In view of the rapid shift towards mega trends like cloud, mobile, social and Big Data, IT in India is now viewed as a strategic enabler to grow business and better connect with customers, says a new survey released by EMC.
Top three areas where these trends will have an impact are in: improving customer experience (52 percent), streamlining business functions and improving efficiencies (39 percent) and management of mission-critical business operations (34 percent), the survey said.
The impact of the mega trends has fundamentally changed the expectations of consumers and end-users who increasingly want to interact online, anytime and from anywhere, making IT more strategically important than ever before, EMC said.
Among the participants, 76 percent now agree that combining public and private cloud can improve security and agility. However, barriers will need to be overcome to achieve full potential.
Also, 95 percent of respondents in India report that their CXOs consider IT as a strategic lever to grow the business, now more than ever before.
Meanwhile 77 percent of respondents in India agree that their organization sees the increasing role of automation – such as software defined storage – as critical to business growth.
According to 91 percent of respondents in India, next-generation technologies such as mobile, social, cloud and big data are expected to give their organization a competitive advantage.
As businesses operate increasingly online today, 76 percent of respondents identified a need for joint public and private cloud services – hybrid cloud – as a means for greater agility and security.
Only 70 percent of respondents in India believe their organization has the right level of skills and knowledge to complete business priorities successfully while 76 percent believe that getting IT staff trained to keep pace with the implications of technology megatrends will be a challenge for their organization over the next few years.
Although 36 percent say that tech spending is moving outside of IT’s control, this does not mean that I.T. is becoming irrelevant. In fact, IT will play a key role in growing the business and 85 percent say that they will become in-house providers of on-demand services.
Rajesh Janey, president, India and SAARC EMC, said, “It is no surprise that businesses in India believe that IT is a key strategic enabler for business growth and are keen to take advantage of next generation technologies – including hybrid cloud solutions – to give their companies a competitive advantage.”
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SMAC challenges enterprises to take advantage of the positive disruptions of the digital ecosystems. These technologies are quickly changing the way companies relate to their customers, interact with employees, and bring products and services to market as is highlighted by the survey,” Janey added.
To redefine their business, IT departments will need to continuously develop skill sets that will help them keep up with innovation, Janey added.
