Is India's sunrise industry secure?

Security in the ITeS/BPO sector is a significant issue, as these firms have to understand the twin issues of enterprise security and consumer privacy. Industry analysts say that captive firms of international organisations are relatively more mature as they are driven by their parent's international practices. But if you compare the average, adoption of international standards like HIPAA, BS 7799 or the Sarbanes Oxley Act is still restricted to a few companies.

Most industry analysts believed that the policies currently being used by companies in the ITeS/BPO segment currently focus on technology issues and related corrective measures like appropriate use of e-mail, system administration and network administration

The fact that the ITeS/BPO industry has a long way to go with respect to following international practices can even be seen from a preliminary survey conducted by Nasscom and KPMG to assess the Business Continuity Management (BCM) preparedness of the Indian software and services sector. The sample size of respondents comprised of respondents from both the IT services and the ITeS industry segments with 77 percent of respondents belonging to IT services, 13 percent belonging to ITeS and 10 percent of respondents surveyed agreeing that the demand for BCM has increased manifold, only a meagre 29 percent had a documented, corporate wide, tested BCM plan in place.

This indicates that even after incidents like 9/11, there are few takers for BCM in India.

As the Indian software services industry started following the quality mantra to differentiate itself against the competition, industry analysts believe that the ITeS/BPO industry too should look at adopting regulatory standards and certifications for competitive strength.