Advertisment

Hot Technologies: Business Continuity: Its all about Managing Risk

author-image
DQI Bureau
New Update

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.

Advertisment

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.

It is

becoming an integral part of the overall business plan, rather than an

afterthought. But technological challenges still remain
Advertisment

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.

Advertisment

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

Advertisment