BPO Hub: Private armed guards and sniffer dogs
By Nitin Paul

The Mumbai terror strikes which killed more than 160 people, including security personnel, have shaken the BPO industry.  Many organisations have now decided to beef us security for their offices in National Capital Region (NCR) including Gurgaon. Some BPOs such as Sparsh have decided to hire armed guards for the first time ever to protect their Agents and offices.

Building companies which house IT companies, especially of US and UK origin, have decided to review their security plans, increase security personnel deployment in plain cloths and even buy sophisticated security gadgets such as bomb detection kits, metal detectors and reinforced door frames.   The Business Process Industry Association of India (BPIAI) President Sam Chopra has stressed on the need for the association to come out with its own security standards for the BPO sector. This, he said, would reassure potential overseas investors and clients, even as it would enable domestic companies to be prepared for ongoing security audits and checks.

Sam Chopra said this during a session organized by BPIAI in association with CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) on December 5 in Gurgaon.  Sparsh BPO in Udyog Vihar has decided to deploy armed security guards – a decision which is without precedent in this BPO hub. Requesting anonymity, a BPO official said that the decision was taken in the wake of the recent terrorist attack in Mumbai. The idea behind hiring armed security guards is to avoid forced entry into the BPO premises by miscreants.  Even the visitors, including vendors, would not be allowed entry in this BPO unless the concerned employee himself came to receive them personally at the gates.

Earlier, visitors including the vendors could enter most BPOs after registering their names at the security gates. The DLF Group that has maximum number of swanky commercial buildings housing a plethora of multinational companies of US and UK origin in the IT and non-IT sector in three malls, has totally revamped its security plans. It has also floated DLF Cyber city just off the Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway in Gurgaon. The company already possesses a couple of bomb blankets. It also has a dog squad and a bomb disposal squad.    

According to DLF officials, a hi-level meeting of the top-level executives managing the commercial buildings and malls was called to address the security issue. DLF also conducted security drills on December 2. The company has deployed additional security staff in civilian cloths around its buildings in DLF Cybercity, and has carved out plans to add more dog and bomb detection squads. What has left the IT industry as well as the developers worried is the fact that Gurgaon is a tech hub of global companies of American and British origin, and this makes the city more vulnerable to potential terror strikes.

Gurgaon has over 250 small, medium and big IT and BPO sector companies such as Dell International Services BPO, Genpact, Convergys, American Express and IBM Daksh.     Gurgaon police have already held meetings with the developers who have rented out their premises to tech companies in their swanky commercial buildings, and they have been issued special security directions. It has also increased deployment of police personnel in PCR vans.