Most Indian enterprises to increase cloud budgets in 2022
At 78%, India’s ITeS sector leads the share in cloud adoption followed by healthcare at 53% and financial services also at 53%, with rising dependencies on remote working, healthcare, and digital payments during the pandemic. According to survey by EY and Nasscom, the National Association of Software and Services Companies, business growth and transformation are the top drivers for cloud adoption in enterprises.
At 67%, large enterprises are keener to accelerate their cloud adoption, while only 39% of medium-size companies and 38% of small companies embarked on their cloud journey. 84% of large enterprises also reported adopting software as a service (SaaS). However, 53% of large enterprises, 80% of medium companies, and 92% of small companies faced gaps in how they manage security-related risks.
73% of organisations are focused on talent-acquisition efforts and 66% have initiated automation initiatives to augment the skill gap to address the acute shortage of digital talent. “Since talent shortage is a critical roadblock to scaling cloud, companies need to double down on their automation and reskilling efforts to accelerate their cloud journeys,” said Nitin Sawant, leader of the Cloud and Enterprise Architecture practice at EY India, in the report.
While private clouds remain the preferred choice, enterprises have also shown increasing interest to adopt hybrid and public cloud models, the report said.
IIT Hyderabad builds country’s first native 5G tech
Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad and WiSig Networks, a startup working towards 5G mobile communications products, jointly announced a 5G data call using indigenously developed 5G Open Access Radio Network (ORAN) technology. The call was enabled by a multiple-input/multiple-output (MIMO) base station that supports 100MHz bandwidth in the 3.3-3.5GHz frequency band.
This feat achieved opens the door to designing and manufacturing native wireless broadband equipment in India. WiSig also announced that some 5G products are available via licences for Indian wireless equipment manufacturers.
So far, India has imported 2G, 3G, and 4G technologies from abroad, but seeks to develop and use its own 5G technology.
Skills shortage limits global capability centres’ growth
The demand for niche skills in AI and machine learning, cloud and open stack development, business intelligence, and cybersecurity has grown exponentially, causing a shortage of qualified candidates in the last 18 months. EY’s GCC Pulse Survey 2021 noted this as a challenge for global capability centre (GCC) leaders in terms of operation scalability and driving a digital transformation agenda.
While all GCCs in the EY survey agreed that niche skills are critical for digital transformation, only 10% of GCCs said they would hire people through campus placements; 67% preferred lateral hiring from other GCCs, Indian organisations, and service providers. “In the long term, collaboration with startups, industry bodies, and educational institutions will also play a key role to build a business-deployable pool of resources. These steps will help GCCs continue to act as an innovation engine and drive new ideas across their organisation,” said Subir Mehra, the GCC sector lead for financial services at EY India, in the report.
Only 43% of the GCC leaders said they have a dedicated cybersecurity team, and 58% said there is an increased data breach risk due to remote working. However, 50% believe half their workforce will work remotely for the next 12 months.
India government seeks to reimagine digital education
The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), along with other ministries, organised a webinar to discuss effective implementation of initiatives announced in the Union budget 2022 for the education and skilling sector that focus on expanding reach and strengthening the digital education ecosystem.
The webinar’s participants discussed the creation of a comprehensive education technology ecosystem via private-public partnerships, including a digital platform, content creation, effective digital pedagogy, concurrent and strong faculty training, virtual labs, and assessment of digital teaching and learning.
The University Grants Commission will be accountable for the reimagining of the futuristic teaching-learning process in digital education. Work is planned to develop a detailed roadmap for a regulatory framework, identification of hub-and-spoke higher education institutions, the orientation of academic leadership, and training for faculty for the Union budget’s planned Digital University.