Sounds like getting broadband everywhere is now a national security planning issue.
In an article that’s a bit eerie, companies are discussing having security guards keep sick people from coming to work!
Telecommuting again is - in theory - part of the contingency planning.
I think it’s mostly talk at this point. I hadn’t heard about an actual 3 week exercise to test capacity.
From The Buffalo News:
Many companies like M&T, Citi and KeyBank are considering whether employees can do work from home to avoid exposure, and are assessing whether they have enough Internet “bandwidth” to handle such an increase in Web traffic. Indeed, that’s become a major question.
“It’s such a great unknown,” said M&T’s Shaw. “We’ve never pushed the limit of the Internet to this point where we know what this would do to us.”
KeyBank officials are looking at whether they could handle more activity through call centers, online banking, and ATMs, since many routine activities can be done remotely, said spokesman William Murschel.
Billittier said some banks have talked of closing branch lobbies to minimize physical contact.
And Citi is making sure its human resources policies consider “situations that we haven’t thought of before,” Gist said, such as the need for a single parent to stay home with children if schools are closed.
Pietrolongo said companies also need to maintain building security to keep sick people from coming to work, and might need to provide cafeteria service around the clock. And they have to consider the psychological impact on workers.
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