems or delays in response to incidents. A multiplying number of people working outside of an office environment may also make enterprises more susceptible to malware or phishing cyberattacks as the lines between work and personal life blur.