Introduction

Change is inevitable, preparing for the change and responding to it is the most challenging part, this can be done with strong leadership in an organization and the database management of the organization. It is the role of the leadership team to understand the change management requirements with the help of the data and lead the organization to a scalable and sustainable future. Nokia and Blackberry are the perfect examples where the leadership of the companies did not respond appropriately to the emerging market of cell phones and led to disruption of the organization on the other hand companies like Apple and Samsung took it as an opportunity to become the pinnacle in the cell phone industry.

I completely disagree with the statement; you cannot predict all the changes in the business environment (think of the COVID pandemic) so it is really not possible or worthwhile to develop data collection plans and strategies to deal with change. Agree or disagree with references and personal evaluation as predicting a situation like pandemic may still be difficult, however studying the data points to understand and analyze the impact and consequences of the pandemic would help the organization to be better prepared for any such future situation. There are companies like Google, Microsoft, and Adobe that have business units, which are always prepared for business continuity in such events. Adobe has a department that specifically looks into the business continuity plan and has been preparing for adverse situations if such a situation arises.

Research

According to Armit, (2007) One of the oldest axioms within the field of disaster recovery or business continuity planning is that a plan that is not tested or maintained is of little value, or in some cases worse than no plan at all.

Business continuity planning has closely been associated with Adobe, as the company has been consistently focusing on its business continuity and disaster recovery planning in accordance with the ISO 22301. So BCP provides the leverage to the business to plan for an unforeseen event such as a natural catastrophe or pandemic-like situations, where the business continues to function in the same manner as it was before the event.

The Adobe BCDR is composed of 2 basic components, one is Business continuity planning and the other is disaster recovery planning.

Adobe corporate business continuity plan

Adobe Corporate's business plan is essentially a framework that is adopted by the business to recover, stabilize and respond to the catastrophic events that, perhaps could disrupt the business operations and processes. It is being tested continuously to emphasize, the importance of planning in such an event. This is a highly data-driven process, where the disaster teams continuously check all the facilities and PEST environments to understand the impact and take decisions accordingly.

Disaster recovery and resilience plans

The primary processes involved in maintaining a recoverable operational environment are backup and redundancy. Since Adobe offers SAAS-based services and is heavily dependent on a very specific technical architecture. The process of recovery and resilience revolves around Critical Business functions and Business Impact Analysis. Each product or business unit may have a specific recovery plan.

Annual Testing Procedure

Adobe has an annual testing procedure in place to prepare for such a situation, the teams are required to execute the planned strategy without impacting production environments and sacrificing customer experience. This helps them prepare for any calamity or pandemic-like situation. Perhaps, one of the prime examples is why Adobe survived flourished during the pandemic.

Conclusion

Taking the example of Adobe shows how leadership and database management can lead to a well-developed contingency plan for any kind of change or even a disaster. The disaster recovery plan of adobe is so robust that Pandemic could not have an impact on their business, and they are even more prepared for adverse situations than Covid-19. This can be a very important lesson in change management as not only Adobe but several other IT companies were able to scale up and sustain during this time. This is all because of their rigorous planning and understanding of data and preparedness that they can mitigate change and this change is driven from the leadership team to all functions of the business. The job of the leadership is to take the right decision at the right time, this can be done only with the right data and substantial foresight into the future. A lot of companies can learn leadership and change management nuances from Adobe and some other major IT companies so that they can not only be well prepared for any such situation but also look for newer avenues and possibilities to create a robust and sustainable business model.

Q. After reading the above paragraphs, what is the most valuable comment?