CONVERSATIONS WITH THE 2020 IBBY AWARD WINNERS
HOW WERE YOU OR HOW COULD YOU HAVE BEEN BETTER PREPARED FOR THE UNKNOWN LIKE A PANDEMIC? We have actually been ready for this. During the SARS epidemic in 2004, we were mandated as a product by the government. That exposed us to what a potential outbreak could be like, and we have always operated strategically in a capacity that would allow us to be able to respond to the events that are happening now. Still, every drop of disinfectant is presold for the next 18 months. We have been able to really drive to respond to the needs of the market as best we can. Part of my role here is Strategic Planning, and this is one of the areas we focus on. I make 75% of my year about working with the entire team of over 100 people here, so that we have 22 fully developed strategic plans that all connect to each other and ensure that we are prepared for these eventualities. We have been talking about the next pandemic for 16 years and being prepared. It’s a big part of our culture to think strategically and try to be prepared for every eventuality and be able to respond to those things quickly. And hopefully we are bringing those same values to our partners, like IBPSA.
COMING FROM SOMEONE WHO LOOKS TO BE PREPARED FOR THESE SOMEWHAT UNFORESEEN TIMES, WHAT KIND OF ADVICE COULD YOU SHARE WITH OUR IBPSA MEMBERS? I will say, and it is easy to say this and executing it is much harder, but planning and documenting has been the key to the success at Virox. Develop an understanding of the possibilities that could be and the potential challenges that could be faced and then planning for ways to work around those. I know it’s boring, but it’s true. I can see the comparison between how we operate here at Virox in terms of our planning and how most organizations operate. Virtually everybody is winging it, and I understand that is a reality for most organizations. The more effort you can put into planning the more benefit can be found when these types of events happen. When we engage in a program or sponsorship, we will write a document that states our current situation, our objectives, how we are going to measure success, and then we go back and measure against that. That also includes the IBPSA standards. Our goals around the IBPSA standards were to generate awareness. We’re in infection prevention, not for Virox. We want to teach the industry about infection prevention. We know our products are the best products. We don’t have
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