As Vice President & Managing Director, NetApp India/SAARC, Puneet leads NetApp’s Business in India/SAARC and work with customers in their Data Management journey across multiple platforms like Public Cloud, Private Cloud and On Prem. For him, the journey from On Prem to Hybrid cloud is fascinating. His diverse experience with leading Global IT companies has helped him to build a good understanding of the challenges that Enterprise face and the numerous ways to mitigate them. As a professional, he believe in aspirational thinking, transforming the business, building long term relationships, and solving customer challenges
Puneet Gupta, Vice President & Managing Director, NetApp India/SAARC
While managing immense volumes of data can feel overwhelming, the real advantage lies in turning complexity into clarity by extracting insights that refine strategies and drive progress.
We’re in an era where digital transformation is reshaping how businesses operate, compete, and thrive, and at the core of this evolution is data. Today, data serves as the bedrock of innovation and the key driver of future growth across industries. It streams in from countless sources, offering limitless possibilities to transform insights into strategic assets. While managing such immense volumes can feel overwhelming, the real advantage lies in turning complexity into clarity by extracting insights that refine strategies and drive progress.
A recent study by TechTarget’s Enterprise Strategy Group brings this into perspective, where 84% of respondents find enterprise data as critical to driving generative AI initiatives. This reflects a clear shift toward a future where data is evolving into a strategic advantage.
NetApp’s 2024 Data Complexity Report echoes this sentiment, showing that two-thirds of companies have optimised their data for AI. These leaders are making their data accessible, accurate, and ready to power game-changing AI applications. But this is only the beginning. As 2025 approaches, the focus will sharpen on smarter AI investments and advanced data management, opening doors to possibilities we’ve yet to fully grasp.
Here’s why Intelligent Data matters to drive business growth
Predictive and Prescriptive Analytics
In a world where trends emerge overnight and customer preferences shift rapidly, businesses must stay agile. Intelligent data infrastructure empowers brands to identify patterns, anticipate outcomes, and make informed decisions. With predictive and prescriptive analytics at the core, companies can address challenges proactively, before they fully take shape. Retail giants like Walmart use predictive analytics to anticipate demand and keep their supply chains functioning smoothly. Similarly, platforms like Netflix and Amazon use data-driven insights to offer ultra-personalised recommendations that keep customers coming back for more.
These real-time insights are driving smarter decisions, boosting efficiency, and giving businesses a competitive edge that’s tough to match.
Edge Computing and Data Processing
In a world where big changes are introduced overnight, leveraging real-time insights is essential. Edge computing is stepping up as a game-changer, enabling businesses to process data right where it’s created. This approach speeds up decision-making and slashes delays. For example, in healthcare, data from medical devices is analysed on-site for faster diagnoses, which can be life-saving. In manufacturing, local data processing fuels predictive maintenance, helping machines run smoothly and preventing costly breakdowns. By bringing intelligence closer to the source, industries are becoming more agile, smarter, and resilient.
Self-Healing Data Systems
In a competitive market, businesses need systems that can identify and fix problems before they disrupt operations. Powered by AI,self-healing data infrastructure systems are trained to automatically detect and resolve issues like data inconsistencies, server glitches, and storage failures, keeping businesses running smoothly with little to no downtime. This shift eliminates the need for constant manual oversight, allowing teams to concentrate on driving growth. Reliable and efficient, self-healing systems are redefining how organisations handle data, averting potential setbacks and ensuring seamless operations.
Data Fabric
Data fabric is changing the game when it comes to how organisations manage and connect their data across multi-cloud, hybrid, and on-premises environments. It creates a seamless flow of information, breaking down silos and enabling teams to collaborate without barriers. With unified access to data, decision-making speeds up, and innovation flourishes, as everyone in the organisation has the right data at their fingertips, exactly when they need it. It’s the foundation required for creating a well-connected, agile business framework.
AI-Driven Governance
Embedded AI and ML models are reshaping how businesses handle data governance by automating tasks like tracking data lineage, enforcing policies, and ensuring privacy compliance. This approach enables businesses to navigate regulatory complexities with ease while staying agile. AI-powered governance secures data without stifling innovation, striking a perfect balance between compliance and creativity. By integrating these technologies, organisations can create a flexible, growth-friendly environment where security and innovation go hand in hand.
Greener Data Infrastructure
Intelligent data infrastructure is leading the charge in sustainable IT transformation. By optimising energy consumption, cutting down on emissions, and using eco-friendly materials, businesses are rethinking the environmental footprint of their data centers. The modern-day entrepreneurs are not embracing sustainable data practices as their contribution to just meet global climate goals; they are doing it to align with the growing demand from customers for businesses to function responsibly and ethically. This shift is helping pave the way toward a greener, more sustainable future for all.
Hyper-Personalisation
This year, businesses have already raised the bar by offering hyper-personalised services, and in 2025, brands will only push further, setting new standards for customer engagement. Companies across sectors like e-commerce, banking, and entertainment are tapping into real-time data to create services tailored to each customer’s needs, driving satisfaction and loyalty. With hyper-automation in the mix, these personalised experiences are transforming customer expectations, empowering businesses to meet demands with incredible precision and speed.
Quantum-Ready Infrastructure
Businesses with an eye on the future are already laying the groundwork for the quantum revolution by building data infrastructure that can handle next-gen computing. Sectors like finance, healthcare, and logistics are beginning to explore quantum computing for more powerful analytics and optimisation. Quantum-ready infrastructure helps businesses solve complex problems like optimising logistics networks, improving material science research, and enhancing cybersecurity measures, all with greater speed and accuracy. By investing in quantum-ready infrastructure now, companies are positioning themselves to stay ahead of the game and experience the full potential of this groundbreaking technology when it takes off.
Pioneering Growth Through Intelligent Data Infrastructure
As we approach 2025, tapping into the power of intelligent data infrastructure is crucial to thriving in an increasingly digital world. Today, any strategy that doesn’t leverage data is incomplete. Data has become the lifeblood of modern enterprises, driving everything from customer experiences to operational efficiency. It’s important to remember that simply having large volumes of data is not enough; the real value comes from transforming it into actionable insights that guide decisions, fuel innovation, and shape the future.
Irrespective of your industry, embracing this shift is vital. It ensures your brand evolves with the times, anticipates change before it arrives, responds to customer needs with precision, and optimises operations in real time. By reimagining how data can work for you, your brand will be well-positioned to lead the next wave of growth.
