Lake Saint Louis, Mo., March 16, 2020 – In response to growing concern surrounding the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19), National Information Solutions Cooperative (NISC) has initiated a number of proactive measures to ensure the safety of its employees and Members while maintaining stellar business continuity.
“As NISC works to mitigate the risk of COVID-19, we do so guided by Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations,” says Dan Wilbanks, NISC president and CEO. “Additionally, we have initiated a number of measures to proactively assure continuity of business, while doing our part to keep our employees, Members and communities safe.”
NISC enacted a pause on all employee travel effective March 11 through April 30, except in special circumstances. Furthermore, the technology cooperative has announced plans to transition employees who are capable of effectively supporting its Members and doing their job remotely to a temporary work-from-home environment, with the goal of all capable employees working from home by Friday, March 20.
“While the CDC is not advising that all employers move to remote work, we do, however, believe it is incumbent upon us to be prepared should guidelines change,” Wilbanks says. “We are taking all necessary efforts to make this transition seamless to minimize impacts to our Members.”
NISC is well positioned for remote and virtual work arrangements.
“As a technology company with campuses across six states and 100+ virtual employees, we are accustomed to working remotely and are confident that our employee base will continue to step up and keep delivering on the NISC promise to our Members: superior service, reliable solutions and value in that partnership,” says Wilbanks.
NISC’s response to COVID-19 is the direct result of an effort the technology cooperative undertook earlier this year when the organization developed a comprehensive Business Continuity Plan in the event that a pandemic, national crisis, event, other long-term public health event or disaster disrupts its business.
“As part of this effort, we developed a Business Continuity Team and also underwent a tabletop exercise. While no one anticipated we’d be putting it to use so soon, we feel very prepared today,” Wilbanks says.
The NISC Business Continuity team has been meeting regularly. Additionally, this team is in ongoing and frequent discussions and is closely monitoring the progression of COVID-19 and the guidelines established by CDC and WHO.
“We’ve also initiated an aggressive educational campaign for all employees on best practices to reduce risk of infection and contamination,” Wilbanks says.
Wilbanks says the silver lining in this challenging situation is that NISC’s operations will remain uninterrupted.
“We’re a technology organization. Challenging situations breed innovation. While we are already ahead of the connectivity curve, this time will allow us to consider other innovative solutions to streamline our services, gain efficiencies and deliver on superior service to our Members.”
About NISC
National Information Solutions Cooperative (NISC) is an information technology organization that develops, implements and supports software and hardware solutions for our Members. We deliver advanced solutions, services and support to 840 independent telephone companies, electric cooperatives and other public power entities. NISC is an industry leader providing information technology solutions including billing, accounting, operations, automated mailroom services, third-party integration as well as many other solutions. With facilities in Mandan, N.D., Lake Saint Louis, Mo., Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Shawano, Wis., Blacksburg, Va., and Austin, Texas, NISC and its subsidiaries employ more than 1,300 professionals.
Additional information about NISC can be found at www.nisc.coop.