COOP, Five Years Later

I’m amazed that on the five year anniversary of 9/11, both the public and private sector still need convincing that Continuity of Operations Planning (COOP) should be standard business practice. As the nation waits  for the next hurricane, the next pandemic, the next terrorist attack, I wonder, have enough organizations truly embraced COOP to protect themselves? I know that some progress has certainly been made. One positive example is the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administrattion (TIGTA). Prior to 9/11, TIGTA had a continuity of operations plan just like most other agencies. But after that fateful day, the agency realized that the piece of paper describing its critical systems and data requirements was fairly useless unless it also had an operational plan to tap that information. Acting on this recognition, TIGTA methodically and meticulously integrated its telework program into its continuity of operations plan, and now the agency claims it can reconstruct the agency from laptops, and 100% of its employees can telework if faced with an emergency. Not bad.

Today, I’m speaking at The Commonwealth of Virginia’s Innovative Technology Symposium (COVITS) about telework strategies for Continuity of Operations. As government and business execs develop strategic planning priorities for Virginia’s technology future, it is essential that COOP, and telework, be a significant part of the strategy.

William Mularie, PhD
CEO, The Telework Consortium