Assimilation of Cloud Computing in Business Continuity Management for Container Terminal Operations in South Africa

Abstract

The pace and scope of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) continues to shape a new era, characterized by computing breakthroughs and pervasive digitalization, that has impacted organizational processes such as business continuity management (BCM). Coupled with a competitive and turbulent environment symbolized by disruptive events such as floods, power failures, and terrorist attacks; contemporary BCM systems require to be more responsive for organizations to maintain resilience. Such responsive BCM systems require to be digitally enabled, while anchored on modern computing paradigms such as cloud computing. A reconsideration of BCM systems is particularly compelling in port operations, where, business disruptions to the 24-hour business model characteristic of Container Terminal Operations (CTOs) can mean huge losses not only to the port entity(ies), but also to national economies. This study responds to these recent calls for improving pre- and post-disaster business continuity by investigating the relevance of cloud computing affordances for the development of a resilient cloud based BCM for port operations in the context of South Africa. An interpretive, qualitative methodology, employing the use of a case study of the ports in South Africa was adopted in this study. The interview data collected was analyzed thematically and the findings formed the basis for the inferences made relevant for the development of an architecture for a Cloud-Based BCM. To realize effective organizational resilience using BCM, three insights, as underlying mechanisms for assimilating cloud computing in BCM can be inferred: the first is that a digitalized BCM architecture ‘fits’ the cloud computing model. Secondly, the cloud computing model is a ‘viable’ model that can contribute to managing complex organizations characterized by business units that are highly differentiated in terms of size, structure, ICT and investment levels. For such complex organizations, viability is visible in terms of how the multi-units can harness collective intelligence (CI) for more effective BCM. Lastly, to realize digitally enabled BCM and harness the power of CI; there is need for rethinking strategy towards the adoption of an ‘Intelliport strategy’ or ‘smart’ BCM for ports.