The Challenge of Change at Teradata Global Consulting Center (GCC) Pakistan (A and B)

• Published in: Asian journal of management cases 2011-09, Vol.8 (2), p.143-170
• Main Authors: Khurshid, Anwar, Imran, Sadaf
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0972-8201; 0973-0621
• DOI: 10.1177/097282011100800204

The cases ‘The Challenge of Change at Teradata Global Consulting Center (GCC) Pakistan (A and B)’ describe the issues and challenges faced by a professional services organization, Teradata Global Consulting Center (GCC) Pakistan, in implementing international standards for an information security management system, namely, ISO 27001. Being an outsource company based in Pakistan, its international clientele were concerned about the security of their proprietary data. The company expected that ISO 27001 certification would help their business development by retaining and acquiring international clients. An ISO team was formed to implement the certification throughout the office and a date in July 2007 was fixed for the final audit, giving the team nine months to complete the implementation. The ISO team faced a great deal of resistance from the Line Managers who were supposed to implement the policies in their respective teams. The Chairman of the ISMF himself was not happy with the direction in which the certification was heading, and he eventually resigned. With the impending external audit coming up, the ISO team leader was worried if they would attain certification. Case B narrates that Kashif Jadoon was made the new ISMF Chairman. Soon after getting on board, Kashif realized that the documentation was complete but when it came to implementation, there were several gaps. Kashif also observed that there was resistance from the Line Managers and their teams. Kashif decided to use a different approach, which he called the ‘reverse strategy’. He decided to try to get a consensus across the organization about the need to get the certification. The managers were made accountable for the teams and people would be reported for non-compliance regardless of their designations. The team members were also told about the business value of the certification. Different competitions were held to further motivate the employees. The implementation process started with a new vigour. A second internal audit was conducted by the ISO team to further get the company ready for the final external audit. The ISO team and the ISMF now waited for the external audit to be conducted.