Hitachi data System’s focus for 2016 is to help partners drive revenue around Internet of Things, Big Data Analytics and 3rd Platform Solutions.
Best known for its storage and IT infrastructure expertise, Hitachi Data Systems is continuously focusing on its diversifying product and solution portfolios to become more than ‘just a storage company’ for many years now, quietly expanding proficiency in advanced data analytics, Internet of Things and connected intelligence.
The Indian market has been a key contributor to the Hitachi Data Systems global business and is one of the fastest growing markets in the region with 40% growth rate. In India, HDS is focusing on BFSI, IT & ITeS, telecom, media & entertainment, government sector among others. It sees the next five years to be promising from a business standpoint. Hitachi Data System sees a lot of opportunity in the government’s Digital India and Smart Cities campaign, not just as a technology provider but more as a Social Innovation specialist. Through its recent acquisitions of Pentaho and Oxya, it is bolstering the analytics portfolio to address both business and society challenges. These acquisitions will help the company to further capitalize on Internet of Things market opportunities and expand the cloud services portfolio beyond IaaS to Application-as-a-Service, where we have high customer demand.
Analysing the market, it is observed that customers these days are increasing their investment with Hitachi as they see the company as a stable organisation bringing out a lot of value on a regular basis. The transformation within Hitachi has set forward a very clear message that in today’s volatile economy we need to really invest with companies who have stability as their number one value proposition. Beyond stability, it’s the value of the technology that HDS brings.
When asked about the changing role of Channel Partners with newer technologies, Vivekanand Venugopal, Vice President and General Manager, Hitachi Data Systems, India excerpts, “At HDS we are extremely proud of how closely we are aligning our technology efforts with our key partners both on the technology side as well as the Go-To-Market side. Most of our business is driven through channel partners in India, and they will continue to play a key role in our growth strategy.”
Venugopal further adds, “We have also understood that SI community is not going to fulfil all the business and transformation projects in the Indian market. Addressing this need, there are going to be a select bunch of partners who are very focused on a specific industry with specific business proposition and we have categorised them as our regional system integrators. They focus on government initiatives, initiatives on defence sector, railways, smart cities etc. We have identified these partners and categorized them as Regional System Integrators. Our third category of partners is the value added resellers.”
The measure of HDS success comes from the evaluation done by the customers; if the customers have been successful in their business outcome and if partner’s business is profitable. That is the only true measure of success.
Venugopal conveyed the message that it will continue to leverage its partners’ capabilities to reach customers while supporting them with new products and professional service offerings so that they in turn can become trusted advisors to their customers. HDS with its expanding portfolio along with its exclusive marketing strategy will create the required stability for partners. In addition, the company is also committed to partners grow revenue, margins and attract new talent to win in this market place.
