India Inc lags in adequate cyber incident response strategies

Vantage point: Insights from cutting-edge research

Corporate India has encountered rising cases of cybercrime but incident response mechanisms to tackle these risks remain low, states EY’s Fraud Investigation & Dispute Services report, titled “Responding to cybercrime incidents in India”. The report highlights that a majority (about two-thirds) of businesses were unable to detect a cyber incident in real time due to insufficient understanding of the motive behind the attack. Almost 89 per cent stated a need to enhance cyber laws, while 55 per cent said laws need to be strengthened and 34 per cent said they need to be more clear.

Further, one-fifth of the respondents asserted that employees are one of the weakest links in an organisation’s defence mechanisms. Most companies tend to put in a concentrated effort to mitigate external threats, but the impact of insider threats is undermined. It is critical for organisations to strike a balance in managing both internal as well as external risks to protect critical assets.

Right mix of technology is essential for HR to align with business needs

According to Mercer’s 2017 HR transformation study — How HR Needs to Change — a little more than one-third (35 per cent) of organisations worldwide employ an HR service delivery model that includes the three components of centres of expertise, HR business partners , and HR shared services The successful operation of all three components is an attribute of high-performing HR functions.
 

In a rapidly changing workplace, the HR functions’ slow transformation does not align with the C-suite’s plans for more change and support. The majority (93 per cent) of executives are planning an organisation redesign in the next two years with 41 per cent expecting to move support functions to shared services. Organisations with HR functions that continuously evolve their HR service delivery model and invest in technology perform significantly better than those that do not.

Energy providers fall below expectations for digital customer experiences

Squeezed by falling profits, technology disruption and outside competitors targeting their customers, energy providers face the additional challenge of falling short of consumers’ expectations for digital channels and personalised experiences, says the latest edition of the annual New Energy Consumer research by Accenture. Consumers’ expectations have become more demanding due to mass digitalisation, which is challenging energy providers to keep pace with standards set in other industries such as banking. While digital customer experiences are essential, one-third of energy consumers said their provider’s digital channels like websites and mobile applications could not meet their online requests and they had to contact a live agent. For consumers who had interacted with their energy providers via digital channels over the past 12 months, digital dissatisfaction stemmed from issues like having trouble finding information on energy providers’ websites (38 per cent).