Self Discipline is the Best

One thought that the industry would be able to handle it on its own, but no

Nasscom, with the full backing of the Government of India is finally stepping in

to set up self-discipline mechanisms for the growing software and BPO industry.

An independent self-regulatory organization (SRO) will soon come up for

establishing, monitoring, and enforcing data protection standards. This was one

area that was getting breached repeatedly, threatening to impact India's

reputation as the world's choice for outsourcing.

Expected to commence operations in the next three to six months, the SRO will

lay down best practices, and provide training in the area of privacy and data

protection. It will also help companies with processes and technologies for

capacity building while not compromising with data security.

While this is a good move, there are quite a few challenges that Nasscom will

have to not just keep in mind, but will actually have to work towards, to make

SRO effective. And for successfully doing so, it will have to take everybody

along-right now there are quite a few small players in software and BPO who

are not members of Nasscom. For their buy-in, the high profile industry body,

often seen as the voice of only the large players, will have to take the first

steps.

A key component of SRO success will be the industry's faith in the National

Skills Registry, which was set up sometime back. So far it has got only 24

companies out of the over 1,500 in the business; and about 25,000 employees out

of the lakhs in the trade have registered. While most security breaches that

have got the attention of the media have happened in large BPO/ITeS

organizations, many of these problems in smaller companies are said to be going

un-reported.

The other challenge is with respect to some amendments that have been

proposed in the Indian IT Act. While Nasscom officials say that it is in the

final stages of approval and will be tabled in the coming session of Parliament,

there are some unconfirmed reports that say that it might take some more time

than just a few more months. Nasscom will have to use its good relationships

with the government to make this happen fast.

While the SRO also envisages for itself the role of enforcing the code of

conduct, it will surely need the support of law enforcement agencies. Again, the

readiness of Indian police and judicial system to deal with cyber crimes is not

anything to write home about. Even though there are plans to set up training

labs in Pune, Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad, and Kolkata, the total number of

policemen actually trained so far is very small-1,800 so far. In fact, Nasscom

will have to quickly do some capacity building so that more enforcement

personnel are trained. And it might be a good idea to get members of judiciary

also exposed to crimes, laws and policies relating to IP, security, and data

protection.

Finally, it must be understood by all members of the industry, big or small,

that the success of India in software and BPO now depends not just on low costs

and quality work, but also on the confidence level their international customers

have. And security related processes and policies will play a big role here.

They will have to offer their full support

As global customers give more high-end work to Indian software companies, and

start outsourcing more critical work to Indian BPO organizations, they are also

increasing their stake in India. With emerging laws on security compliance which

are now becoming more and more mandatory, India does not have any other way out

but to quickly update itself with the best practices globally, if it has to be

the best destination.