Who can forget the graphic images of 9/11 and floods in Mumbai being played over and over again on television screens across the world? While it helped increase TRPs for television channels, it was bad news for most businesses. It was bad PR for many companies who had to shut down for several days. Given these uncertain times, the role, responsibility and challenges for a CIO are increasing. As the supply chain stretches across the globe, companies are becoming highly vulnerable to uncertainties ranging from natural disasters to manmade disasters, or civil unrest.

Indias Plans
India is the worlds favorite service-delivery location. For the US or European businesses to run uninterrupted, Indias business continuity is not just desirable, it is a must.

India has a third world infrastructure and a worse-than-third-world public disaster management system. Take for example the results of an AT&T business continuity study in the US: as much as 41% of firms in the US take action only when the government issues an alert. Now, if Indian companiesespecially the offshore services firms- think that way, they will be out of business in no time. That means, they will not only have to plan for business continuity, they will have to take proactive action to preempt any discontinuity.

They have done a fairly good job. It starts with basic infrastructure. Talk to any CTO in a BPO company about his telecom infrastructure. What he would definitely tell you is what he has done to mitigate risk. He is on AT&T as well as BT; he is on VSNL as well as Bharti; he is on FLAG and SEA-ME-WE-2. And he is on Atlantic as well as Pacific. And he has been doing that much before business continuity became a buzzword.

Whether it is Tsunami in Chennai or Floods in Mumbai and Bangalore, Indian IT and BPO companies have ensured that their business operations are run, even though sometimes on a reduced scale. Firms like WNS Global Services, Hinduja TMT, Lason India and Satyam Computers have ensured that business for their BPO clients will not be affected during natural disasters.

A lot remains to be done though. For example, few BPO companies today can shift operations overnight to another location. Though sites are linked, very often they are not warm sites; and even if they are, scaling up is not always possible, as it is people-intensive work. Having a DR data center is one thing; and ensuring that a BPO process goes on uninterrupted in another city is another.

However, the global services industry is still light years ahead of other Indian industries. In many, business continuity planning is still in its infancy. Analysts expect that in the financial services, telecom, and many other critical services sectors, the focus on BCP will grow exponentially even in the Indian domestic market.

Sudesh Prasad
sudeshp@cybermedia.co.in

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