Cloud is the fastest growing business for us: Rakshit Bhatt, Head, Cloud Business Group, Redington

In today’s rapidly evolving business environment, cloud computing has become a cornerstone for organizations aiming to stay competitive and drive growth. Redington Limited has been at the forefront of this transformation, providing innovative cloud solutions tailored to meet the diverse needs of various industries. In this editorial interaction, Rakshit Bhatt, Head, Cloud Business Group, Redington Limited shares his insights on the current trends in cloud adoption across industries in India, the evolution of Redington’s cloud business, and the strategic initiatives that are shaping the company’s future. From the establishment of the Cloud Centre of Excellence to significant investments in observability platforms and strategic GTM approaches, Redington has taken a series of cloud-related initiatives

Some edited excerpts:

Can you share insights into the current trends of cloud adoption across various industries in India? How has Redington’s cloud business evolved to meet the diverse needs of these industries?

In today’s dynamic business landscape, the transformative power of technology is reshaping the global economy. Cloud technology, a catalyst for growth, has become an integral part of businesses across industries and sizes due to several key trends:

Digital Transformation: In 2024, organizations will double their spending on digital technology, outpacing economic growth, says a recent IDC report. Industries universally embrace cloud tech for digital transformation as it provides scalability, flexibility, and cost-efficiency, ensuring businesses modernize and compete in the digital era.

AI and Machine Learning Integration: Industries are leveraging cloud-based AI and machine learning services to gain insights from large datasets, automate processes, and enhance decision-making. With the embedded AI and ML capabilities, Cloud providers enable businesses to develop and deploy advanced analytics solutions without the need for extensive infrastructure investments.

Industry-Specific Solutions: Cloud providers offer industry-specific solutions tailored to the unique needs and challenges of various sectors such as healthcare, finance, retail, and manufacturing. These solutions address industry-specific regulations, compliance requirements, and operational workflows, driving adoption across different verticals.

Redington adopts a strategic approach when it comes to technology adoption and leveraging innovative solutions to optimize business operations. With a focus on enhancing customer experiences and optimizing business efficiency, we are actively forging partnerships to build a strong portfolio of products and services. We are deeply engaged with Microsoft, AWS, Google, IBM, OCI, etc in the majority of our markets offering solutions like Microsoft Azure, Copilot, and more. Customers are also embracing cloud migration, contributing to an impressive 52% growth in Redington’s cloud business. Through Redington Cloud Solutions, we offer a portfolio of services which goes beyond expectations.

As a cloud provider, we offer comprehensive services to our clients, spanning from subscription models to cloud migration. Our significant investments empower our partners to deliver customized solutions that perfectly align with our clients’ business needs, optimizing their operations while remaining cost-effective.

With its extensive cloud solutions spanning across healthcare, education, retail, manufacturing, BFSI, telecom, media, entertainment, gaming, e-commerce, logistics, agriculture, and energy sectors, Redington caters to diverse industry verticals. This comprehensive coverage enables organizations to leverage cloud technologies to elevate their business outcomes and enhance customer experiences.

Redington is building a Cloud Centre of Excellence to facilitate Cloud Modernization and integrate advanced PaaS Services & Solutions. How does this initiative align with the company’s vision, and what impact do you foresee on the cloud services landscape?

Through its collaboration with AWS, Redington built a Cloud Centre of Excellence (CCoE) to execute its cloud-first strategy, foster distribution of best practices in cloud computing, identify and attract new talent and develop customized cloud solutions. The primary objective of this collaboration was to enhance Redington’s robust cloud portfolio, facilitating expansion into Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.

By spearheading this initiative, Redington showcases its commitment to innovation and staying ahead in the dynamic landscape of cloud technology. The CoE’s primary objective, facilitating Cloud Modernization, dovetails perfectly with Redington’s mission to empower its clients with the latest advancements in cloud computing.

The initiative further resonates with the company’s vision of “Transforming Tech procurement in Modern Business” by assisting partners in delivering tailored solutions that precisely match our clients’ business requirements, thereby optimizing their operations while maintaining cost-efficiency.

Redington’s Cloud CoE initiative sets a precedent for other players in the industry to invest more heavily in similar centers of excellence focused on cloud technologies, leading to increased adoption of cloud services and accelerated digital transformation across various sectors. Additionally, by driving Cloud Modernization initiatives, Redington not only enhances its own competitive positioning but also contributes to the broader evolution of cloud computing practices.

Redington is investing in observability platforms and strategic GTMs to pave the way for well-governed Cloud Ops Services in a multi-cloud model. How do these investments contribute to ensuring reliable and efficient cloud operations for your clients?

Observability platforms provide comprehensive insights into the performance, health, and security of cloud environments, enabling proactive monitoring and rapid issue resolution. By leveraging these platforms, Redington can ensure that clients’ cloud operations remain reliable, resilient, and optimized for efficiency. We are currently using Spotlight Migrate, that simplifies, expedites, and automates large-scale migrations from on-premises or Cloud to the preferred Clouds without or with very minimal manual intervention.​

Additionally, strategic GTM approaches help Redington effectively communicate the value proposition of its Cloud Ops Services to clients. This ensures alignment between client requirements and the solutions offered, fostering trust and long-term partnerships. Moreover, by adopting a multi-cloud model, Redington enhances clients’ flexibility and resilience, mitigating risks associated with vendor lock-in and providing access to a broader range of cloud services and features.

Overall, these investments enable Redington to deliver reliable and efficient cloud operations to its clients,leading to enhanced performance, reduced downtime, and increased business agility for clients leveraging cloud technologies.

Could you discuss Redington’s partnership strategies aimed at encouraging the growth of your partners in the cloud ecosystem? How does Redington support its partners in delivering value-added services to customers?

Redington has always valued their partners and the unprecedented growth they bring along. We identified that there is a need for a holistic digital platform to cater to the needs of our partners while empowering them to manage their businesses more efficiently. Recognising the pivotal role our esteemed partners and vendors play in our journey of growth, we have placed them at the heart of our strategic approach. Some of our initiatives on the same lines are:

Redington UpSkill: An endeavor aimed at enhancing the skills and expertise of our partners and clients in the latest technologies and business practices. We offer a range of training programs, workshops, and seminars under

Redington UpSkill, covering diverse subjects like digital marketing, cloud computing, and supply chain management. These programs are designed to help partners and clients stay up-to-date with the latest developments in their fields and improve their ability to deliver value to their customers. Moreover, Redington extends support and resources to aid partners implement what they have learned through the Upskill program.

Partnership with AWS: AWS supports Redington and its channel partners with business and technical expertise, including training and enablement, solution development, and building technical competency and platform development support to accelerate their growth. Redington upskills its partners to cater to end customers with a wide gamut of services from AWS Cloud. Additionally, Redington provides Internet of Things (IoT) services and pre/post-sales support to ensure a holistic approach to customer satisfaction and success.

Partnership with Google: We partnered with Google Cloud to empower our existing and potential cloud partners with access to business and technical expertise while helping them develop resources that support and manage their customers.

Redington Shiksha: In partnership with Microsoft, we introduced the Redington Shiksha platform, a learning platform tailored to assist partners and their customers globally. This platform aims to empower our partners with cloud education and resources to better engage with customers in the cloud domain, ultimately expanding their business opportunities.

At Redington, we are committed to meeting the evolving needs of our channel partners and brands by staying in tune with the latest market and technology trends impacting the industrial and wider business world. We foster long-standing partnerships with over 300 vendors and 43,000+ channel partners, expanding our presence in high-potential markets. Together with our business partners, we aim to be present at every step of the value chain by offering comprehensive and integrated solutions to our customers.

What are Redington’s growth plans across different markets for its cloud business? Are there specific regions or industries where you see significant potential for cloud adoption and growth in the near future?

Looking ahead, we remain committed to investing in technologies to further drive growth and revolutionize Value Distribution, aligning with the organization’s global growth plan. By imbibing this perspective, we will continue to build strong ecosystems through collaborations and strategic partnerships. Cloud being the fastest growing business at Redington, we will continue to grow and expand in various emerging markets. In South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Central Asia, we want to expand our business with various cloud offerings. The South African market offers stable growth and in markets like Saudi Arabia we are trying to expedite our growth. We are also trying to grow in some of the emerging markets in adjacent geographies.Together with our business partners, we aim to be present at every step of the value chain by offering comprehensive and integrated solutions to our customers.