Business Continuity and the Pandemic Threat: Learning from Covid-19 While Preparing for the Next Pandemic

The world is witnessing an increasingly dangerous combination of social, economic and environmental factors which are accelerating an ever growing emergence of novel viruses resulting in new epidemics. A must-have for facing the consequential pandemic threat, Robert A. Clark's new book reveals what you should do to mitigate the risk, and limit the damage, while designing contingency measures to address a pandemic crisis.

The book builds on the themes introduced in his 2016 title Business Continuity and the Pandemic Threat - Potentially the biggest survival challenge facing organisations, by focusing specifically on the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 has shown organisations that the threat of a pandemic needs to be taken seriously, emphasising the importance of preparing a business continuity plan and a pandemic plan in response to the crisis. Clark's book focuses on how an organisation can create a new or update an existing pandemic response plan. He highlights the similarities in managing different types of crisis whether it is a pandemic, or other threats such as cyber attacks, floods, fires, civil disturbances, terrorism etc.

The book looks at several case studies, reviewing how different industries have been impacted by the pandemic, with the author also reflecting on his own personal experience during this crisis. It also discusses the ways the virus has affected our economy and daily routines, and the psychological impact. The book further provides useful free resources that offer additional guidance/information.

Explore how:

• Your organisation can create and validate a pandemic response plan;
• To manage your organisation when faced with a pandemic threat;
• Lockdown has impacted our mental health, economies and working culture;
• Organisations from varied industries have adapted in response to the pandemic;
• To search for new opportunities that pandemics can present by both changes to working practises and diversification; and
• Information technology helped many organisations to continue functioning during lockdowns.

"Bob's book, Business Continuity and the Pandemic Threat does a spectacular job filling a gaping void in the pandemic preparedness and response literature. It should be required reading for every CEO concerned with keeping their business in business and every corporate risk manager, regardless of the type of business. He's written with an engaging, rare combination of hard-nosed business survival strategy and insightful human stories of pandemic experiences."

Dr Jonathan Quick MD MPH, global health leader with expertise in pandemic and epidemic threats