Pandemic feeds demand for tech companies'

The digital transformation of Quest Retail, which retails the beauty and cosmetic brand The Body Shop in India, went through a faster churn once work from home (WFH) became the new normal. The company moved the entire workforce on a cloud VPN network for better access to IT resources. “We shifted our core ERP SAP from on premise to cloud with Disaster Recovery (DR) setup. Actually it was due in mid-September/October, but due to the user shifting to WFH model, we decided to move it in a record 30 days timeline to enable access removing official boundaries and restrictions,” recalls Tarun Bali, AVP & Head of Technology at Quest Retail in Delhi NCR. ESDS Software Solution, a cloud solution and managed data center services provider, helped the retailer to make the transition at that time. What followed was a revamped yearly IT strategy, to a six month rolling plan with varied digital and omnichannel services. And they are not the only such example. Cloud computing firms, in fact, have been privy to a spike in the acceleration of cloud technologies by MSMEs in the last three months or since the time the virus outbreak became an increasing concern in the country. Reasons such as better efficiencies, cost savings and a digital overhaul have become more significant than ever before in an uncertain environment. Ashwin Kumar, Director - Data Centre and Cloud Operations, Linode delves further, saying that he expects the upward trend to continue. “Pre Covid, we witnessed a slant towards the adoption of Public Cloud by MSMEs. We saw demand for cloud spike almost 100%. That spike has settled to a roughly 75% rise in utilisation. Cloud is not only helping businesses turnaround their core infrastructure, but also address multiple business continuity challenges. This is especially critical considering that MSMEs are facing a lot many challenges to ensure both technological and financial continuity,” he says. Cloud computing - in a nutshell - encompasses varied tools and applications such as data storage, servers, databases and software. Such storage helps to save files to a remote database. Users can store files and applications on remote servers via cloud services and the data can then be accessed on the internet anywhere, irrespective of one’s location. Covid and CloudEvery major IT company – Microsoft, IBM, AWS, Oracle, SAP and others have tried to penetrate the SMB market in the country, but the going has been tough. In most instances the IT companies tried to sell the benefits of technology, especially cloud computing, but SMBs were mostly reluctant.It is not difficult to conclude then that Covid actually became a catalyst for MSMEs to accelerate the usage of such tech services in an advanced manner. Ask Vinit Patpatia, Owner & Director - Business Development, Disha Automation who took to cloud software by HostBooks as the lockdown made it extremely difficult for them to manage their accounts and finances. “I had a lot of data to be reconciled in order to fulfill compliances, so it was an extremely time consuming and a cumbersome task. During this time, I was anxious for a solution where my finance team could connect and regulate all the processes. Since the cloud application can be used anytime at any remote place, we are able to keep the health of our employees on priority thereby working from home,” he reveals. Industry experts affirm that the current crisis led to a complete change of business strategy, keeping a more short term period in consideration than any elaborate five year planning. “MSMEs are looking at multiple ways of business continuity. Many of them have seen how they can build an enterprise with technological innovation. Such services enable extra flexibility for MSMEs who can make use of a centralised management system while using these technologies,” says Arun Rao, Senior Director, Sales & Strategy, Dassault Systemes India. The company has a 3DExperience solutions platform through which SMEs can get access to technologies such as computer aided design, realistic digital simulation and a digital model of their assembly line or manufacturing facilities. 76682452Other companies are witnessing a similar upward trajectory. Robotic Process Automation (RPA) firm Automation Anywhere has seen an active interest in its community edition downloads. “These are mainly for MSMEs. We have seen the trial version being accessed thrice more than what it used to be prior to the Covid era. This essentially helps you to automate a task. So for instance, if you have to do a GST filing or payroll processing or reach out to all customers with a single mail informing them on policy change, the bots can be built using the community edition version,” explains Milan Sheth, Executive Vice President, IMEA, Automation Anywhere. Sheth recalls that though there were apprehensions and concerns on such adoption in the past, a lot of them have been put aside now. “The first thing is for people to adopt and accept. The next question is about trust. Once there is trust, some controls and security around it can be added,” he highlights. Security and costConcerns and challenges around security, data breach, data losses and hijacking of accounts, however, are rampant and pose potential threats to businesses using such technology. How are companies trying to avert such breaches? Keeping such aspects in mind, companies are going the extra mile in security management. “We don’t save any data on our servers. Everything is on the customers’ device and servers. Moreover, our servers are equipped with the highest levels of security procedures and authentication processes. We make sure that our security protocols are airtight and tamper-proof,” adds Kumar of Linode. Companies emphasise that they understand that it is a genuine concern. “Sometimes cloud technologies can make one feel away from their core systems. We tell them that we will not be sharing anything from their end. So, from a security point of view, they do feel comfortable,” states Sheth. Costs for adoption of such technology would largely vary, depending on the size of the MSME and the number of people employed at the firm. However, since even smaller businesses are now mulling such options as first time cloud users, cloud computing firms are looking at more cost effective solutions tailored to meet the demand across the diverse spectrum of users. Microsoft, for instance, recently launched its Back2Business Solution Boxes for helping SMBs maintain business continuity through cloud adoption. Available in four variants, these range from small organisations that need remote working and collaboration solutions to the more ‘advanced’ variant which is meant for SMBs needing advanced security capabilities, cost reduction and better infrastructure management. Every cloud has a silver lining, or so the cliche goes. The Covid crisis has testified to this cliche on several counts, including for the hard pressed MSME sector. With the increased scale up in their digital operations at this time, the pandemic may just have been the push MSMEs needed to enhance their technological prowess at a faster pace.

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/2CQGgMt