We have been recently hearing news of a possible slowdown in the IT sector. These fears are primarily due to a stronger rupee and the recession in the USA. The major IT companies like TCS, Infosys, Wipro, etc have a strong top line and the bottom line will be better once the dollar regains its strength. The big IT companies of India have already seen a slow-down during 2001-2003 and they have tackled the crisis in great style, of course, the number of employees that were working in that period was far too less compared to what it is now.

Most top companies will have or should have a well mechanised plan for any eventuality. Some of these giants have designations such as Chief Risk Officer or Chief Risk Management Officer whose job is to prepare contingency plans for any probable adverse situation. Most small and medium IT companies will have risk mitigation strategies put down under their overall organisation’s strategic planning. This article aims to bring in the thinking among individuals who haven’t planned a contingency for risks such as IT sector slow down. There are two factors associated with risk viz., probability and impact. Each individual should write down the risks associated to his/her profession and meticulously go about analysing them in terms of probability (low/medium/high) of its occurrence and the impact (low/medium/high) it has as shown in the figure below. One of the major risks for most individuals is taking the pink slip (losing the job), while closure of the company that he/she works for…, could be a related risk. The individuals should realise that there are some external factors, which might cause the risk and one cannot do much about managing those factors favourably. Most Indian employees do not bother to think “What if…” especially when the probable scenario is going to be unpleasant. The mentality is “Let’s wait for the day to come and then we will see…”. The impact is going to be severe if the person has lot of financial commitments to fulfil.

There are four major risk management strategies viz, risk avoidance, risk acceptance, risk transference and risk mitigation and the best out of them being risk mitigation. One has to leave out risks with low probability and low impact and focus on those with high probability, high impact ones. Risk mitigation strategy for an individual is all about equipping oneself with a great degree of indispensability.

Individuals should carry out the mitigation by creating a “SWOT” Matrix (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) for themselves. Each person should carry out introspection and fill the matrix without any prejudice. One has to ask following questions to complete the matrix.

* Do I have the basic skills to perform exceedingly well in my role?
* Are these skills enough for me to be a top performer?
* Are my colleagues more competent than me?
* Am I updating my existing skills?
* Are the skills within me in-line with the market’s demand? 
* Do I have any special skills in me that make me indispensable for the organisation?
* Do I have someone who can help me during crisis? Some of the software professionals have their spouses working too…, one has to check if the spouse’s job is in the same industry and is equally vulnerable too and if it is, then probably conduct a similar analysis.
* Do I have enough funds to help me ride over the crisis to support my family? (On an average it will take a person around two to three months to find a suitable job.)

“Opportunities and threats” are external in nature and therefore one should exploit the opportunities. For example, there are a lot of predictions about the boom in retail industry in India and the huge employment opportunities that are going to be created. The thinking should be “Can I develop an expertise required for retail industry?” A quick course on supply-chain management and how IT can support it, would be a definite help. The idea of conducting such exercise is not only to have a “feel good factor” but also to be prepared for the rainy day. This exercise has to be visited at least once in a quarter. Having completed the SWOT Matrix, one has to work on maximising the strengths and minimising the weaknesses and work out strategies accordingly. A good training programme could help individuals to overcome most weaknesses that are academic in nature. If the software professionals have a problem in attending a formal training programme due to non-availability of time, they could enroll themselves for a good e-learning programme or carry out a self study with the help of good books and Internet.

Finally, there is a lot of wisdom in making hay even in the darkness of midnight. 

The writer is Associate Vice President, Valtech India. He can be contacted at E-mail: yc.roy@valtech.co.in