Terror may hit outsourcing biz Text Size: | BANGALORE : India ranks No. 1 in the world among outsourcing destinations. It also ranks No. 2 among countries hit most by terror attacks, according to a KPMG study.



India faced 3,906 terror attacks between 2004 and 2008, while China, the second most sought after outsourcing destination, ranks 46th in the terror ranking, having witnessed only 22 attacks in the same period.



For Indian outsourcers, these are worrying statistics. Because terror can push foreign outsourcing clients to competing locations.



Many are now taking steps to ensure work never stops, or damage is limited -- a process the industry calls business continuity management (BCM). "IT companies have a large number of people and the offices are located in well-known places. These make them easy targets. To counter any attack, IT companies are following the 4D framework -- Deter, Defend, Detect and Delay," says Abhijit Varma, associate director, KPMG India. These include rigorous checks at the entry points, having armed security guards, training of employees and working with local authorities (details in adjacent box).



Companies like Infosys and Wipro have comprehensive security policies, but never talk about the details of the policies as this is considered sensitive information.



One basic measure some companies adopt is to give laptops to employees. An official in MNC IT company Yodlee Infotech says 90% of its employees are given laptops with internet connectivity so they can connect to the company server from anywhere and work as usual.



Many are beginning to set up "mirror sites" or "disaster recovery centres" that duplicate operational locations. ICICI Bank, for instance, has an operational customer service centre in Mumbai and a disaster recovery centre in Hyderabad that stores the same data and which can take up the Mumbai work if anything were to happen to the Mumbai facility.



Some like Honeywell Technologies have the facility to hold back a part of its employees in the office in the event of an emergency in the city, giving boarding and food facilities on campus till things return to normalcy.



Organizations also work in tandem with their facilities in other countries to mitigate a critical situation. "If a problem persists for a long time, our work can be shifted to other centres in the Asia Pacific region," says an official with the global delivery centre for Bank of America (BA Continuum Solutions).



Dhiraj Lal, country manager, Business Continuity Management Institute (BCMI) India advices: "Companies must understand risks and adopt a business continuity policy. As IT companies work for foreign clients they need to ensure business continuity in all conditions." Follow us on Twitter for TOI top stories Twitter Facebook Share Print Email Save Comment Text Size: | More Stories from this section