Globalisation Poses Urgent Questions
ICT professionals tend to view globalisation as an inevitable and positive force for change. But, asks Simon Perry, what sort of a world does it get us involved in?
India also borders Bangladesh, a poverty-stricken nation of 161 million people that is projected to suffer first and foremost from the rising sea levels likely to result from a warming global climate. Bangladeshi refugees fleeing from such a disaster would primarily head into India, as it is unlikely that neighbouring Burma will open its borders in any meaningful way.
Russia: Mafia Oligarchs Rule An Environmental Dinosaur
Meanwhile Russia beckons, a vast land home to some of the world’s worst environment atrocities. On the international stage Russia’s gas and energy industry is on track to hold much of Europe at economic ransom at will.
Russian cybercriminals are almost an InfoSec conference cliché – a well developed criminal army in the form of spammers, ID thieves, hackers for hire, paedophilia rings and purveyors of botnets.
Arrayed against the cybercriminals is a judiciary and police force counted as being one of the world’s most corrupt – most of the people gaoled for corruption in Russia in 2008 were working for the police service.
The incalculable wealth of the oligarchs does not trickle down to the pockets of the average Russian citizen. The average lifespan of a Russian male is 59; lower than that of a Bangladeshi. And thirty percent of all male deaths in Russia are due to alcoholism.
… And All That Is Now Part Of Your Company
“So what?” you might ask “I don’t plan on going to these places on holiday.
The answer is that in the event that these countries become the home to a data centre hosting your data, these are the social and economic conditions that the workers managing your personal data are going to be living in.
The economic health and stability of the country has a direct influence on the physical and mental wellbeing of the working population, and thus has a direct relationship on the likelihood that a worker will be tempted into a criminal act.
In the event of there being a problem of a criminal nature, it is to the police forces and judicial structures to which you will turn, corrupt and under-resourced as they are.
All this is not to say that offshoring is inherently a bad thing, or that globalisation of ICT services provision is a bad thing. It does mean however that a degree of sophistication is evidently lacking amongst the ICT vendor leadership ranks with regards to world affairs, along with an incomplete and blinkered understanding of what those affairs might mean to the security, resilience and governance of any ICT assets placed in the regions.
When globalisation is discussed, the issues are only the labour rates, resource and land costs and tax rates to be found “over there”. The debate should cover people, social and economic inclusion, law and order, international relations and internal stability.
Think global, act local, consider and plan in a joined up manner.
Simon Perry is a principal associate analyst at Quocirca, specialising in the implications of environmental sustainability on business models.
