Today, organizations are looking forward to an IT ecosystem that is not just a cost center but which is supportive of the business and which gives a seamless experience.
August 2022: At the Cisco & Proactive Leadership Think Circle organized by Pro MFG Media, industry leaders came together to deliberate on how cloud can be a game changer for businesses. The esteemed speakers included Jayram Iyer, CTO, ManpowerGroup India, Ankur Raina, Advisory Solution Architect, MongoDB, Sudheer Dhurjati, VP Global Technology, Sequoia Capital, Rahul Shiyekar, Director, Teradata India Pvt Ltd, Mayank Arora, Sales Specialist, Cloud Infrastructure & Software, North Commercial, Cisco. The session was moderated by Burgess Cooper, Cybersecurity Partner & Deputy Leader, EY India. Here’s an overview.
Key Discussion Points
➔ The cloud is emerging as a game-changer for businesses. What are the main considerations while selecting cloud computing technology? How do CIOs choose which business operations to move on the cloud?
➔ Is Cloud visibility one of the top public cloud security challenges? Could you give us insights into the challenges posed by security risks to the cloud?
➔ How do CIOs Optimize performance and resource utilization to reduce cost?
➔ How to avoid overprovisioning on-premises and wasted spending in the cloud?
➔ Any best practices for developing new capabilities to optimize and assure performance to end-users with their varying loads?
➔ How should CIOs optimize Multi-Cloud for driving business growth?
Aligning with Business Goals
Jayram Iyer of the ManpowerGroup India started the discussion by sharing his views on business transformation from a digital perspective. He said, “It is important to align yourself with the business goals and objectives in any endeavor. You need to understand how it improves the business. What are the key drivers for improvement? Is it strategic? Is it financial? Or is it customer focused? Till recent times, IT was looked at just as an enabler; it was not looked at as a key business driver, which it is today. Today, digital transformation is a buzzword. But to achieve that, you have to get the building blocks right. And to get the building blocks right, you must align yourself with your CFOs and CEOs and work with all sections very closely. Basically, you have to be very sensitive and aligned with the business needs.”
Safe, Secure & Accessible
Sharing his thoughts, Ankur Raina of MongoDB said that today the cloud is always at the top of the mindshare for the CIOs. “They are always thinking about which services will be moving to the cloud and which services will stay on the frame. They want to stay in touch with their customers and they want to ensure that the data goes securely and safely on to the cloud and that the members of their organization are able to access the same while taking care of the compliances. So I think the key parameters here are safety, security and accessibility of the data.”
All about the Experience
Sudheer Dhurjati of Sequoia Capital said that he looked at today’s business as an interaction. “It is an interaction with stakeholders – customers, suppliers, employees, investors, communities and creditors and the rest of it. So you have your important stakeholders all around you and you want to actually do business with them and interact with them. To me, digital transformation is all about the experience. How are the stakeholders interacting with your business today? And how do you change the experience of the stakeholder using digital technologies, whether it’s cloud, AI or ML? So to me, digital transformation is about empowering all your stakeholders to interact with your business in a better way. It is all about elevating the experience for all the stakeholders using technology,” he said.
Agility and Ease of Use
Rahul Shiyekar of Teradata India Pvt Ltd emphasized that IT can always keep building applications but if they are not aligned with the business goals then they are of no use. “One of the things which we are observing today is the need for agility. Most business users look for really fast solutions, which they can experiment with some of their business needs, which could materialize or may not, but then get a solution after really trying it out fast. If it doesn’t work, let’s try something else. And they want to work with it really closely to get that done very fast. Agility has to be introduced in the digital transformation so that the business does not have to wait for a long time to get its results. And that’s very critical. Ease of use is another vital factor. Users should not have difficulty being part of the digital transformation.”
Ecosystem that Supports the Business
Mayank Arora of Cisco stated that he was looking to understand what ‘cloud native’ is and he got his answers from the insights shared by the other speakers. For example, he was happy to note that organizations are looking forward to collaborating; all the departments are talking to each other so that they can actually get the best out of it. “The second aspect is that you get the compliance and security you need for your business. Third aspect - your experience is very, very important! Whether you are on the frame or the cloud, the business is not bothered. If there is a downtime, they will hold you accountable - not the frame or the cloud. And lastly, agility and ease to provision the resources in a very short period are equally important. When the business tells you, on the second of this month we are launching this project and I need the resources ready and running, that is where the agility and the scaling up of the business come into the picture. That is where I think the term ‘cloud native’ comes into the picture because all these things were available in the public cloud initially and now they have started extending those capabilities on the frame. That is where the whole intentions of the organizations are that they look forward to an ecosystem that is not a cost center but which is supportive of the business and which gives a seamless experience.”
