Shootout at a BPO

Shootouts are nothing new to love stories; boy discovers girlfriend is having an affair, gets drunk, finds a gun, and shoots the “other” boy — or some variation of such a story. Such stories remain in the news for a couple of days before getting overtaken by other newsworthy stories.
Last week’s shootout at HCL BPO in India, when a squabble between three employees (two lovers + one more) led to the shootout, too, made brief headlines before giving way to other news. Yet, for those Western companies seeking BPO and IT services from India, and for the Indian providers of such services, the news will have a more lasting impact.
Customer companies seeking services from third parties will be justified in asking a few questions:

1. If an employee at a leading BPO company could bring in a weapon into the office premises, what security measures could be breached at a lesser established BPO company ?
2. Agreed, physical security and data security are two separate things. Yet, if, despite all security measures discussed above, a company cannot keep its own employees secure, how can they keep the customer company’s data from being stolen ?

Please click here for a video news report by an Indian news channel.