“Sharing Knowledge And Learnings With Teams From Working With Cloud Technologies Can Foster A Collaborative Future For The Cloud Industry.”
Please tell us about your role and the team/technology you handle at Infosys. How did you arrive at Infosys?
In my role at Infosys, I work with enterprises to help define and build their cloud, infrastructure and security strategies and drive cognitive operations. Hybrid cloud has become more strategic than ever and as enterprises embark on their digital journey, cloud powered transformation has become mainstream. I would define digital transformation as helping customers to rejuvenate the core, invest in building digital capabilities and enable business led innovation. While we do this, it is extremely important to baseline and enhance the security posture.
How has the overall cloud/infosec industry evolved in the last 2-3 years? What are the critical challenges for any business today?
Organizations worldwide are rapidly adopting cloud for modernization and to improve resiliency and uptime, mainly driven by the pandemic. Shifting to the cloud also brings its own set of challenges and risks involving large-scale transaction volumes, open architecture, and multiple vendors, forcing organizations to create concrete steps that foster business resilience.
Separately many organizations are facing downtime because of downtime, thus being compelled to build resilience in the Cloud by deploying continuous and chaotic testing that reveals weaknesses in structures.
Another new challenge that the organizations and system integrators are facing in today’s environment is being measured based on business outcomes versus project completion. Identifying and executing a solution is crucial to complete a job today.
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Why do we need a solid security management policy before investing in cloud technologies? How do these policies influence ROI from cloud investments?
According to our recent Cloud Radar report, fewer than one in five companies have shifted 60% or more of their IT systems to the cloud. With that, findings from our report revealed that cost, security, and lack of talent and value measurement were among the top concerns of companies migrating to the cloud. For businesses to ensure they can operate smoothly and efficiently, it’s imperative that security management be prioritized among critical cloud and IT functions. Security has to be embedded in the design to make sure businesses take a proactive approach to protect their landscape and systems.
Nonetheless, an increasing number of companies are beginning to realize the value of the cloud, and it is expected that by the year 2022, 55% of U.S. companies will have progressed to the cloud. Our report reveals that cloud solutions can yield $414 billion in industry gains. With this statistic, we predict that solid security management policies will go together with cloud investments, as companies continue to reap ROI from the cloud.
How has your role evolved through the pandemic crisis? How did you stay on top of your game?
Changes and new business models over the last two years have caused organizations and IT leaders to react and adjust their strategies; and my role has been no exception. Business resilience has become the top priority in my role and across the organization, as well as remaining competitive and relevant in consumer minds. Infosys’ approach has been to help customers to “Secure by Design, Secure by Scale and Secure the Future.”
One lesson you learned by working with technology and people during the pandemic?
Over the last ten years, more organizations have realized that the true value of cloud technology is not only in leveraging its compute or data effectiveness for innovation, insights and resilience, but also sharing that same infrastructure with others so they can learn from it and use those insights to capitalize new investments and operations of their own organization. Organizations that operate on a shared platform increase that platform’s value by doing so. Sharing knowledge and learnings with other teams from working with cloud technologies can foster a collaborative future for the cloud industry that offers tremendous value.
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Tell us more about your recent collaborations with B2B/B2C companies and how these helps you expand your capabilities beyond a conventional cloud user base?
Infosys partnered with Kraft Heinz to create a database hub in just nine months during the pandemic. Leveraging Infosys Cobalt, Kraft Heinz followed a three-point plan to 1) make better decisions as a data-driven enterprise and make data more accessible, 2) become a digital-native enterprise to drive new experiences for customers and 3) take part in the data economy to collaborate and create new data-driven products. This is just one example of how we’ve partnered with companies to deploy cloud strategies successfully while reaching beyond conventional cloud user bases and expanding across numerous verticals and industries.
How do you think AI, blockchain and data analytics could transform the cloud and data analysis marketplace in the coming months?
According to our recent Cloud Radar report, about 28% of respondents described their ability to unlock value from data and AI in the cloud as very developed, and this proportion increases to 57% for enterprises with more than 80% of business functions in the cloud. Organizations can use the cloud to build data platforms that consolidate and surface enterprise data. Given AI models usually require a lot of processing power, organizations can tap into the cloud to access power-on-demand.
Cloud also provides organizations with robust AI tools available on a per-use basis and necessary insights to lead improved customer experiences, which in turn generates increased sales and data that can be consolidated with the cloud to train AI. We’re also seeing the financial services industry express interest in deploying cloud and AI to improve omnichannel customer experiences. With these benefits, it is predicted that AI and data analytics will transform the cloud and data analytics space over the next few months.
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How would you define cloud security management in the pandemic era through the lens of a general customer?
As a result of the pandemic, customers have thought about how to use the cloud to improve resiliency, expand into new markets and launch new products. With that comes the potential for security threats to infiltrate cloud-based operations and objectives, so it is imperative that cloud security procedures are determined around the customer and their business objective for a personalized solution. The pandemic has reinforced that cloud security is a critical pillar of IT.
Thank you, Anant! That was fun and we hope to see you back on itechnologyseries.com soon.
[To participate in our interview series, please write to us at sghosh@martechseries.com]
Anant is responsible for growth of the CIS service line in the Americas and Asia Pacific regions for Infosys. In his 25 years of professional experience, he has worked closely with many global clients to help define and build their cloud and infrastructure strategies and run end-to-end IT operations. Currently, he works with customers and the industry sales/engagement teams on the digital transformation journey. He defines digital transformation as helping customers to determine the location of workloads, leveraging new age development tools for cloud apps, enabling DevOps and most importantly keeping the environment secure and enhancing customer experience.
Infosys is a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting. We enable clients in over 50 countries to navigate their digital transformation. With nearly four decades of experience in managing the systems and workings of global enterprises, we expertly steer our clients through their digital journey. We do it by enabling the enterprise with an AI-powered core that helps prioritize the execution of change. We also empower the business with agile digital at scale to deliver unprecedented levels of performance and customer delight. Our always-on learning agenda drives their continuous improvement through building and transferring digital skills, expertise, and ideas from our innovation ecosystem.
