Business Continuity in the Telecom Sector During Turbulence Time in the Republic of Yemen (Case Study: TeleYemen Corporation)

Abstract

Business continuity at any circumstances is the most important practice to be done by companies and organizations in order to survive, especially when a disaster event suddenly occurs. Today, almost every sector uses information technology and telecom services to run and advance their business and compete in the 21st century’s environment. The dependency of the telecom sector makes it very important sector since all sectors run their business based on the telecom sector during this interconnected and global business world. Although turbulence times and wars affect all sectors, its effects on the telecom sector is more severe. Since 2014, the Republic of Yemen is going through a civil and regional war which it consequently effects all companies in the country. The war effects were more sever on TeleYemen, the company chosen for this case study. The company needed to overcome these effects challenges by adopting business continuity management best practices and standards.  TeleYemen is the most critical telecom service provider in Yemen as it is the main international gateway for telecom and Internet services in Yemen. Therefore, any disruption in TeleYemen will affect not just any company but the whole country, including all governmental and non-governmental sectors since they use TeleYemen services locally and globally. To evaluate the current business continuity situation in TeleYemen during turbulence times, this study evaluates the readiness of business continuity in IT departments. The main objective of the study is to find to what extent BC implementation meets the international standard’s requirements and offers appropriate recommendations to management. A single embedded case study used, with a combination of descriptive quantitative and descriptive qualitative approaches.