Business continuity planning and actions in relation to COVID-19
- Details
- Published: Thursday, 20 February 2020 12:37
From 14th to 20th February 2020, Continuity Central conducted an online survey which aimed to capture information to help business continuity managers around the world understand what actions others in the profession are taking in response to or in preparation for COVID-19 infections. The results are now available...
168 responses were received in total, with 75 percent being from large organizations (more than 1000 employees), 15.5 percent from medium sized organizations (250 to 999 employees), and 9.5 percent from small and micro organizations.
The survey asked the following questions:
Does your business continuity program include pandemic specific plans or playbooks?
72.02 percent of respondents answered ‘Yes’ to this question and 13.69 percent answered ‘No’. A further 14.29 percent said that pandemic specific plans or playbooks are currently under development.
Respondents were asked to explain their response to this question and if possible to give more details of any plans or playbooks that have been developed. These verbatim comments can be read here as a PDF.
Has your organization experienced any impacts due to COVID-19?
38.69 percent of respondents stated that their organization had already experienced impacts as a result of COVID-19. 58.93 percent said that their organization had not been impacted and 1.79 percent didn’t know if there had been any impacts.
Respondents who had reported impacts were asked to provide some details, and these can be read verbatim here (PDF).
Has your organization taken any actions specifically in response to COVID-19?
80.36 percent of respondents reported that their organization has already taken specific actions in response to COVID-19. 18.45 percent said that no actions had been taken in response and 1.19 percent didn’t know whether any actions had occurred.
Again, respondents were asked to briefly describe the actions that have been taken and these comments can be read here (PDF).
Do you expect that COVID-19 will develop into a global pandemic?
The final survey question asked respondents to speculate on whether COVID-19 will develop into a pandemic. Overall two-thirds of respondents believe that COVID-19 will be declared a global pandemic. 14.46 percent expect a declaration within a month; 27.71 percent within two or three months; and 17.47 percent expect a declaration in four to six months. 7.23 percent think that a pandemic will be declared but that this will take longer than six months; and 33.13 percent believe that COVID-19 will not become a pandemic.
Continuity Central would like to thank everyone who took the time to take part in the survey.
