CIO HandBook 2011 "TCS Bets Big on iON"

With cloud computing evolving as a feasible option for several enterprises to simply run their complex business processes, of late, it is becoming increasingly evident that the entire ecosystem of enterprises and the players within it are steadily gearing up for cloud adoption.

Holding on to similar convictions, a part of the Tata group and Indias largest IT services, consulting and business solutions firm, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), has recently organized a grand event for the launch of business solutions on the cloud under the brand name iON. Targeting the small and medium businesses (SMBs), Tatas iON is the first-of-its-kind fully integrated information technology cloud based solution with a combination of hardware, networking, and office and business software on a pay-per-use model.

TCS is all set to become a more popular brand with small and medium-size businesses in meeting the growing demands in the SMB segment, said Venguswamy Ramaswamy, global head, SMB, TCS.

Explaining about targeting the SMB segment, Ramaswamy said, Till date, IT industry has judged this market as attractive for niche solutions in hardware and software. Yet, the business need of the SMBs demand holistic partnership. As there are too many options available with very little in-house knowledge, the plight of SMBs is far from being met, which calls for a different service model. We have built a unique business model that makes IT available in an integrated fashion on the cloud, Ramaswamy said. He added that the journey for coming up with an integrated cloud solution for the SMB segment started around two and a half years ago. Initiating the effort for building the iON cloud solution for small and medium enterprises, the company conducted an elaborate study of the Indian SMB market to understand their IT demands to address the market. Having done a clear study on the SMB segment, it was observed that the Indian SMBs were under the deep clutch of capex mode, which further posed as a severe bottleneck for them to migrate easily to cloud computing. Thus, TCS started architecting a cloud based solution named iON for Indian SMBs. It was the brainchild of N Chandrasekaran, CEO and MD, TCS.

According to TCS, iON provides on-demand business solutions using the very latest in scalable cloud computing technology. It has been developed to deliver IT in the third generation service model to SMBs. Using a pay-per-use business model, iON helps SMBs leverage world-class technology solution as a key business differentiator. It removes the need for SMBs to invest in IT assets or retain scarce IT talent. iON uses cloud computing technology with a pay-per-use business model and addresses the entire spectrum of an SMBs technological needs. The cloud based solution is pre-configured with hardware; network and software bundled together and backed by business, technical and consulting services.

TCS has been placing a lot of emphasis on enabling small and medium-scale businesses to use IT as a service in their business plans. The company is targeting the Indian SMB market first with the offering called IT-as-a-service, and expects a revenue of $1 bn from the segment in the next 5 years with its affordable cloud computing model. According to research firm, Zinnov Management Consulting, the total Indian market for cloud is projected to be worth $260 mn by 2011. It also stated that the IT growth in India is the fastest in the world and that Indian SMBs are looking for business improvement in the face of challenges like lack of management bandwidth and tight budgets. According to Ramaswamy, for these companies, cloud computing is certainly a viable option since the Indian SMBs are set to spend more than $16 bn on computer technology.

Explaining about the price reasonability of the solution for the SMBs seeking to cut down their budgets on capital expenditure, Ramaswamy cited an example of the cloud solution for the education vertical, which is being priced at `70 per student a month. Using this IT-as-a-service cloud solution, Monica Doshi, COO, KarROX Technologies said, Considering the complexity of our business, the TCS team has been very supportive in implementing our requirements. We have introduced campus management system, which acts like a digital campus, where in a center it could track the availability of lab and faculty online and also place orders for courseware on diminishing inventory. This information can be centrally monitored in the head-office on a daily basis.

Shailesh Mallya, AVP, marketing and communication of Mumbai based Lauren Information Technologies said, For the TCS SMB cloud service, we signed up this deal 3 months ago and until today, our customers in the cloud computing space is increasing day by day. We recently tied up with 2 clients to have cloud setup. Our client base is gradually increasing with the brand name of TCS.

Not only Lauren Information Technologies, but also Secunderabad based Cache Peripherals, recently entered this business with a deal with TCS. Director, Gumidelli Sailesh confidently said, I certainly feel that SMBs are ready to migrate on cloud computing since it makes perfect commercial sense. The significant driver of cloud computing in the SMB segment is because of the lower costs for running the technology, innovation and lower risks involved. With cloud, no upfront capital expenditure is needed, as there would not be any requirement to hire huge administration staff as problems like upgradation, software patching and others would be taken care by the cloud service provider. The adoption costs are also lower as per the pay-per-use model by TCS. In my view, for most new businesses which will be set up in the future, cloud is the most viable option to adopt.

It is 1 year since we have deployed this solution for the admission, HR, procurement and assessment processes. We intend to deploy these solution across 115 locations. Initially, we intend to deploy pilot projects and then we will deploy at all locations, said Ryan Pinto, CEO, Ryan International School.

Ajay Pahwa, CEO, Kaya Skin Clinic also said in concurrence, We have seen a lot benefits like high bandwidth at low costs. This helps us to translate better when it concerns customer needs. The best part is we are able to incorporate the solution on the basis of pay as you use. It helps us to maintain and track the history of our customers and also in our day-to-day business.

Also, Ajay Sawant, MD of Mumbai based Orient Technologies, has signed up a deal with TCS for the adoption of cloud computing technology 2 months ago and is now expecting to touch the revenue of $1 mn by the end of this year with this tie-up. He added, The penetration of cloud computing in Indian SMB is not huge at the moment and there very few deployments have actually happened. The public cloud will gain more momentum among the SMEs. This is our first year on cloud computing deal with TCS and we hope to generate a revenue of over 10% on our total business on cloud by the end of this year.

Prof (Dr) BV Somasekhar, vice chancellor, Suresh Gyan Vihar University added, The gross enrollment ratio for us is expected to jump to 30% in 2020 from its current figures of 12.6%. In order to match this gross enrollment ratio that is expected to increase economic progress IT deployment becomes a necessity. In the future, the education field is going to witness an amalgamation of various education bodies like AICTE among others. The government is going to invite foreign universities to set base in India which will pose a challenge for Indian universities who will then have to put their best foot forward to match steps with their global counterparts.

Speaking about the initiative of bringing in cloud service for SMBs, Ratan Tata explained that through this, TCS will empower the SMEs, which contribute to over 45% in the countrys GDP. He further assured, We will modify the entire system and there will be powerful technological changes. TCS assured its SME audience that it will provide all help to its customers, starting from the level of hardware, software and even network solutions and services for their connectivity with cloud platform.

Sikta Samantaray, DQ Channels
siktas@cybermedia.co.in
With inputs from: Shilpa Shanbhag