IT leaders must stand by India

Indian IT suppliers are global organisations

As a business magazine for technology professionals, Computing has no real desire to write about terrorism. But once again, with great regret, such despicable acts have been forced onto the radar of IT decision-makers.

Over the past week, there has been much written about how the outrages perpetrated in Mumbai might affect India’s burgeoning IT sector -­ perhaps the biggest success story of one of the fastest-developing economies in the world.
It is with genuine reluctance that we add our thoughts to the debate.

Considerations such as offshore outsourcing are so entirely trivial compared with the appalling and tragic loss of life and the impact on people’s everyday lives in India. But it is inevitable that IT leaders will be faced with worried chief executives asking them whether or not the attacks will affect their offshore plans. Many of the big banks, for example ­- struggling already with the financial crisis ­- are dependent on Indian suppliers for development work that will be key to their survival in a recession.

There are parallels with the 9/11 attacks in the US and the 7/7 bombings in London. Amid all the carnage, it wasn’t long before some technology experts were raising the issues of disaster recovery and business continuity. Then, as now, a sense of perspective is the most important response.

In purely business terms, New York and Washington soon got back on their feet. London took great pride in proving that it was more resilient than its attackers hoped. Mumbai will do the same.

The worst thing that Western companies could do is review their offshore outsourcing plans. Such business relationships are more important to India now than ever. It is becoming a cliché, but we must not do anything that suggests the terrorists are winning.

Indian IT suppliers are global organisations, with offshore development centres around the world. The horror of Mumbai will not affect their ability to deliver ­ even as it clearly has a huge emotional impact on their employees.

IT leaders are right to be aware of the risks, but would be wrong to turn their back on India now.