The ‘Global Cloud Study’ by TCS reveals that 70% of major corporations consider the cloud as a long-term investment priority. Sumanta Roy, Vice President and Head of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) MEA, elaborates on why cloud is a crucial focus for businesses and more on the study.
Why cloud remains a crucial focus for businesses, despite the current macro headwinds and the slowing growth of global cloud spending?
There are some headwinds in the direction towards cloud spending, due to organisations’ ability to quantify the RoI. Still, organisations are continuing to invest in this technology due to various reasons.
One of the key factors is market velocity. For any business to develop a new product or service, or to set up a new segment, cloud has become a necessity for provisioning the virtual infrastructure. Organisations can also integrate with external or third-party applications/data sources faster using cloud ecosystem resulting in unlocking new offerings or creating new markets.
Cloud infrastructure, especially in hyperscalers, have ancillary tools like security really matured, updated by the minute, and in a stable environment. This is usually not possible with in-house infra. This added strong security layer is another important factor.
How does cloud technology enable and support innovation, particularly in the context of the Middle East?
There are very unique requirements of contextualisation of innovation or solutions in the Middle East. Many of these use cases are easily implemented through cloud. For example, Translation services in the cloud are getting better by the minute, which can be easily adopted for language localisation of any product or service. Also, cloud platforms also allow knowledge workers from across the world to collaborate securely and seamlessly. In the Middle East, this translates to accessibility of global talents for regional innovation requirements.
Another key thing to note is that innovation is almost always an ecosystem play these days. With cloud acting as a catalyst, it is easier and faster to build hyperconnected ecosystems using cloud, which brings customers, partners, third-party players, start-ups, and talents together.
How is TCS leveraging cloud technology to enhance AI and machine learning capabilities, specifically in the Middle East?
TCS leverages its experience in driving digital-first transformation for businesses in unlocking the promise of AL &ML capabilities through cloud-native solutions. Cloud is a core pillar for data-intensive computing – such as Visual data, quantum, etc. Other than faster processing, cloud also provides cheaper options. For example, GPU deployment for AI-based analytics done in cloud will be a faster and more efficient approach.
We have utilised this capability for multiple customer use cases, the most recent one being virtual AR/VR training for one of the largest oil companies in the region deployed entirely on the cloud. This has helped bring better standardisation of training practices and navigation around system-specific challenges.
Internally, at TCS, we are also looking for the deployment of use cases with analytics tools by the hyperscalers, which are sophisticated, and available only on the cloud.
The study indicates 43% have difficulty understanding cloud service providers’ carbon footprints. How is TCS addressing this challenge and ensuring greater visibility and transparency in the carbon impact of its cloud services?
We are quite mindful and are currently in an exploratory phase to address this very important and very real issue. In the end, transparency needs to be the key. When we are suggesting businesses use cloud to track their critical data indicators of sustainability, they are also demanding the same visibility from their cloud service providers.
Although we do not have a private cloud offering in the Middle East, wherever we have this in other parts of the world, we are sourcing green power to source our data centres.
At the core of the sustainable use of cloud, optimisation plays a vital role. When purchasing and using cloud infra, organisations need to be aware of the optimal use of the resource. We are helping our customers optimise the overall usage of the cloud, and not leave a tap leaking or open.
In conclusion, what are the key takeaways for businesses in the Middle East from this global cloud study conducted by TCS? How can they leverage these insights to enhance their cloud strategies and drive innovation in their organisations?
Technology is often blamed for failures when the reason mostly lies in the lack of flexibility in its adoption or changes. The rigidity in an organisation in terms of existing platforms, technology, and processes, is hampering the development, rather than the perceived roadblocks for cloud journeys or cloud strategies. Hence, it is quite essential to de-mystify technology to business and bridge the gap.
A cloud strategy should also not be dependent on absolute ROI, which is difficult to measure. Tangible cost reduction by using cloud may not be possible in the short term. However, investment in cloud journey should be viewed as a purpose-driven strategy for long-term strategy and business development.
Finally, all cloud initiatives should also have shared ownership between IT and business teams. This synergy is quite critical to delivering top-of-the-line value for any process. Ensure all tech initiatives are connected to organisation objectives also with a strong business case, which will remind every stakeholder of the gains with a focused approach. Integrated decision making and responsibility sharing will go a long way in making cloud adoption a success.
