| |July 20208BATTLING THE COVID 19 - A STARTUP STORYusiness Continuity Planning or BCP is a fancy term that has been in circulation for quite some time. Enterprises, irrespective of their size and spread, are encouraged to create a system of prevention and recovery from potential threats. These threats could be like natural calamity like flood or earthquake, or it could be a human-made one like a terror attack. BCP helps companies prepare for such eventualities, protect personnel & assets, and ensure normalcy of function in as little time as possible. IN MY OPINIONBy Chandresh Dedhi, CIO, Ascent Health & Wellness SolutionBYet, even the best BCP drafted by the best companies in the world would have failed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The spread of the virus was so swift and so lethal that even the most advanced nations across the world were caught with their pants down, let alone companies. Typically, in BCP, you plan for a few hours, days, or at best week. In any case, there is always the geographical redundancy. If the servers in one site are down, the DR servers in other remote location can take-over.Who could have imagined a scenario in which over 190 countries will be impacted, the most extensive lockdown imposed across countries and cities with no definitive end? I mean, DR planning for a World War-3 situation would have been easier than for COVID-19. But then, none of us had any choice.Preparing for the ScaleWe at Ascent Health were also taken aback by this pandemic. Ascent Health is in the business of pharma distribution and is an essential lever of the pharma supply chain in India. When the lockdown started in India, the entire supply chain in India came to a grinding halt. Given the critical nature of our business and the fact that government too emphasized on the availability of medicines, we decided to change our tactic. First, the leadership team got together and drafted a plan that would ensure that the business continuity was not disrupted. Secondly, individuals across functions & geographies were empowered and encouraged to take-up a commanding role. We were so much focused on ensuring a smooth supply of medicines that when even pharmaceutical companies were unable to deliver goods, we sent our vehicles to pick-up the products to ensure the availability of medicines across. When the majority of the pharmaceutical distributors were unable to serve their customers (medical stores and e-pharmacy companies), we
< Page 7 | Page 9 >