DATA MANAGEMENT IS THE FOUNDATION FOR INDIA’S DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION SUCCESS

Seagate Technology plc hosted a roundtable discussion about India’s data trends and digital landscape in light of the findings in IDC’s The Digitisation of the World – From Edge to Core report, commissioned by the global data and storage leader. Led by Mr. B.S. Teh, Senior Vice President of Global Sales and Sales Operations at Seagate Technology, the session focused on the importance of a robust data management strategy and infrastructure for organisations in an ever-expanding Global Datasphere[i].

The volume of data created worldwide will grow from 33 Zettabytes (ZB) in 2018 to 175 ZB by 2025ii. During the discussion, Teh emphasised the significance of data-readiness and investment in data management infrastructure across industries to improve customer experiences, open new markets and enhance productivity. “As India accelerates in its journey to digital transformation, there will inevitably be a data deluge. With technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and the Internet of Things (IoT) becoming central for business productivity and governance alike, a solid digital strategy will be the key to success in the data age,” he said.

Edge computing continues to be a key driver of business-critical processes as well as digital transformation, as Digital India remains the mainstay of the Government’s policy initiatives. From the Smart Cities Mission, to the National Institution for Transforming India’s (NITI Aayog) national policy on implementing AI solutions across the nation and the State of Aadhaar biometric identification system, India is making swift strides towards digital adoption and transformation. Mirroring global data trends, the increased use of technologies like IoT and AI on the back of the advent of 5G will translate to an increased demand for real-time data processing, along with a need for data agility in India. With nearly 30% of the Global Datasphere being real-time by 2025[ii], organisations in India are also poised to invest in robust infrastructure to support the ability to process more data at the Edge for faster and more efficient extraction of the value of data.

Accordingly, organisations are shifting their reliance for storage from devices to public cloud and centralised data repositories, with the enterprise fast becoming the world’s primary data steward in today’s connected world. The report found that nearly half (49%) of the world’s stored data is expected to reside in public cloud environments by 2025, and starting from 2019, more data will be stored in the enterprise core than in the world’s installed base of endpointsii.

Data will impact nearly all industries in India, including financial services, media and entertainment, healthcare and manufacturing – the four industries studied in the Digitization of the World report using the DATCON (DATa readiness CONdition) index. The index is the first of its kind that evaluates the management, usage and monetisation of data to help inform businesses how they should take action to prepare, analyse and manage the growth in data.

Teh concluded, “Digitisation is profoundly changing the shape of business today in India, as organisations make use of data technologies for productivity expansion, data monetisation and value creation, impacting consumers and companies in every industry. In tandem, the Indian Government’s focus on information and communication technologies to power India’s rapidly growing digital economy mandates a robust, secure and efficient data management strategy. We are excited to be a strong supporter of India’s digital transformation and enable these opportunities for the foreseeable future.”