Offshoring and Internet Cables cut in Egypt
I was at a meeting with CXOs and technology leaders of a client recently when the topic jumped to Risk, Disaster Recovery and Risk Mitigation. And as expected, the first question that popped up was the recent Internet cable breakdown in Egypt [CNN article] and its impact on offshoring and our operations
Thanks to varied viewpoints of bloggers - Nicholas Carr, Blogger News Network Marc Parent et al - the issues, including the ‘global security’ ‘sabotage’ and economic impact have been debated threadbare during the past few weeks. The media was also quick to ‘analyze’ the impact on software majors in South Asia, and naturally, Infosys figured in a fair number of articles too. [e.g Economic Times, Finance Week]
The question of Disaster Recovery, using this incident as a ‘case in point’ is bound to pop up during presentations by service firms that have operations in Asia and elsewhere. And I am sure issue figures in internal discussion at firms sourcing to their subsidiaries and captives too. In my mind, there are more than a few dimensions to consider while analyzing potential risks and disasters, including:
- The DR strategy and practice of your service firms and offshore partner(s). Case in point, Infosys’ world-class DR and risk mitigation plan that has stood the test of time during the past years.
- The DR and risk mitigation strategy in place in the geography you are sourcing to. [e.g. Is India or China or other country you are sourcing to vulnerable to threats? What are the Geo-Political risks, threats and mitigation strategies?]
- Aligning the DR plan for sourcing with your firm’s risk mitigation strategy [what is your risk tolerance? What is the nature of work being sourced? Do you want to work with the service provider to formulate a cohesive strategy or do you want to get inputs from external/third-parties?]
Back to our meeting with the client’s team; how did we address the query? There was no way I would brush aside the incident. After analyzing the facts of the case, we got around to discussing the ‘what if’ of such incidents, going back to the strategic impact of DR and risk mitigation, especially as applicable to their particular scenario…. essentially addressing their concern (Yes, these are the facts… but what does it mean to me and my firm’s sourcing strategy?)
And when one begins to take a more holistic view of Risk, Risk Mitigation and Disaster Recovery, incidents like the cable being cut in Egypt become yet another ‘case study’ added to the list.
