Due to COVID-19, Galvanize has officially operationalized our formal Pandemic Response Plan and is currently at Tier 4 (see below). At present, all products & services are fully operational and available to customers. All employees are mandated to work from home.
To ensure the continuity of business and provided services, Galvanize maintains a formal Pandemic Response Plan (PRP) to accompany our Business Continuity (BCP) and Disaster Recovery Plans (DRP). All plans are reviewed and approved annually by senior management and approval is documented and retained.
Galvanize monitors official World Health Organization (WHO) and Center for Disease Control (CDC) channels of information for pandemic alerts and updates. In addition, we monitor health authority information in the locations we have offices and employees.
Galvanize has a four tier response escalation system used to designate appropriate mitigating actions across office facilities and employee locations. Each tier of the plan is designed to protect Galvanize personnel and limit the spread of disease while maintaining business operations. We are currently operating at Tier 4 which means all physical offices are closed and employees are mandated to work from home. Self-reporting systems are in place to track any COVID-19 exposure or illness and HighBond continuous risk monitoring remains active.
At present, all products & services are fully operational and available to customers. To ensure continuity we use our HighBond continuous risk monitoring system to monitor all critical business systems. We aggregate, automate and analyzing data on infection rates, site/office safety evaluations, suspected case/self-isolation reporting, and government mandated tracking, among other factors.
The system also allows us to keep a real-time watch on our organization, including customer engagement, workforce productivity, financial contingency, reputation risk, and other key data points.
Galvanize’s Pandemic Response Plan documents guidelines for communicating with employees & customers during an outbreak of an infectious disease. We have been following this plan with regular updates to customers including the status of our business and shifting events to virtual to continue to provide value during the pandemic.
Communication to employees occurs with daily updates to all global staff from Laurie Schultz, Chief Executive Officer and Keith Cerny, Chief People Officer.
We will continue to provide updates through email, blog, our website, and social media to inform and help educate our employees and customers.
Galvanize employees who are responsible for implementing our Pandemic Response Plan and Business Continuity Plan participate in simulated business continuity and disaster recovery scenarios as part of regular testing. Roles and responsibilities are defined and communicated to this group. This testing has proven invaluable during the current COVID-19 pandemic response.
Testing is used to assess readiness and determine follow-up actions including documentation updates, technology improvements, remote capacity planning, and additional business continuity guidance.
As part of pandemic response activities, Galvanize staff review and assess information made available by critical vendors regarding ongoing outbreaks or pandemics. Most of Galvanize's critical systems are provided by cloud software vendors and have experienced no disruptions during the pandemic, to date. We continuously monitor all critical systems and are reviewing vendor information regarding their COVID-19 response plans as information is provided.
