Building Bharat - Ludhiana Chapter

Today, the tier 2 and 3 cities in India have witnessed economic growth of over 40 per cent. This is owing to the emerging startups in the cities aiming to resolve the localised problem with on-demand applications and new age technology solutions. The approach has created immense market demands for digitalisation and technology driven solutions. Moreover, the adoption of emerging technologies like cloud, AI, ML, etc. by the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have risen significantly in recent years. Such a drift in the economic scenario opens the doors to immense opportunities for IT channel partners to cater to the changing market demands.

These cities witnessed a sudden boom in the adoption of IT solutions, especially after the Covid pandemic. From big businesses to SMEs, organisations took the digital route in an effort to stay afloat in the troubled times of the pandemic. Technology then not only posed an enabler for the organisations but irreversibly transformed the way they operated. With digitalisation of processes, the enterprises were able to optimise their operations, boost their productivity, enhance efficiency with tools like automation, and finally improve service delivery and customer experience.

Ludhiana, the industrial hub of Punjab, is one such city. The IT and electronics industry in Punjab has recorded 67 per cent growth in the fiscal 2022 when compared with the previous fiscal. Moreover, the state government is developing Ludhiana as the industrial hub for North India by setting up Hi-Tech Valley on 378.77 acres at Dhanansu village. Punjab Small Industries and Export Corporation, a state government undertaking, is working to develop the industrial settlement, as reported by a prominent Indian daily.

In the light of the developments, CRN India organised Building Bharat conference in partnership with Dell Technologies and Redington on 14th September 2022 in Ludhiana. The conference was aimed at exploring new markets as well as deepening relationships in existing ones. Also, to strengthen engagement with Medium Businesses customers as well as channel partners. The conference offered perspective on how technologies such as cloud and analytics can be game changers for uplifting the fortunes of Medium Businesses firms.

Sunny Mittal, Partner Manager, Punjab, Dell Technologies, took the dais as the first speaker and addressed the audience on ‘Embrace the Future of Work’ theme. He said, “Today, enterprises are investing to upgrade their IT infrastructure to support hybrid work model and work from anywhere model. Therefore, enterprises are adopting newer and modern IT solutions in order to modernise their existing IT infrastructure and work spaces to ensure improved operations.”

Shedding light on Dell products, he presented Dell Rugged series of laptops that undergoes a series of tests to ensure it delivers on the company's promises. These laptops are tested for durability and use in extreme conditions making them one of the most durable computers in the market. A user can actually work up to 24 hours on a Dell Latitude series of laptops, he added emphasising on the battery life of the laptop.

“Dell’s Optiplex desktops offer a third SSD drive to support seamless operations even on multiple displays eliminating the need for additional graphic card. The Optiplex PCs also come with two mics with 4m range and high-quality audio speakers that enhance the overall conferencing experience,” he added.

As a concluding note, Mittal said, “Dell's innovations are a breakthrough between the people and technology. Dell offers innovative and flexible solutions, intelligent and secure technologies, and infrastructure which is ready to be leveraged for bridging remote connections. This makes Dell a market leader in modern IT infrastructure across product lines including laptop, servers, storage solutions, and more."

Sharing his perspective on the need for enterprises to modernise and transform their IT infrastructure, Md Danish Khan, Lead Pre Sales Channel North India, Dell Technologies took the stage. He commenced his address on the note that “IT is no longer just a business enabler but the business itself.”

“Change is the only constant and an enterprise needs to excel change management to not only survive but climb the ladder of success. If enterprises do not adopt technology and transform their operations then they might end up being obsolete. IT transformations not only help optimising operations but also enhance revenue generation, provide a competitive edge, and improve efficiency,” he highlighted.

Further, Danish mentioned that Modernize, Automate and Transform are three phases of the transformation process. As Dell is known for its service delivery and customer-centric initiatives, he highlighted, “Every customer has multiple applications running in its data centre. Therefore, Dell offers the industry's largest portfolio of solutions that caters to all types of customer demands. For most products that Dell offers, customers can take it on a pay per use model as a service.”

Showcasing Dell’s exclusive offerings like Live Optics and Cloud IQ, he said, “Live optics is a complementary tool from Dell. It allows the user to identify and collect data on workloads they are processing. Live optics can also be used for non-Dell infrastructure as well. Dell has a wide range of storage products catering to all sizes of businesses. Dell's PowerStore is industry's leading storage portfolio and offers storage solutions that effectively caters to the changing demands of the industry.”

As the attendees also shared their views on the conference and spoke highly about Dell’s products, Avtaar Singh, Principal, Guru Teg Bahadur National College said, “Conferences like Building Bharat bridges the information gap and helps the end customers to know more about what the market has to offer.” He appreciated Dell’s product line up and showed interest in replacing his present laptops and desktops with Dell computers.

Allen Joseph, Professor & Head, Department of Cardiovascular Surgery and Thoracic Surgery, Christian Medical College, Ludhiana said, “Though I'm not an IT professional but it was really an eye-opener for me as a cardiac surgeon to know how technology can help us to adopt best computing practices to streamline our work and scale it up more efficiently. I was also impressed by your product called Rugged laptops and tablets which can survive extreme weather and even gunfire.”

On the other hand, Gaurav Jindal, Director, Ahar Foods mentioned a few areas of improvement for Dell. He said, “Most of the post-sale services that Dell offers are online. Accessing and availing of those sometimes become an issue. They should also come up with on-site services where, if needed, the customer can call and ask a Dell person to visit and rectify the issue. This could simplify the engagement with Dell for many customers.”

The fifth conference in the series of ‘Building Bharat’ held at Ludhiana ended on a high note. The delegates expressed appreciation for Dell’s lineup of products and were in consensus with each other on how Dell has come up with a technology solution for every type of customer - ranging from the industry’s first 15th generation server Dell’s EMC PowerEdge to the industry’s most preferred storage solution Dell’s Unity.