3/17/2020
As the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) situation rapidly evolves around the world, DataBank is closely monitoring developments related to the virus. We are taking careful precautions to ensure both our employees’ and customers’ safety and wellbeing. As the situation progresses, we will continue to follow the guidance of the WHO, CDC, local governments and local health authorities. Our Senior Leadership team meets daily to plan, communicate, and promptly respond to continuing developments.
As an essential business partner, we wanted to let you know that DataBank has taken a number of actions to address this situation and has enacted our pandemic response plan that has been integrated into our existing ISO27001 Business Continuity Plan. We are actively executing on these preparations and would like to provide you an update around our strategy for limiting transmission and exposure.
Employee Health & Safety
• We are reorganizing our offices to create social distancing amongst our workforce. Spreading out employee workspaces, staggering schedules and segregating work areas are key components we are leveraging to prevent the possible spread of the virus.
• All facilities have doubled their sanitizing efforts. Self-hygiene procedures based upon CDC’s guidelines have been communicated to employees to minimize the probability of transmission.
• In case symptoms arise, we are encouraging employees who are sick to stay home, avoid travel & gatherings, self-quarantine and seek medical attention from their primary care physicians. Employees showing symptoms will be sent home immediately.
• Earlier this month, we have implemented mandatory 14-day quarantines for those who have travelled internationally.
• Gloves are being provided to employees handling records that arrive from healthcare and other potentially infected sources. Other personal safety equipment is being evaluated and will be provided as necessary.
• Effective March 13th, 2020 visitors and non-essential employees are not allowed to enter DataBank facilities.
Business Continuity and Organizational Agility
• We have enabled our workforce to be remote when and where possible to the fullest extent of our capabilities. This is not new for DataBank; however, many colleagues that would typically be working in our physical offices now have the ability to telecommute using thin-client technology. This technology enables us to scale rapidly in a secure manner to meet the needs of our clients.
• DataBank has multiple securely interconnected facilities around the country. Using our distributed capabilities, we will continue sharing work between offices around the clock.
• Our Professional Services team is comprised of a highly collaborative and virtual workforce. DataBank has been successfully working with a remote model since our inception and is well prepared to serve and respond to customers. A majority of our Solutions Consultants and Solutions Engineers work remotely, and will continue to deliver valuable solutions to DataBank’s clients. As this pandemic unfolds, DataBank leadership is strongly recommending that our services teams work with our customers to conduct as many projects as possible offsite. While we understand that best practices are driven from face to face interaction with teams, we are all called to contribute to the greater good of social distancing. We are all highly motivated to keep projects moving forward and you have our commitment to be as flexible as possible, but keeping in mind that the safety and health of our employees is our top priority.
This is an uncertain time for us all, and with information regarding the pandemic changing daily, DataBank believes that our business continuity plan will allow us to continue to provide the highest quality service. In the unlikely event of a service breakdown, our teams will contact you to discuss the best course moving forward. Please reciprocate and keep us updated to your evolving business needs so we can help in any way we can.
Delivering reliable services is our commitment to you. As this situation evolves, we will continue to evaluate and adapt our plans to maintain the level of support you have come to expect.
Thank you,
Matt Charlson
CEO, DataBank IMX, A KYOCERA Group Company
