Sachin Goel, Chief Information Officer,
HCL Infosystems
Enterprises in the IT-enabled services (ITeS)/ business process management (BPM) industry have been early adopters of information and communication technology systems for enhancing business efficiencies. Companies in this space have been leveraging technologies like audio and video-conferencing, cloud computing and big data analytics to ensure timely delivery of services and provide cutting-edge technology solutions to clients. The next wave of technological growth will be driven by automation and artificial intelligence. Leading enterprises in this space talk about their IT strategies, technology trends, and challenges in implementing new technologies…
What is your company’s telecom and IT blueprint? What are some of the ongoing and planned IT initiatives and how are these helping the organisation?
HCL Infosystems is focusing on digital and emerging services as a core area to deliver business-aligned and technology-enabled offerings to clients. For example, in the emerging technology area, we have developed multiple internet of things (IoT) pilot solutions for specific clients across diverse industries such as FMCG, healthcare and manufacturing.
Going forward, we intend using advanced IoT applications, which would not only be a significant new line of business but could also enhance the value of some of our existing services such as managed infrastructure.
What are the key emerging technology trends in the BPM/ITeS industry? What are the challenges in implementing new technologies?
The past year was a momentous period for technology innovations. The industry witnessed giant leaps in terms of the adoption of technologies like artificial intelligence, IoT, cloud, machine-to-machine communications and blockchain. Cloud computing was widely accepted by enterprises, especially small and medium enterprises. This was primarily driven by the proliferation of smartphones, inter-team collaboration across locations, and concerns about cost and operational efficiency. The adoption of cloud technology is helping break down technical barriers and reduce the costs associated with establishing global platforms. These platforms are major enablers of innovation and are geared to deliver on-demand, any-device, simplified and personalised services. Meanwhile, IoT, which is labelled as “the next industrial revolution”, saw increased adoption across various sectors such as healthcare, manufacturing, logistics and e-commerce.
As far as challenges are concerned, the lack of awareness about how enterprises can leverage technology to grow and expand their businesses is what prevents most of them from adopting these new technologies. In order to overcome these challenges, enterprises need to stay updated with the constantly evolving technologies that are shaping their business landscape. Moreover, security concerns about possible hacking or misuse of the massive amount of data stored on the cloud is a major factor for the cautious adoption of these new technologies by chief information officers. Another major challenge faced by users is the lack of consistency and standardisation across different IoT solutions. With the IoT market growing, most solution providers have been building all the components needed by the industry, ranging from hardware devices to relevant cloud services or IoT solutions. This has resulted in a lack of consistency and standards across different IoT solutions.
What is the outlook for the adoption of new technologies like IoT, automation, artificial intelligence, big data analytics and cloud in the BPM/ITeS industry?
In the future, emerging technologies like IoT, which is a combination of operational and information technology, will be at the core of the digital business. Sectors such as automobile, manufacturing and healthcare will be the fastest adopters of this technology. Similarly, blockchain technology is expected to play a bigger role in the field of financial technology, which has received a big boost following the government’s demonetisation drive. The benefits of blockchain technology will percolate to other areas including identity verification and supply chain as well. Meanwhile, cloud computing and cognitive technologies have already made their mark as technologies that will shape the future. These are the areas of focus for HCL Infosystems.
