Dell Technologies helps organizations and individuals build their digital future and transform how they work and live and provides customers with the industry’s broadest and most innovative technology and services portfolio for the data era. In an interaction with NCN, Ripu Bajwa, Director & General Manager, Data Protection Solutions, Dell Technologies, India, shares their company’s market & brand strategy and plans for India
Q1. Could you brief about the evolution of the data protection landscape in India?
Ans. The data protection landscape in India has evolved manifold over the past few years. In my opinion, this transformation has been primarily fueled by the growth of the data and influx of emerging technologies like IoT, ML, AI, etc. Talking about the data specifically, while its unprecedented growth has created enormous opportunities for businesses, it has also posed fresh and unforeseen risks. Due to this, organizations have started realizing the need to protect this resource more than ever. However, despite the increased investments to safeguard data, organizations witnessed a steady uptick in application downtime and data loss. According to recent study conducted by Vanson Bourne, about 84% organizations have reported suffering from a disruptive event in the last 12 months.
Given the gamut of data getting generated every day, we are expecting data protection to become a key component in the overall business strategy in the future. Furthermore, I believe that we will witness an increased demand for next-generation data protection and management solutions.
Q2. Any new trends that will emerge in the data protection landscape this year?
Ans. As data grows and becomes critical to organizations, ensuring its protection has become more of a business imperative. However, there are significant transformations taking place across the technology landscape that are exerting tremendous pressure on what data protection techniques should be looked at. In the recent times, organisations have found themselves face to face with a new challenge – maintaining business continuity while working from home. Due to remote working, the data resides at multiple touchpoints, putting it at a higher risk of loss and misuse. As per a report, there has been a 37% increase in the number of cyber-attacks in India during Q1 2020. Such data clearly shows that there is a dire need for businesses to increase their focus on the adequate data protection and management solutions to protect their data and business values. So, the three trends I can foresee emerging in the country this year are:
- Increased focus on Disaster Recovery rather than Disaster Management: In order to be prepared for unexpected attacks, organisations will turn to disaster recovery solutions, which will help them to regularly back up as well as making duplicate or deduplicated copies of their mission-critical data. This process will help them avoid loss of their valuable data that holds the power to cripple businesses in no time.
- Adoption of 24X7 Data Protection: As organisations operate round the clock, the dependency on data protection solutions which also work in the same manner and provide real-time backup a shielding of primary data sets will increase.
- Pivot towards cost-effective data protection solutions: In the present conditions, organizations are running on flat IT budgets, however, there is a greater realization towards building adequate data protection. Hence, we can expect both growth and demand for affordable and holistic data protection solutions in the country.
Q3. What are the latest innovations by Dell Technologies that will help organizations better manage and protect their data?
Ans. Dell Technologies has always been at the forefront of bringing in innovations to its various portfolios. And, we have been able to do so by maintaining close proximity with our customers as well as listening to their evolving demands. With respect to our data protection solutions, Dell Technologies offer a robust portfolio of products. From providing efficient recovery solutions to cutting-edge protection of the data across edge to core to cloud, Dell Technologies is helping build resilience into their customers’ businesses.
In the current times, when there have been increased instances of data theft, Dell Technologies is providing customized strategy with data protection solutions for safe and reliable remote backup. Cutting-edge solutions like Dell EMC Cyber Recovery and Endpoint solutions, Dell is ensuring safety and security of its customer’s data at all fronts. Moreover, we also offer solutions like Dell EMC PowerProtect DD Series appliances that offer our customers the ability to simplify as well as provide operational efficiencies in a multi-cloud environment.
Q4. Could you brief about the outlook of enterprises and customers towards adopting data protection solutions?
Ans.From the India standpoint, we are observing that organizations and customers are looking at data protection in a big way than ever. Although, they are seeing a better potential in the value of data & to some extent are monetizing it too, they are still not very confident about whether their current data protection solutions will be able to meet the future requirements, as per the Dell Technologies Global Data Protection Index 2020 report.
But, looking at the future, due to rapid advancements in technology such as new-age technologies as well as the data surge, we are hopeful that organizations will make data protection a top business priority. Moreover, in the current times, since companies needed to act quickly to remote working, many established security standards were bypassed or hastily rushed through the process, which increased the exposure to cyber threats. Hence, there has been a strong desire by organizations to equip themselves with adequate modern data protection solutions that not only decrease the possibility of security threats but also help them in extracting and managing the growing volumes of data sets.
Q5. What do you suggest for the organizations to follow to securely operate their business in times of WFH?
Ans. Data has become one of the most critical resources for the organizations to safeguard. As businesses shift towards adoption of new operational strategies such as remote working, implementation of new-age technologies such as AI, ML, IOT, etc, they would require strong data protection infrastructure at their backend. Many businesses have successfully shifted to the work from home (WFH) model and are trying to regain the momentum, which was disrupted. The following are a few tips which can help these businesses in supporting their security initiatives:
- Imbibing the value of security into the business strategy: The correct approach to security should be one, which is resilient, intelligent and automated, with in-built feature. Security should cover and integrate the people, processes and technologies that play an integral part in an organization. This will ensure robust security measures and enable better protection.
- Secure the full stack, from infrastructure to applications to operations: It is of utmost importance for businesses to simplify and orchestrate their IT infrastructures and security policies to secure the data and other assets at all times. By adopting the right password management policies, data classification rules and using a secure VPN for remote network access, the mission critical data can be safeguarded from any threat.
- Deploying data management and protection solutions: The golden rule for a successful business is to be always prepared for an external outrage or information loss. By equipping the organization with the right data protection and backup solutions, the external threats can be kept at bay.
Q6. What are your future plans?
Ans. The year 2020 in someway has proved to be a challenge as well as an opportunity for organizations of all sizes. While the current times have been tough, it has also made businesses realize the gaps in terms of their IT preparedness. Currently, we are heavily invested in supporting our partners and customers, helping them maintain their business continuity. We are also committed to bringing in new innovations into our data protection portfolio to enable businesses unlock the true potential of their data, thereby empowering themon their digital transformation journey.
