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Gill Blog

Thursday, December 08, 2005

Mitigating Economic Impact of Pandemics

A human outbreak of bird flu in the United States could deal a $675 billion blow to the economy, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said today, citing a new paper by the Congressional Budget Office, according to the latest press reports.
Frist said the study assumed a 2.5 percent mortality rate, that 30 percent of the population would be infected and that employees would miss three weeks of work. "A nearly $700 billion hit to our economy -- almost half of which is brought on by fear and confusion -- gives us every reason to begin preparing a prescription and implementing a course of action today," Frist said in a statement.

Our upcoming December 15th webcast provides strategies to address absenteeism and maintain operations. Here's a copy of the press release we've issued today, announcing the upcoming webcast.

Mitigating Economic Impact of Pandemics by Integrating Telework into Business Continuity

~Upcoming Webcast Provides Strategies to Address Absenteeism, Maintain Operations~

The potential economic impact of a pandemic outbreak has been estimated at $166 billion in the US alone, with a chief cause being prolonged periods of large scale employee absenteeism.

Discussion about the potential outbreak of the H5N1 Avian Flu focuses largely on public health strategies but, public and private sector organizations need to assess their options to maintain the continuity of their operations.

Gill Advisors Inc. and Streamlogics Inc. will conduct a live webcast on Thursday December 15th at 9:30 AM EST discussing how the economic impact of an outbreak might be better managed by integrating TeleWork as a crucial component of a business continuity plan.

The webcast focuses on several concerns being faced by organizations today, and offers solutions to better manage operational impact. Tony Gill, Managing Director of Gill breaks the session down into the following components:
"We begin by demonstrating how the variables associated with pandemics differ markedly from those of known events. We describe how TeleWork logically aligns with core business continuity principles – especially under a different set of circumstances. We’ll be joined by a Senior Official of the US General Services Administration (GSA) who will show how GSA's TeleWork initiatives provide valuable planning templates."

Gill, whose work in this field has appeared in journals in the US and UK, recently had his article Continuity Planning in a Post-Katrina World published in the most recent edition of The Public Manager, a prominent Washington DC-based public policy journal.

TeleWork has clearly evolved and today encompasses so many more elements like webcasting and desktop sharing, all made possible by the proliferation of broadband services. Join us on the webcast and learn more.

Click here to register for free access the webcast.

Anyone who is unable to schedule themselves for this webcast on Thursday, December 15, at 9:30 AM EST may access the archive afterward at their convenience by clicking this link.