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.
According to the EMC Forum survey, “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%).”
Organisations 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, the survey revealed.
“Consumer expectations have undergone a radical shift. Consumers now expect to interact not only with each other, but with a multitude of organisations 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,” said Rajesh Janey, President, India and SAARC EMC.
The survey further highlighted that about 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 organisations from India are: to enhance customer experiences (51%), automate processes (41%) and improve capabilities for sales and marketing (38%).
About 77% of respondents in India agree that their organisation sees the increasing role of automation such as software defined storage as critical to business growth.
Further, 91% of respondents in India expect next-generation technologies such as mobile, social, cloud and big data to give their organisation 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.
As far as the future of IT is concerned, the survey revealed that only 70% of respondents in India believe their organisation has the right level of skills and knowledge to complete business priorities successfully. Also, 76% believe that getting IT staff trained to keep pace with the implications of technology mega trends will be a challenge for their organisation over the next few years.
Although 36% say that tech spending is moving outside of IT’s control, this does not mean that IT is becoming irrelevant. In fact, IT will play a key role in growing the business and 85% say that they will become in-house providers of on-demand services.
