Ragan Postcard

If the Intranet is part of your crisis plan

If the Intranet is part of your crisis plan, you better update it today.

Intranets across the Gulf region went dark when the electricity went out. Servers housed or backed-up in the affected areas became inaccessible. Companies with key personnel and generators found themselves locked out of office buildings secured by landlords who were worried about looters and liability during a mandatory evacuation.

During the exodus from a land mass the size of Great Britain, many employees didn't have laptops or Internet access. Their primary focus was far more simple: food, water and shelter.

So how do you reach them? How do you get your workforce back up and running so you can resume operations? Ponder that reality. This is not a drill; it just happened.

Companies were forced to post internal information publicly. I previewed some early shots I captured for the audience here at Ragan's International Communication Leadership Summit in Toronto - and people seemed stunned to see benefits and other information posted openly on the Web. More to follow on this topic, including screen shots. We'll definitely delve into this in detail in Chicago at the upcoming PR conference.

Hurricane Katrina blew away crisis plans because of its sheer scale, scope and duration. For now, take a peek at this public message board for desperate employers.

posted by CP for Ragan @ 2:05 PM