Spotlight on Digital Transformation | ChannelDrive.in
Dell Technologies is playing a critical role in expanding possibilities of innovation and driving Digital Transformation ahead. The organization has become an integral part of the CII Center for Digital Transformation, wherein it aims to create a unique and innovative platform with special focus on MSMEs.
Rudramuni B, Vice President & India R&D Head, Dell Technologies speaks with Zia Askari from ChannelDrive.in about Digital Transformation and what role is Dell playing in the Center for Digital Transformation initiative.
Digital Transformation is one term which is highly used. Different ecosystems talk about it and want to embrace it too. How would you define Digital Transformation?
Technology is transforming the way we live and work at an ever-increasing pace. Just as technology is the engine of human progress, it is also an engine of change. Therefore, the concept of transformation means to make sure that the business is competitive, its quality of services is better and it is able to deliver innovative solutions. These changes are based on what is happening around in the industry. However, Digital transformation is real today and the things are changing rapidly.
The question arises whether a particular business will be able to utilize and leverage this change or not. There are established organizations, both small and large, which have been functioning on the same business model for years. However, if these organizations have to be future-ready, they will need to alter their business model according to the new demands etc. This is where the real journey of transformation starts.
However, to attain Digital transformation, a business has to achieve IT transformation first i.e. modernizing the infrastructure inside. This eventually moves into adopting Security transformation i.e. security for data security, access security, etc. and finally embracing the Workforce Transformation, where the skilling and re-skilling of workforce happens.
As part of this Center for Digital Transformation, what is the long term vision that you have and what is the role of Dell Technologies?
The Center for Digital Transformation is a platform to get the providers of technology, consulting services connected with the users of the technology. Here, Dell Technologies is a provider of technology. The concept of Transformation at Dell Technologies is spread across 4 pillars, namely IT Transformation, Security Transformation and Workforce Transformation, followed by Digital Transformation. We are already adopting this model within ourselves to transform the way we do things, starting from the supply chain, to manufacturing, to how we do IT internally, to how we enhance the customer experience and even product engineering.
At the same time, we truly believe that our customers are also very keen to foster their transform and therefore, we can be the providers. Through this CII Center for Digital Transformation, we aim to create a platform with special focus on MSMEs. Through our learning of Digital Transformation, we as a company will be able to offer right mentorship to these MSMEs, by providing various technological products and solutions as well as consultation. We are happy to be a part of this centre as the founding partners.
In your opinion, what would be the number of SMEs that can be targeted with this? What kind of verticals are these SMEs from?
As per industry statistics, in totality, there are over 42.5 million SMBs in India. That in itself, is a very large segment to tap. The CII Centre for Digital Transformation will initially focus upon the 9000+ member MSMEs of CII and help them in their digital transformation journey. Through this initiative, the centre aims to deliver the latest and most advanced innovations in technology and its delivery through best-in-class services.
The CII Center for Digital Transformation is going to be multiyear project and it’s not a short term i.e. 5 or 10 years initiative. To enable these 42.5 million MSMEs in the country, it will take a large number of organizations to come together and make this a reality. However, at this moment, it would be unfair to say that we will only target a few hundreds, a few thousands of SMEs because we are still at a nascent stage to develop a proper full-proof mechanism to cover the length and breadth of this sector.
To start with, what kind of innovative technologies do you think will be featured in this arrangement?
The Center for Digital Transformation will not be creating and providing technology. The center would have the member companies of CII as technology providers such as Dell Technologies etc. and they will be the ones responsible to provide the innovative technology solutions to the industry. The center will only bring together the technology users and enables at a single platform.
However, The CII DT will provide the best of its kind training and consulting services to organizations to help improve the efficiency of their service delivery and set a standard of excellence. Some of other services offered by the CII CDT will be Assessment and Advisory services, skilling and re-skilling initiatives amongst others.
Today, when you look at the technology landscape – India has developed as a great place for technology players, like for instance, Ola, UBER, OYO etc. So keeping that in mind, do you think that there is a fair amount of digital transformation which has already happened? What is the further scope?
We at Dell Technologies believe that we are already doing so much more as compared to other countries when it comes digital transformation. The number of MSMEs in the country is very large and there are a large number barriers that are still needed to be address in order to get going with the transformation journey.
- The First Barrier – Do we have enough on the privacy of data security? Therefore, Cyber security becomes one of the prime concerns for a business owner.
- The Second Barrier – What kind of policies and governance mechanisms are already there within the country?
- The Third Barrier – What is needed to start this Digital Transformation journey? Do we have people inside the organization to foster this transformation or sd we need a pool of new talent or do we need to re-skill our existing workforce?
Now, all of these barriers combined can be addressed through a center like this. Even though compared to other countries, we have made progress in India but there is still a lot more that has to happen. The only way to stay relevant is to adopt the wave of Digital Transformation.
So in your opinion, how can these hurdles be overcome and these challenges be addressed?
The CII Center for Digital Transformation is a platform that aims to bring together the technology providers and technology users to foster the agenda of digital transformation in the country. Through various initiatives and services that will be offered by CII CDT, all these barriers will be addressed.
However, the Centre alone will not be able to do the entire process nor will do so by creating a workforce internally within the center, it will depend on the technology providers, partnering brands, solution provider system integrators, as well as the consulting members to turn their dream of Digital Transformation into a reality.
