Ashish Sahay, Chief Technology Officer, THE GATE ACADEMY
With the rapid proliferation of smart devices and increased broadband access, enterprises have accelerated their adoption of mobility solutions. During 2015, the enterprise segment made significant investments in cloud technologies, big data analytics and virtualisation, with the aim of increasing customer engagement, tapping emerging opportunities and enhancing productivity. However, the lack of a robust support infrastructure in terms of network bandwidth remains a key challenge for enterprises in the information and communication technology (ICT) space. Select enterprise customers comment on the key technology trends in the enterprise space during 2015 and the mobility applications adopted by them, the challenges associated with the introduction of new applications, and the technology roadmap for 2016…
What were the key technology trends in the enterprise space during 2015?
One of the key technology trends in the enterprise space during 2015 was the aggressive adoption of cloud services as a business enabler. Before 2010, companies were dependent on traditional applications for in-house IT infrastructure. The adoption of cloud technology has become extremely important, not just for established enterprises but also for start-ups that require flexibility to scale up while keeping their costs low.
What is the current level of adoption of mobility solutions by Indian enterprises? What are the key challenges faced by them in adopting new technologies?
Cloud solutions are being mainly deployed by non-telecom players such as Amazon, Microsoft and Google. At present, Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the market leader in cloud services, also validated by Gartner Magic Quadrant. AWS products are of higher quality and are more mature. Of late, Microsoft’s Azure services and Google’s cloud platform have picked up in their niche areas in cloud computing and are getting good reviews. IBM’s Bluemix cloud services (PaaS, IaaS, SaaS) have also started gaining traction. THE GATE ACADEMY is currently using the AWS cloud platform.
What were some of the technology-related initiatives that your company adopted during the past year?
THE GATE ACADEMY has taken the lead in terms of providing visual learning to students. Visual learning is going to be a game changer as far as the GATE (Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering) examination is concerned. This is because GATE is a highly technical examination and visual learning helps students in grasping concepts, such as a stroke engine explained through animation, in a better way. Our company is also taking the initiative to provide capsule courses to students who do not wish to purchase the entire course material, thereby helping them save money. These capsule courses are also being made available online. Moreover, we have started using “smart boards”, which give a real-life view of the concepts being taught to students. This is a step ahead of other organisations in the e-learning space, which use simple PowerPoint presentations to explain concepts.
“Cloud technologies will continue to dominate the enterprise space in 2016. At the same time, big data analytics will gain significant traction.” Ashish Sahay
