Riding on initiatives like Digital India, Smart Cities, Jan Dhan Yojna and Aadhaar, the country is well-poised to take maximum advantage of what the global technology industry has to offer when it comes to cloud infrastructure, cyber security and a complete ecosystem, said a top Oracle executive.
According to Shailender Kumar, Managing Director, Oracle India, the transition to the GST mandate is another radical change that will fast-track India's journey towards digitalisation.
"India has always been a critical market for Oracle. After being here for over 30 years, we now have nearly 700 partners in the country and the largest workforce outside the US. With one of the biggest transformations in history, the entire world is watching India closely as this digital revolution is expected to bring the country to the forefront of the global economy," said Kumar.
India is uniquely positioned to benefit from cloud-based solutions for three reasons. First, there are more than 300 million mobile internet users in the country which is an essential building block for a shift to cloud.
"Secondly, the e-commerce willingness in this market. Lastly, India has the largest IT service businesses in the world across SIs (systems integrators) and they are now looking at adjacent revenue streams like the cloud to take cost out," Kumar had said in an earlier interview.
According to market research firm Gartner, 2016 was the defining year for cloud, with private cloud steadily making way for hybrid cloud and nearly half of large enterprises predicted to have hybrid cloud deployments by the end of 2017.
More than 80 per cent of enterprise IT organisations will commit to Hybrid Cloud Architectures by 2017.
In India, there is a growing demand for hybrid cloud, especially among mid-size enterprises, including manufacturing companies even though private clouds are deemed expensive.
"We are witnessing very good traction for our hybrid cloud solutions in India, and expect it to emerge as the preferred model for most enterprises. Oracle's hybrid cloud strategy combines a proven technology stack across on-premises and Oracle Cloud with a unified management experience for all services," said Mitesh Agarwal, Vice President-Solution Consulting, CTO, Oracle India.
So, what exactly are Indian enterprises looking for when it comes to embracing the cloud?
According to Prasad Rai, Vice-President, Applications, Oracle India, the domestic enterprises are keen on embracing nimble, innovative, cloud-based technology that could help them quickly diversify their product line.
"Some of their expectations from the cloud technology include faster innovation, seamless scalability, built-in modern best practice, data security, more powerful analytics, seamless transitions and updates," he said.
When it comes to data in cloud, security is increasingly being seen as a cloud-enabler rather than a threat.
"CIOs want to build scalable hybrid Cloud solutions while taking the necessary steps to secure their data across their enterprises. With the right security solutions and processes, even the most demanding enterprises can move to the cloud with confidence," said Agarwal.
-IANS