The finance sector is ready but what about the rest of industry?
By Jack Loo
03 Oct 2008
Singapore’s stockpile of medicine for a flu pandemic made the headlines when the Ministry of Health recently moved to increase its inventory of vaccines and treatment capsules to the tune of SG$19 million.
The announcement also brings to mind the recently-concluded Industry-Wide Business Continuity Exercise, held in August, by members of the financial industry. Called “Raffles II”. The objective was to test the readiness of the organisations in the event of pandemic flu.
During the event, the finance companies engaged in a wide variety of activities from presenting their business continuity plans to ‘referees’ from Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), to taking part in practical exercises where organisations have to carry on functioning with staff members physically not in the office.
Interestingly, IT departments were tasked to handle the business continuity aspect for their organisation. A CIO of a company, from the insurance sector that I spoke to, drew up his organisation’s business continuity plans and was the lead in the Raffles II exercise.
While I understand that most companies from other verticals do have a basic strategy in the event of a pandemic outbreak, thanks to the legacy of the SARS in 2003, the plans do not fall under the same scrutiny that the financial institutions receive.
Would it be a good idea for these organisations outside of the financial industry to be tested on their business continuity capability?
In the case of Raffles II, these financial companies have to show the MAS that they have all the necessary measures in place to and the results are taken into account during the company audit process.
The companies from the various verticals need not to be subjected to really strict guidelines like the finance sector. Perhaps a series of practical exercises, overseen by a government health agency, can give participants get a good idea about what to do during a pandemic event.
The $19 million dollar price tag suggests that the government is really wary of a pandemic event happening soon. Businesses should take note and be ready for such a scenario.
