Digital Transformation will be one of the key trends shaping the IT industry through its multiple components including mobiles, information (data analytics), Cloud computing and social networks, says Bala Mahadevan, CEO – India, Orange Business Services.
Some of the highlights for the Indian market around this trend will be digitization of customer experience, adoption of hybrid cloud models and digitization of citizen services with smart city projects in the country, amongst others.
Digitization of customer experience: The arrival of a new wave of technology has profoundly changed individual behaviors. These dramatic technological changes are related to mobility, the abundance of information available about client behaviors, the development of Cloud Computing and the explosion of social networks – both outside and inside the company. A stellar example of this is the way smartphones are transforming the retail experience. It is estimated that in the next few years, over half of smartphone users will check prices online when in the store– the so-called showrooming concept. This is an opportunity to engage with customers and give them what they want on the spot. Service support will change dramatically as not every consumer of each industry will respond in the same way and traditional support channels will need to become experience channels and either evolve or perish.
Outstanding digital customer experience will be an essential differentiator in increasingly competitive markets in the future,
Hybrid Cloud becoming the standard: The evolution of cloud in Asia Pacific including India has been gradual. Till now, enterprises were treading carefully on the stepping stones but now we are witnessing real adoption which extends beyond the SME segment. Three years back, enterprises were evaluating between adopting dedicated private cloud infrastructure or affordable public cloud services. However, the debate is no longer about using private or public cloud models in isolation. Enterprises are evaluating different models of hybrid cloud which gives them the flexibility to match business needs across critical and non-critical applications. According to Gartner, nearly half of large enterprises will have hybrid cloud deployments by the end of 2017.
Digitization of public infrastructure and growth of smart cities: The burgeoning population has put a tremendous pressure on existing city infrastructure. To accommodate massive urbanization, India needs smart ways to tackle the complexities, reduce expenses and increase efficiencies. Smart infrastructure for existing cities and development of altogether new smart cities is the right direction, an initiative which has been taken by both the Central and State governments, across the country. With digitization of surveillance and security (For example – the surveillance project in the city of Patna where Orange has managed the implementation), smart energy management (smart metering concept) and modernization of fleet management (Examples include State run roadways, tracking of inventory for public sector departments, etc.), there is a major role for digital enablers like Orange to play.
Orange has witnessed significant growth through a variety of digital transformation projects across the enterprise and government vertical, Mahadevan added. Digitization in the country is happening through cloud adoption across sectors, e-governance projects addressing citizen services and modernization of campus networks and integration services. The company has also won several deals and completed landmark projects that support the smart city momentum in India. Some of them include building datacenters, e-governance through the city wide surveillance project in Patna and several Machine-to-Machine deployments for fleet management services.
Orange is witnessing high double digit growth in digitization of public sector in India and adoption of hybrid cloud in the enterprise segment, Mahadevan said.
With strong focus on sectors like cloud, datacenter, and security, the company continued to strengthen its “wide network coverage – deep presence” strategy. As part of this, the company invested beyond their own network by leveraging Orange affiliates and NNI partnerships (enhancing capabilities, competitiveness and QoS). Smart Cities is an important area of growth in the government vertical, so the company has developed a strong practice in this space over the years.
While IT spends across the industry have picked up as compared to the earlier years, the solutions which are witnessing growth are mostly aimed at optimizing operations and bringing cost efficiencies. This trend has been ongoing since the slowdown years, Mahadevan added. “At the same time, we see growth in international retail and other segments expanding in India, due to its large consumer base. This has also resulted in increased demand for network and integration services, requirement of customized applications for business and growth in as-a-service model for every business request.”
In 2015, Orange will continue to focus on its vision for Digital Transformation of both enterprises and public sector infrastructure, Orange CEO said adding that the company’s network capability, cloud portfolio, customer experience service and Machine to Machine solutions will see substantial growth in the coming year.
Rajani Baburajan
editor@infotechlead.com
