|
With the frequency of man-made and natural disasters increasing, companies
across industries have realized the sense in having some kind of business
continuity plan in place. Loss of business on account of outage could result in
loss of trust with customers. This applies to those involved in domestic
businesses, as well as with IT services companies catering to their
international clients.
Way back in 2002, when tensions between India and Pakistan escalated and
fears were expressed of an imminent war, advisories were issued by analysts and
countries that were doing business in India or with India. The one by analyst
firm Gartner at that point in time had some words of advice for enterprises to
re-visit their partners business continuity plan. It went on to suggest the
companies to Understand the scope, limitations, and risks of the offshore
providers BCP or business continuity planning. Conduct an in-depth review of
the components of the plan and ensure that the enterprise is comfortable with
the key elements: data, platforms, connectivity, and succession planning for
workers. The vendor should have done dress rehearsals to show proof of concept
for its BCP. And work with the vendor to create customizations to its BCPs to
meet specific needs, on a company and project basis. It also talked about how
it is impossible to have a 100% back-up outside of India. It even went on to
suggest customers to review contracts, a very serious point to consider.
 |
Plans in Place
The level of preparedness of IT services companies can be gauged from the
example of Mastek, an offshore outsourcing services and IT applications company.
The companys increased fool-proof strategy was influenced to a large extent by
the events of 9/11, as well as 2002s heightened tension. The company
anticipates two major scenarios in case of an anticipated war or attack. In the
event of non-availability of its offshore development facility that is located
at Seepz, Mumbai, it is prepared to use Pune as a continuity of business site to
support its customers. There is another situation it is prepared for: in case
all the facilities in India get affected, it plans to activate its site in
Bristol, UK.
Industries like IT/BPO and BFSI are the early adopters of this concept. As
the very foundation of their business rests on the continuity of their 24x7
operations throughout the year. Business continuity becoming an integral part of
a companys strategy, is good news for vendors and solution providers who are
out with their products and solutions ensuring uninterrupted business.
Despite all the preparations that companies have put in place, there are
situations which are beyond their handas it happened in January 2008, when
submarine cables off the coast of Egypt in the Mediterranean got cut, impacting
businesses. While some companies with adequate failover plans could manage the
situation, others were not so lucky.
Sudesh Prasad
sudeshp@cybermedia.co.in Page(s) 1
|
Print
Comment
Email
Digg
Del.icio.us
Reddit
Twitter