Transformation Tour - Panjim Chapter

In Goa, inarguably the tourism industry is at the centre of the economy. The industry contributes nearly 60 percent to the state’s GDP. In the past decade, Goa has consistently achieved 8-9 percent of GDP growth rate which is apparently the fastest growth rate shown by an Indian state in the span of 10 years. Despite being the smallest state, Goa has a good presence of industries including tourism, mining, manufacturing, steel, electric conductors, cashew crops, and more.

After the Covid pandemic, likewise metro cities, Panjim also witnessed a boom in digitalisation and technology adoption. Moreover, numerous startups have come up in the city that have created a significant demand for technology solutions. This has also given an impetus to the IT channel businesses which were earlier moving at a comparatively slower pace. Goa’s industrial setup is concentrated in the capital city of Panjim. And, the digital revolution has brought in a massive change in the way businesses operate.

Not only the private sector but the government sector in the state is also focusing on digitalisation. The Government of Goa is fast pacing the developmental works in Panjim carried out under the Centre’s Smart City Mission. As per the smart city plans, Panjim will have an integrated smart city operational control room for live video surveillance, smart cameras to issue e-challans, parking management systems, air quality monitoring sensors, and more. This has also boosted the demand for a robust IT infrastructure in the city.

As the Goan capital witnessed the IT boom in recent years, it opened doors to a host of opportunities for the IT channel partners and made cutting-edge technology easily accessible to SMBs, startups, and entrepreneurs.

To throw light on the changing market dynamics and the need for robust IT infrastructure for SMBs in the the city of Panjim, CRN India, in association with Dell Technologies and Tech Data, organised the Transformation Tour in Panjim on November 16, 2022.

Presenting on the theme ‘Winning in the Data Era with Dell Technologies’, Khalid Shaikh, Systems Engineer, Channel Pre Sales West, Dell Technologies shared his expert insights. He said, “There is approximately 60 ZB of data across the globe and the number is growing at a rapid pace by the day.”

Digitalisation is a game changer, he said, that it is reshaping the future of industries with cutting-edge technologies. “Enterprises today have realised the need to get digitally empowered and the need to leverage emerging technologies like AI, ML, Cloud to optimise their operations, improve efficiency, productivity and service delivery,” Shaikh added.

Highlighting Dell products and their features, Shaikh said, “Multi-cloud strategy requires a data-first approach and enterprises should have infrastructure that supports both the modern workload and the traditional workload. Therefore, Dell servers allow the user to run multiple workloads at once, be it traditional workloads or new-gen applications.” Moreover, with Dell's Live Optics, the users can analyse the workloads. The company also offers Cloud IQ that helps you track storage health, predict utilisation requirements, and detect anomalies. It also raises alerts if an unusual activity occurs on Dell's hardware that is deployed by the customer, he added.

Speaking on Dell servers and storage solutions, Shaikh mentioned, “As the volume of data increases a few issues including the handling and management of the data, accessibility, data security and privacy becomes challenging. Dell PowerStore architecture is one of the most preferred storage solutions in the industry. It is data-centric, intelligent, and adaptable. It is a flexible architecture that enables a user to scale up its usage when needed.”

Further, APEX is Dell's new buying experience where the customer has the option of 'pay as per use'. It is not a product but a buying experience that shows Dell’s commitment to improving customer experience, he stated..

The Transformation Tour attracted more than 40 attendees in the first session hosted for Small and Medium Businesses. The audience admired Dell products and called the session ‘knowledgable’. Milind Anvekar, President, Goa Technology Association said, “This was an informative session. The hardware side of the business is critical as it supports software solutions and services. Dell has brought in a transformation in this space. Especially post- Covid, people are looking for cloud options like SaaS-based solutions. Therefore, the ‘pay per use’ model and flexibility that Dell offers could make it a game changer."

Ambika Dhakhenkar, Assistant Director, Goa Chamber of Commerce & Industry and Vaishali Amonker, Operations Head Goa, Tangentsia appreciated the wide range of products that Dell has on offer. “There is no doubt that Dell products are top-notch in terms of quality," she said, pointing out that Dell needed to focus on post-sales services, especially in small cities like Panjim.

The attendees called the Transformation Tour a ‘much-needed awareness initiative from Dell and CRN India.’

Professor Dr. Nilesh Fal Dessai, Head of the Department of IT, Goa College of Engineering said that Dell has a robust technology which is competitively easy to use for the users. Also, the company is an ‘all in one’ service provider that has solutions for hardware requirements, devices, storage, servers, analytics, and more. "Dell products have the potential to transform the market with their versatility and good performance. This is one of the major reasons why Dell is a market leader. Conferences like Transformation Tour help in networking and knowledge sharing," he averred.