Cloud Adoption In India–A 101 on Concerns And Facts

by Ashutosh Saxena

The adoption of cloud-based applications and infrastructure is at a very nascent stage in India. Existing infrastructure service providers have begun taking initial steps to provide cloud-based services, but these are limited in terms of functionality, options and vertical industries. Few Facts:

• Companies in India are still skeptical about deciding whether to opt for cloud-based solutions.
• Cloud is still synonymous with software as a service (SaaS) in India, with limited understanding and adoption of infrastructure as a service (IaaS).
• The adoption of virtualization for production workloads in Indian organizations has been very low, compared to similar organizations in the U.S. and Europe.
• Most large Indian system integrators have developed a structured methodology to help migrate on-premises services into the cloud (private, public and hybrid). Some Indian service providers only provide services for the local Indian market.
• More than two dozen service providers (traditional and new) offer cloud-based services from India.

Cloud Adoption Rate in India

Cloud adoption in India is inconsistent—the larger service providers have implemented and have been using the private cloud for development, test and provisioning services for the past two years. End-user organizations, which include small or midsize businesses (SMBs), public sector units (PSUs) and the government sector, have started looking at cloud offerings and the benefits they can get from adopting cloud-based solutions. Also, some larger organizations and organizations that are part of global multinational companies have started to build cloud adoption strategies, although these are still in the early stages.
Read: Private Cloud Market In India–Total Cloud Spend Expected To Reach 8.2%

Major Concerns for Companies Moving to the Cloud in India
Many end-user organizations in India are typically conservative when it comes to the adoption of new technology or services, because they like to understand the financial benefits and returns from such investments. Companies in India are still not fully aware of or convinced about the benefits of the cloud models available today.
Some concerns are security, reliability of offerings and applications in the cloud, and reliability of vendors. Organizations governed by a regulatory framework are concerned also about the lack of auditability and transparency associated with cloud environments, particularly public cloud environments.

Service Providers for Cloud Services
Large vendors such as Reliance, Tata Communications, CtrlS, Dimension Data, Netmagic Solutions, Zenith Infotech, L&T Infotech, Mahindra Satyam, Wipro, TCS, MindTree and Infosys Technologies offer a range of cloud offerings. These services include public cloud services in IaaS, SaaS (including vertical-industry- specific solutions), building and providing managed services for the cloud and cloud services brokering and integration. Many mid-tier vendors are also gearing up to position traditional system integrator services to build and manage cloud environments for end-user enterprises.

SMBs and Startups benefits with cloud adoption and growth
Cloud emergence in India has opened new aspects for success and growth for SMBs and startups. India is a fast-growing market, and the strength of the Indian economy is young technology-based startups and SMBs, which have a significant presence in manufacturing, pharmaceutical, chemical and other related industries. Typically, these are very small companies working out of industrial estates, and they have very small workforces of as few as 10 to 20 people. These companies do not have the resources nor the expertise to have their own data centers or to manage hardware and software. These companies take cloud space in large companies that help in cost savings and. This is one major reason that cloud is getting so much traction in India. However, compared to the cloud adoption rate in the US and Europe, the adoption rate of the cloud in India would be lower, but it is growing and expected to pick up by late 2012 or early 2013.

Source
http://www.nextbigwhat.com/cloud-adoption-in-india-297/