EMC : SMAC India Findings -Businesses in India Gear Up to Serve the New Generation of Information Hungry Consumers
New Delhi, India, October 8, 2014: EMC Corporation today released the findings of a survey that asked IT decision makers in India for their perspective on IT’s role as an enabler of business change during the shift towards the mega trends of cloud, mobile, social and Big Data. 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. IT has been focused on creating efficiencies and driving down cost. But the EMC Forum Survey reveals that in India, IT is now viewed as a strategic enabler to grow business and better connect with customers. The top three areas where these trends will have an impact are in: improving customer experience (52%), streamlining business functions and improving efficiencies (39%) and management of mission-critical business operations (34%).
Organizations are increasingly moving to the cloud, with 76% now agreeing that combining public and private cloud can improve security and agility. However, barriers will need to be overcome to achieve full potential.
IT is a Business Enabler
- 95% of respondents in India report that their CXOs consider IT as a strategic lever to grow the business, now more than ever before.
- The top three business priorities when implementing new technologies in organizations from India are: to enhance customer experiences (51%), automate processes (41%) and improve capabilities for sales and marketing (38%).
- 77% of respondents in India agree that their organization sees the increasing role of automation – such as software defined storage – as critical to business growth.
Taking advantage of the Mega Trends
- 91% of respondents in India expect next-generation technologies such as mobile, social, cloud and big data to give their organization a competitive advantage.
- Over the next year, the top areas where respondents expect to see an influence from these megatrends are: improving customer experience (52%), streamlining business functions and improving efficiencies (39%) and management of mission-critical business operations (34%).
- As businesses operate increasingly online today, 76% of respondents identified a need for joint public and private cloud services – hybrid cloud – as a means for greater agility and security.
Future of IT
- Only 70% of respondents in India believe their organization has the right level of skills and knowledge to complete business priorities successfully.
- 76% believe that getting I.T. 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% say that tech spending is moving outside of I.T.’s control, this does not mean that I.T. is becoming irrelevant. In fact, I.T. will play a key role in growing the business and 85% say that they will become in-house providers of on-demand services.
Jeremy Burton, President, Products and Marketing, EMC Corporation, said, “Consumer expectations have undergone a radical shift. Consumers now expect to interact not only with each other, but with a multitude of organizations online, via mobile and at the speed of now. To remain relevant and competitive, businesses across every industry are reinventing their business models to handle extraordinary levels of consumer access, interaction and scale. For that reason, IT finds itself back in the driver’s seat, morphing from cost cutter to a true catalyst for change through the use of hybrid cloud and related technologies.”
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. 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. It is clear, that in order to redefine their business, IT departments will need to continuously develop skillsets that will help them keep up with innovation.”
Survey Methodology
Collected during a non-mandatory questionnaire after completion of registration for the EMC Forum events held in New Delhi, India, this research polled a total of 169 business and IT management and executives, technical architects, data scientists and storage/infrastructure managers from a range of Indian businesses.