Cyberabad COVID model features in Harvard, ISB case study

Hyderabad: Cyberabad’s COVID-19 crisis management model has been featured in a case study published by the Indian School of Business (ISB) and Harvard Business Publishing (HBP) through Harvard Business Impact.

Titled Operational Excellence in Crisis: Transforming Business Continuity in Cyberabad IT Corridor, the study was co-authored by Prof. Vijaya Sunder M of ISB, Hyderabad Police Commissioner V.C. Sajjanar, who was Cyberabad Police Commissioner during the pandemic, and Diti Joshi.

To mark the publication of the case study, Hyderabad Police Commissioner V.C. Sajjanar and Dr Krishna Yedula, Senior Vice-President at Virtusa and former Secretary General of the Society for Cyberabad Security Council (SCSC), met members of the core SCSC COVID team on Saturday, August 8. They recognised volunteers who worked alongside the police, government departments, healthcare institutions, and industry during the pandemic.

Focus of the case study

Within days of the pandemic’s onset, the Cyberabad Police coordinated with SCSC, government, industry, and healthcare bodies to transition close to 800,000 IT/ITES employees to a work-from-home model. This helped ensure uninterrupted operations across sectors including IT, IT-enabled services (ITES), pharmaceuticals, banking and financial services (BFSI), healthcare, manufacturing, retail and telecommunications.

The SCSC implemented a COVID response and business continuity framework that facilitated movement passes for essential staff, engaged with industry leaders, disseminated government advisories and supported workplace safety measures.

Balancing humanitarian aid with business continuity

As part of its initiatives, the SCSC set up a COVID Control Room, an Oxygen Bank and an oxygen care centre to support residents during the pandemic. It also organised plasma donation drives and conducted a single-day vaccination camp at HITEX that covered nearly 38,000 people.

It distributed food, personal protective equipment (PPE), medicines and other essential supplies, while extending support to frontline police personnel, healthcare workers, migrant labourers and families affected by the pandemic.

The case study is presented as a model of public-private partnership in crisis management and is expected to be referenced by governments, business schools and crisis management professionals. It is also available on: