BCM is an enterprise-wide risk-based approach to develop proactive measures for ensuring continued availability of business support systems and mitigating disruption risks.

According to a survey conducted by the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) and KPMG, the business risks covered by corporate under BCM are customer end risks (78 per cent), supplier end risks (60 per cent), IT hardware and software risks (80 per cent), business core process risks (78 per cent) and business partner risks (52 per cent).

The two organisations surveyed 70 corporates representing information technology services (ITS) and IT-enabled services (ITES) segments to assess the BCM preparedness of the Indian software and service sector.

The key aspects covered in the survey are: level of business dependence on IT and an awareness of the need for business continuity; understanding of BCM within the organisation; business disruption experiences; organisational support for business continuity initiatives and current policies, procedures and mechanisms to ensure continuity of business.

Says Sanjay Dhawan, executive director, KPMG: "The objective of this study was to determine the extent to which an increased understanding for the need for BCM has led to tangible improvements in the BCM preparedness of the ITS and ITES industries in India."

Adds Kiran Karnik, president, Nasscom: "With increasing reliance on enterprise-wide applications and IT infrastructure, organisations cannot afford prolonged downtimes and/or inflexible processes. The ability of business to recover from a disaster and minimise losses depends on its state of preparedness in dealing with business interruptions and restoring operations."

A few highlights of the preliminary findings include:

• The business risks covered by corporate under BCM are customer end risks (78 per cent); supplier end risks (60 per cent); IT hardware and software risks (80 per cent); business core process risks (78 per cent) and business partner risks (52 per cent).
  
• 78 per cent of the respondents stated that they have a dedicated IT head in the organisation.
  
• Two industry segments that attach the maximum importance to the BCM initiatives (as clients to ITS and ITES companies) were banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI: 40 per cent) and software and service providers (35 per cent).
  
• BCM was considered an on going initiative by 95 percent of the respondents.
  
• 50 per cent of the respondents did not face any major disruptions in the last two years.
  
• 42 per cent of the respondents reported their ability to recover operations in the event of any contingency in less than three hours.
  
• 66 per cent of the respondents reported their ability to continue operations in the event of the primary site getting lost or rendered unsuitable for work.
  
• Key mechanisms currently deployed for ensuring availability of IT systems are backups (100 per cent) followed by RAID (70 per cent) and alternative routing (65 per cent).
  
• 87 per cent of the respondents have periodic testing of their backup media.
  
• 75 per cent of the respondents had multiple vendors for telecom infrastructure.
  
• 60 per cent of the respondents' senior management reviews their BCM plan.
  
• 50 per cent of the respondents have an identified crisis management centre available.
  
• 52 per cent of the respondents have annual employee training programmes in BCM.
  
• 21 per cent of the respondents did not have a separate IT budget and 61 per cent did not have an Information Security (IS) budget.
  
• 71 per cent of the respondents did not have a corporate-wide documented and tested business continuity plan.

The survey also reveals a huge need for manpower in the area of BCM. Nearly, three- fourths of the respondents reported the absence of dedicated resources for BCM. With an increasing realisation of the importance of disaster preparedness by companies and their customers, the demand for skilled manpower for business continuity is bound to be high.