Transformation Tour - Coimbatore Chapter

The present economic scenario is a reflection of the paradigm shift ongoing in tier 2 and tier 3 cities in India where small and medium businesses are adopting technology widely. This has created a pool of demands for new technologies, devices, and solutions. In an effort to address this, a knowledge platform ‘Transformation Tour’ was developed as a series of market-connect initiatives.

As Chennai the capital city of Tamil Nadu has grown exponentially, the state government eyes Coimbatore as the potential IT hub for the state. Being the second-largest city in the state, Coimbatore is home to multiple industries including healthcare, pharmaceutical, education, IT, textile, and more. Considering the vast potential, CRN India in association with Dell Technologies and Ingram Micro organised the Transformation Tour in Coimbatore for the second time.

Khalid Shaikh, Systems Engineer, Channel Pre-Sales West, Dell Technologies took the dais and addressed the gathering on ‘Winning the data era with Dell Technologies.’ Highlighting the changing scenario due to digitalisation and the growing demand for IT solutions, he said, ”IT is not just an enabler but a transformer for businesses.”

Elaborating on the significance of cloud adoption and harnessing the power of data, Shaikh mentioned that multi-cloud strategy requires a data-first approach. Today data is as important as oil. Customers want to analyse data and to do so they need apt IT infrastructure. “Your most valuable asset should be stored in the right place, at the right time, with the right service level objective (SLO). Dell's PowerStore is designed for the data era. It is based on containers. Since its launch it has received around 600 updates. It has got a programmable infrastructure and can be customised as per the need. Also, it can be scaled up or scaled out as needed.”

However, it is not necessary to adopt solutions that are popular among industry peers or competition. Enterprises should adopt IT solutions or cloud solutions on the basis of their requirements. "Moreover, the adoption of cloud requires the classification of workloads by the enterprise. In my opinion, there are certain workloads that have to be on-premise and modern workloads can be moved to the cloud. Therefore, going for a hybrid cloud option is more beneficial," he added.However, it is not necessary to adopt solutions that are popular among industry peers orcompetition. Enterprises should adopt IT solutions or cloud solutions on the basis of theirrequirements. "Moreover, the adoption of cloud requires the classification of workloads bythe enterprise. In my opinion, there are certain workloads that have to be on-premise andmodern workloads can be moved to the cloud. Therefore, going for a hybrid cloud option ismore beneficial," he added.

Through his presentation, Shaikh took the gathering through various products and services offered by Dell. He elaborated on the solutions offered and promoted that an organisation needs to leverage efficient storage and servers as that forms the basis of IT infrastructure.

"Dell Technologies Apex is ‘as-a-service’ IT infrastructure offering to make life easier for the partners and the customers. It is a new buying experience that Dell intends to provide to streamline partner-customer relations," he mentioned.

Shaikh concluded by highlighting that “Dell has been a market leader across the globe except for Japan in the space of servers, storage, and devices.”

Power-packed panel discussion

Following the industry presentation by Dell was a power-packed panel discussion. Panelists from important industries in the city came together on one platform and shed light on the digital transformation journey of small and medium businesses in a tier 2 city like Coimbatore. The panelists brainstormed on the theme ‘Navigating the Digital Landscape: Strategies for SMBs in India to Embrace Digital Transformation.’ Adarsh Som, Senior Correspondent with CRN India moderated the discussion.

Elaborating on digital transformation of SMBs, Srikrishna Narasimhan, Group Head IT, Pricol Ltd. said, “For SMB's, digital transformation becomes extremely important in their quest to address the burgeoning customer's demand. As a manufacturing company, we are betting big on Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Augmented Reality & Mixed Reality, and Digital Twins.

While, Biju Velayudhan, CIO, G. Kuppuswamy Naidu Memorial Hospital shared the importance and the need for digital solutions in the healthcare sector. He said, "We don’t have a choice. We have to be digital. Healthcare is complex and unless a fool-proof digital technology is in place, we can’t move in the right direction."; Further, he highlighted the significance to have a proper plan for digitalisation. Velayudhan said, “Organisations should have a clear roadmap while digitising their legacy applications and map their short-term and long-term goals while undertaking the digital transformation journey. Today, we don't have a choice but to be digital.”

Meanwhile, corresponding to the thoughts shared by other panelists, Dr. N Raveendra, Vice President – Enterprise Wide Solutions, and CIO, Sakthi Finance Ltd./ABT Industries Ltd. put forth his perspective. He said that it's a warranted situation for SMBs to look at all technologies and tools available in the market, as their operations are complex and requirements are high, while fulfilling the rising customer's demand.

Adding his contribution to the discussion, Khalid Shaikh from Dell brought to light the significance of a strong digital foundation. He said, “SMBs first need a robust infrastructure to run AI or ML-based tools. Further, he emphasised, “SMBs need to understand how digital transformation is going to be advantageous for them and what all benefits they can reap out of it. They have to take the customer-first and data-first approach.”

After an insightful discussion, the Transformation Tour concluded with a valedictory note from Ingram Micro. The representative from the firm shared the latest innovations by Ingram in brief and thanked all the participants and audience for their presence. The second stint of the Transformation Tour in Coimbatore ended on a high note.