Adopt Cloud fast to beat pandemic blues: Indian tech honchos

The Covid-19 lockdown forced enterprises in India to shift their operations overnight to immediately accommodate a remote workforce. During four months of working remotely, they faced unprecedented challenges in how to manage their business continuity in light of the burdens placed on capacity, productivity and security.

The pandemic, however, has accelerated the adoption of digital tools and organisations are strengthening capabilities to invent newer models of engagement and business touchpoints, in order to continue to meet immediate needs and to transform future possibilities into realities.

According to Sandip Patel, General Manager, IBM India/South Asia, new business models and opportunities are emerging to address needs of this digital age and ones that must be agile, cost efficient and built on a foundation of trust, powered by technologies like Cloud and AI.

"What is truly defining is the emergence of ‘Network economy'. This pandemic has taught us new ways of how we conduct our business, how  we work and interact with people and how we connect with the larger community, our customers, our business partners. Virtual networks are fast becoming the enabler of work in these times," Patel told IANS.

In a bid to help enterprises maintain business continuity and stay on the path of digital transformation in these tough Covid-19 times, Oracle last week announced the opening of its second Cloud region (after Mumbai) in Hyderabad.

"The Covid-19 and ensuing lockdowns have disrupted several businesses in India. We are already helping our customers increase efficacy across workloads in these lockdown times. The Hyderabad Cloud region will help a large number of Indian organisations realise their digital transformation dreams," Shailender Kumar, Regional Managing Director, Oracle India, told IANS.

"The second Cloud region will help scores of Indian firms adjust to the new normal," he added.

According to an IDC report that came out last month, as a result of the spread of the pandemic, 64 per cent of the organisations in India are expected to increase demand for cloud computing while 56 per cent for cloud software to support the new normal.

The need to work remotely is bolstering the demand for SaaS-based collaborative apps, to ensure on and off-site presence at all the times and zero-disruption to business. This will also increase the need for remote support services both human professional services and of the cloud software especially security/identity.

"As industries move away from infrastructure of ownership, pay-per-use models are likely to see an accelerated demand. Public cloud services will be among the few technologies that are positively impacted by the Covid-19," said Rishu Sharma, Principal Analyst, Cloud and Artificial Intelligence, IDC India.

According to Patel, even before the pandemic, the adoption of cloud has been a central feature in developing new, digitally-driven business models.

"However, some organisations are still struggling with harnessing the full capabilities of their Cloud environments. It is estimated that 50 per cent of enterprises will have moved to ‘write once, run anywhere' hybrid and multicloud environments by 2023," he noted.

According to Karan Bajwa, Managing Director, Google Cloud India, as Covid-19 runs its course, Google Cloud is working hard to deliver technology and business solutions to help millions of people stay connected.

"We believe today more than ever, we need to collaborate and innovate and build new features to make our tools helpful, secure and safe," Bajwa said last month.

In March, Google Cloud announced plans to expand its presence in India by launching a cloud region in Delhi, adding to its Mumbai region that was opened in 2017.

While the true impact of Covid-19 will be seen in the coming quarters, Cloud has already been a saviour for several Indian organizations during the Covid-19 crisis.