A strong and robust IT infrastructure provides companies with their competitive edge. If business processes are more efficient, companies can compete on price and forward the benefit to customers. Granted that the government has to be involved at the national level, but why delay the process further?

There is no doubt about the importance that Salman is emphasizing: "You have marketing and finance and sales that are usually in the forefront of any business. The IT departments are the ones that drive the knowledge economy." And if we don't take care of it, it's going to hurt.

Speaking with Nadeem Malik of InfoTech, he says, "Pakistan isn't the only place where disaster occurs. We've all read about bombings in Madrid or London, for example. But you see, these bombings had virtually no impact on their economy because they had plans in place. People knew what to do in the case of an unpredicted event. But instances like these influence the morale of the people of any country. Being able to minimize any lasting physical damage helps them to overcome any sense of loss they may have. Pakistan, with all the right technology in place, is unable to have a plan in place for disaster recovery."

The Blueprint to be Up and Running

Call centers, offshore companies and all IT enterprise cannot afford to be down. If perhaps this tragic incident had occurred in any city apart from Islamabad, it would have made the ability for companies to simply plug into a robust FTTU network that Nayatel already has ready, a more cumbersome job. As per industry analysts, the recovery would have been impossible.