Interview

HARVESTING BUSINESS INSIGHTS

Prashant Gupta, Head of solutions Southeast Asia & India, Verizon Business

Whether it’s the Data Science and Cognitive Intelligence (DSCI) group applying analytics to customer interactions or the Global Supply Chain Strategy and Analytics group using it for effective sourcing and procurement, Verizon boasts of robust analytics and AI teams across the business

The pandemic-driven digital revolution across industries such as healthcare, manufacturing, wholesale and retail, etc. has resulted in enhanced big data implementation. Industrial internet of things (IIoT), and artificial intelligence (AI) too have propelled computerization in the production industry. Big data technology is increasingly being employed across portfolio management, asset administration and analytical maintenance, network manufacturing, real-time alerts, and many more to magnify business growth.

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“Big Data and analytics along with 5G solutions and AI-based machine vision will  optimize assembly lines, reduce downtime, and help businesses improve their preventive maintenance”

Prashant Gupta,
Head of solutions Southeast Asia & India,
Verizon Business

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Riding on the uptick in market demand, the global big data analytics market size is surging ahead and is expected to breach a USD 549.73 billion mark by 2028. From an overall market size of USD 206.95 billion in 2020, it has reached USD 231.43 billion in 2021. Continuing its growth streak, the market is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 13.2% during the 2021-2028 period, according to “Big Data Analytics Market Forecast, 2021-2028” report from Fortune Business Insights.

The Big Data Analytics market in India is currently valued at $2 Billion. This is expected to grow at a CAGR of 26 percent reaching approximately $16 Billion by 2025, making India’s share approximately 32 percent in the overall global market. The nearly eight fold leap of the Indian Big Data market is a lucrative opportunity waiting to be tapped.

As the India market remains in the eye of a major digital transformation buoyed by a tech-centred Union Budget, SME Channels embarks upon recording the voices of the who’s who of the Big Data Analytics landscape.

In a special interaction with SME Channels, Prashant Gupta, Head of solutions Southeast Asia & India, Verizon Business, reveals his organization’s approach to leverage this highly promising technology, opportunities created by the Analytics market for channel growth, his forecasts for the Big Data Analytics industry, the major growth drivers and his vision and plans for the channel community. Edited excerpts…

Please brief us about the Big Data Analytics Solutions offered by your company.

Big data sets, with their volume, speed, value, and variety are so complex and extensive that former database systems are struggling to deal with them. With most IoT (Internet of Things) devices existing to generate actionable data, it’s beyond doubt that 5G and Big Data are critical components of the IoT. AI, using deep learning to extract business insights from the big data sets, can help improve operations, logistics, and many other business endeavors.

Keeping in mind that data processing will continue to increase in importance and magnitude, 5G networks can be fundamental to providing the bandwidth and remote AI computing to further push the business intelligence revolution. This will not only enhance and optimize business processes, but also provide feedback into the intelligent networks for continuous optimization.

Big Data and analytics along with 5G solutions and AI-based machine vision will not only optimize assembly lines and reduce downtime but also enable organizations and businesses to improve their preventive maintenance. IoT sensors will be utilized for predictive analytics which will further advance inventory management, cutting costs and minimizing delays. Such future-ready & data-driven organizations will feature data processing close to their source, connected via 5G through on-device AI or on-the-edge cloud; all powered by 5G and edge network.

Verizon has several different analytics and AI groups across the business. For instance, the Data Science and Cognitive Intelligence (DSCI) group majorly focuses on applying analytics and cognitive technology to Verizon’s customer interactions. On the other hand, the Global Supply Chain Strategy and Analytics group is directed towards internal processes like the effectiveness of sourcing and procurement processes, and ensuring that products reach the customers, among other things.

Despite the consistent growth, business adoption of Big Data and AI processes remains a challenge for most legacy firms. With massive amounts of data to be analyzed within the complex organizations, such businesses require substantial help in navigating the same. Analytics and cognitive applications can shed light on potential problems and make the navigation process easier.

What key megatrends do you foresee in the Data Analytics market? 

There’s no denying that Big Data and Analytics is being leveraged by many organizations due to its ability to not only improve data security and customer experience but also optimize processes amongst other things.

As for trends in the data analytics market, a few of them are listed below.

  1. Scalable and Intelligent: This is the ability to work on smaller data sets which makes it more scalable and efficient.
  2. Data Fabric: This refers to a framework that standardizes data management practices and abilities across various hybrid multi-cloud environments
  3. Edge computing: Small sets of data processing at the edge allows for faster and efficient results. This is a major trend of the year and is only going to grow. In fact, Verizon also provides 5G edge solutions that help in business transformation.
  4. Xops: By leveraging AI and Big data, it has become an essential part of Digital transformation.

Another development I believe will become a trend is engineered decision intelligence since it will drive business actions much faster as they make better decisions.

What are the major drivers of growth in the Big Data Analytics market? 

With the increasing advancement of technology, there is an exponential rise in the volume of data which calls for better management and storage infrastructure systems. The variety of content involved in the collected data also enables companies to explore a vast range of opportunities to create value based on the data quality. Further to that the speed of data processing and analysis is also key.

All these features validate the need for better security, personalized consumer experience along with risk mitigation while streamlining processes and making informed data-driven decisions. Such enhancement of the business’ ability to be more competent and better players in today’s highly competitive world, has and will only continue to lead to the increasing demand for Big Data Analytics.

How do you ensure partner profitability in this emerging technology vertical?  

Verizon’s partner network is all about empowering them with trusted and innovative solutions built for growth. With simple accelerated processes, assistance, and technical support to help our partners expand their own offerings. Further, our partners get to experience the transformative power of the technology solutions our portfolio presents. Our extensive training curriculum is shaped to help them move the needle.

In the context of big data and analytics Verizon’s collaborations with channel partners like Cloudera (leader in enterprise analytics data management) and Atos (large scale cloud and AI powered data analytics) have been quite successful in businesses operating more efficiently.

How is the response from the partner community towards this niche technology?

Verizon has made significant investment in Big Data and AI. Our partner ecosystem is able to leverage these investments and gain visibility for their businesses, which has helped them strengthen their solution portfolio and provide intelligent data points for effective business transformation.

Big Data Analytics calls for intensive Partner Upskilling. How do you ensure that your partners are properly trained for this? 

From internet to mobile to security to collaboration – our customizable solutions are built to better businesses.

Verizon believes in co-creation, and we work with our partners throughout the solution lifecycle. Bringing the right partner in early can also add the expertise one needs through all stages of the process—helping  them choose the best technologies, follow best practices, and assess costs, risks and quality-of-service issues for the solutions under consideration. With consistent support, global security services, extensive training, visibility and several other Verizon incentives, the aim is to help businesses solve challenges and serve their customers better, hence upskilling.

Further,  a managed services partner plays a major role in developing the architecture for and implementing  the partners’ next gen infrastructure, bringing expertise and experience to the incredible transformation ahead.

Which industry vertical is currently witnessing the largest application of your solutions?  Which other areas do you target to expand your business? 

With the exponential rise in cyber-attacks across various sectors including healthcare, BFSI, amongst others and enterprises (with the integration of hybrid working models and BYOD systems) cyber security is certainly witnessing a higher demand. Organizations are also beginning to incorporate private 5g networks within their organization of more security and efficiency.

However, the demand for big data & analytics crosses all sectors and businesses. Currently, we are seeing investments in sectors such as Information Technologies, Manufacturing and natural resources, Finance and Insurance, Retail, Science and research, Defense and Space, Market Research, Education, Energy and Utilities, Healthcare, Telecommunications, Professional scientific and technical services, Travel, Sports, Politics, E-comm, Media Communications and Entertainment, Transportation and Automotive.

How do you look at the future of Big Data Analytics in India?  What would be your next big move in the field of Big Data Analytics? 

The reality of the matter is that Big Data Analytics is the future of India and it is only going to grow, as more and more organizations are incorporating such solutions to optimize the workings of their businesses. As data continues to expand, and the volume of unstructured and semi-structured data increases, the room to scale for service providers will also increase. Whether it is data mining, business analytics, predictive modeling, data analytics offers businesses a competitive advantage to make improved data-driven decisions, which is critical in today’s day and age.

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