1.Executive Summary
The concise report outlines the BCI’s global strategy and its relevance to India with emphasis on the Kolkata and NE region. This report outlines the overarching strategic direction intended by the newly formed Kolkata and NE forum and its alignment with the stated 5 year roadmap by BCI India chapter. The short, mid and long-term objectives of the Kolkata and NE forum are articulated with a strong focus on the 3 imperatives (community, intellectual and commercial) laid out by BCI global strategy. The objectives also ensure that they target the specified imperatives, in turn honouring the 4 Pillars strategy mandated by the BCI.
2. BCI global strategy and relevance to India
Economic and core sector growth are aided by industries and communities that foster resilience in the face of unforeseen disasters or eventualities. A competitive market such as India requires significant awareness of business continuity to safeguard its operations and data against untoward circumstances. Additionally, global clients and foreign investors attribute organisations and markets with appropriate operational resilience and business continuity plans to attractive and advanced regions. Moreover, this ensures that business operations are less likely to get disrupted and therefore decrease the overall ongoing cost of operating in that region.
India has experienced numerous disasters in the last decade, ranging from natural (eg .the recent Kerala floods) to manmade (i.e the unfortunate Mumbai attacks). These events have been a major source of concern for national governments, international communities and associated agencies in devising disaster recovery and intervention strategies. It is in the interest of the Indian business community and government agencies, that a continuous culture of business continuity is embedded in the various sectors operating in India.
2.1 4-Pillars Strategy (PRESS)
BCI’s Indian chapter has witnessed a rise in participation since its inauguration in 2014. The six forums have hosted a range of conferences and events in a bid to promote the vision and objectives of BCI across the country. In consultation with The BCI UK, board members of BCI India have formalised a 4 –Pillars strategy that enable all forums to align their goals to the over arching objectives in India.
The focus areas of the 4 –Pillars are elaborated in table 1. below:
2.2 BCI India -Roadmap for the next 5 years
The BCI global network has envisioned a five year roadmap for achieving its long-term strategic objectives. As stated by Mr. Thorpe (Executive director, BCI )in a recent webinar, it is imperative for BCI India to align its local and regional inititives with that of the global strategy, in order to foster a dynamic ecosystem that promotes business continuity as an integral part of managing commercial, governmental and industrial operations. In addition to informing business continuity practitioners and non-practitioners about the best practices , Mr. Thorpe also emphasised on the importance of research in contributing to the existing body of knowledge and inititaing new directions of intellectual inquiry.
In essence ,the purpose of the BCI is serve as a “friendly port in a storm” and broaden its scope in providing membership, engagaing with corporate organisations and institutes and facilitate active participation from volunteers.
The 5 year plan consists of synchronising the 4 –pillars with 3 major imperatives. Figure 1. Below elaborates on the ways in which the impertaives sustain the 4 –pillars.
2.3 BCI India achievements
The BCI India chapter has gained significant momentum since its establishment. There have been successful strategic partnerships with other associations and opportunities for thought leaders and experts to spearhead various conferences in the last two years.
Figure 2. shows the major events and achievements of the BCI India. The latest event that had received overwhelming response from participants and business continuity practitioners was the formal launch of BCI Kolkata and NE Forum in June. The theme was “Business Continuity through Resilience” and panelists addressed the need for business continuity in scenarios involving natural calamities (e.g. Bhuj earthquake in Gujarat), Geo-political scenarios (e.g. 9/11 attack) and cyber incidences (e.g. DDoS attacks and ransomewares).
In summary, certain strategies were considered to be critical in preventing major disruptions and operational failures. These included Business Impact Analysis , Risk Assessment and Effective communication to stakeholders who may be severely impacted.
3.Strategic Roadmap- BCI Kolkata and NE
The launch of the Kolkata BCI forum was led by Mr. Varshney (Chair of BCI Hyderabad forum) in collaboration with Mr. Chaudhuri (Regional Director East of Nasscom). The venture was mutually agreed upon and supported by Nasscom and the BCM community in Kolkata. It is crucial for BCI Kolkata to sustain the enthusiam and increase its online and offline presence in the region. Furthermore, this requires a concrete and integrated strategy that would posture the forum as a dynamic platform that aims to enhance knowledge, innovation and resilience for businesses and governmental projects.
3.1 Short, Mid and long term Objectives
BCI Kolkata is still at a nascent stage and therefore requires a sequential approach in realising its short, mid and long term objectives. Figure 3. below articulates the short, mid and long term objectives , in line with the 3 imperatives discussed earlier.
4. Assumptions and Constraints
4.1 Assumptions
1. The committee will be formalised and signed off to operate from Kolkata and NE.
2. The core team members will be provided with their relevant roles and responsibilities.
3. Code of conduct and Communication plan will be formalised for effectiveness of the agenda and action plan.
4.2 Constraints
Lack of basic awareness and understanding of business continuity and its implications on various facets of business components such as supply chain, Information technology, project management, human resources and finance et. al.. This is further disenfranchised due to lack of standardised , regulated and internationally accredited training and knowledge exchange hubs in various industries (e.g agriculture, health, manufacturing and education) creating a knowledge – demand-supply gap that further marginalises the non-practitioners from gaining access to to pre-requisite information and training that would lead them to becoming future practitioners of business continuity.
In order to highlight the factors affecting the perpetual knowledge gap evident in Kolkata and NE ., Figure 4. Highlights the pain-points where the 3 imperatives could be instrumental in targeting the solutions.
Figure 4. Factors adversely affecting the pre-requisite knowledge demand-supply gap in Business Continuity.
In summary, the pain points identified in the gap between the knowledge -demand –supply dynamic are the lack of organisation of knowledge, oversight of collaborative projects and concrete implementation of training programs in various industries.
5. Methodology
The methodology used to ease the pain points in the knowledge -demand-supply gap is replicated from the CRI Governance model(Canadian Rivers Institute)that provides a macro-framework through which strategic initiatives in the various organisations are implemented through corporate governance. Furthermore, for the purpose of this report, the CRI Governance model has been customised to target the problem of managing the business continuity knowledge gap in Kolkata and NE region.
6.Reference
1. Launch of Kolkata & NE forum
https://www.thebci.org/news/launch-of-kolkata-ne-forum.html
2. https://www.thebci.org/about-bci.html
3. Canadian Rivers Institute http://canadianriversinstitute.com/cri/governance/