If the Internet goes out, working from home needs a back-up plan

Singapore

WORKING from home has become the de facto back-up plan for companies operating during the month-long "circuit-breaker" office closures.

But what happens when the back-up plan needs a back-up of its own?

Just over a week into the national work-from-home effort, business continuity plans (BCPs) were put to the test by an hours-long Internet service outage that struck across the island.

As a protracted Covid-19 pandemic confines employees to home offices, watchers and industry players alike noted that enterprises will have to beef up BCP connectivity.

"This incident illustrates the need for telecommunications service providers to maintain a resilient network," said Chris Rezentes, regional director of network product …