Next-gen cloud and collaboration services can enable digital workplace transformation: Raghuveer HR, NTT

NTT Ltd. is a leading global technology services company. It partners with organizations around the world to shape and achieve outcomes through intelligent technology solutions. Intelligent means data driven, connected, digital and secure.

Here, Raghuveer HR, Senior Director, Sales, NTT Ltd (India), tells us more. Excerpts from an interview:

Raghuveer HR, Senior Director, Sales, NTT Ltd (India)

DQ: The boom in outsourcing services will rise, as 45% of the organizations globally say they will outsource more than insource. How do you think this will affect the IT industry?

Raghuveer HR: NTT Ltd.’s 2020 Global Managed Services report, reveals that a shift from what has historically been termed outsourcing, to smart sourcing is imminent over the course of the next 18 months with 45% of the organisations planning to outsource. It projects how smart sourcing will play a vital role in helping global organizations rise above disruption. In a Covid-19 world, security will remain a prime factor in the value service providers bring, as organizations reimagine transformation and navigate the impacts of a disparate workforce.

The report highlights the evolving role of the CIO. Previously responsible for controlling end-to-end decision making around the IT estate, CIOs have evolved into business enablers. Now, in these unprecedented times, the entire organization turns to them and their teams to keep the business running. Business continuity and security are and will remain at the front and centre of the enterprises, working to survive. Yet, as we move forward, the coming together of people from across the organization, partners, and service providers, will determine the recovery success.

Now, more than ever, is the time to leverage the trusted, flexible partnerships, turning to those partners who have prepared for such events so that operations can continue uninterrupted. Afterall, tough times will pass. it is the leaders focused on recovery and restoration, as well as ensuring any future disruptions have minimal impact, who will make certain that their teams and organizations come through in the best possible shape.

DQ: How can automated processes and managed services keep businesses agile, optimized, and secure, ensuring user and customer satisfaction across a hybrid environment?

Raghuveer HR: Managed services leads to the simplification of management and operation of the hybrid IT by using a platform that delivers business value through an outcome-based productivity model. By running the day-to-day technology operations consistently and improving efficiency, Managed services can seamlessly deliver the agility and scalability your business needs.

By running services in cloud, applications, collaboration and productivity, data centre, networking, and security, enterprises can used managed service providers with a combination of people, processes, tools, and platforms to turn IT challenges into business opportunities.

Some of the key aspects of the Managed services business cover:

As the organizations look set to further utilize the expertise of service providers over the next 18 months and form deeper relationships, the delivery of platform-enabled solutions at speed, across the entire technology stack becomes even more important. From cloud to networking, data centre to security and more, breadth and depth of capability is essential to recover and restore operations and position organizations strongly for the coming years.

DQ: How can collaboration and cloud communications solutions drive positive business outcomes?

Raghuveer HR: Positive business outcomes can be delivered through a range of cloud communications solutions, that enable dynamic collaboration and interactions for improved workforce efficiency, productivity, and engagement. This ranges from unified communications to digital events, to delivering tailored end-to-end consulting, deployment, and managed services, to empower businesses and enable their digital workplace transformation. Unified communications are the consolidation of different cloud collaboration and communication tools for a more complete and smarter way of working.

Collaboration and productivity solutions drive better teamwork and create more relevant and personalized experiences. Office location, time zones, and indeed working hours should no longer be considered barriers to reaching a desired outcome. Next-generation cloud communication and collaboration services, including Unified Communications and Digital Events, can enable digital workplace transformation to build and manage an ideal workplace environment – one that will exceed the expectations of your customers and employees.

By giving your workforce the collaboration tools, they need to innovate and to make more intelligent decisions, in a secure and agile fashion, enterprises can drive accelerated engagement and enhance people’s capabilities and ability to contribute. By listening to the needs of their employees and by supporting a flexible and integrated approach to technology, leadership teams can make a positive impact on retention and recruitment of talent, as well as create a more positive employee sentiment.

Workplace analytics, reducing the overall security risk by minimizing the impact of security threats,and keeping your data secure and compliant are some of the key elements of a comprehensive collaboration and workplace technology portfolio. Unified communication endpoints and enhancing teamwork with simple intuitive tools and service creates business value by bringing together the best tools for the way people work today.

DQ: With highly automated processes in line, how is NTT helping organizations in ensuring an agile and secure infrastructure, which is future ready?

Raghuveer HR: NTT provides business agility with networking, data centre, cloud, and IT infrastructure solutions. We enable the rapid deployment of new technologies and services, providing data-led intelligence. Customers can gain visibility and control by understanding what is going on in their environment through highly automated processes and managed services to keep the business agile, optimized, and secure.

With hybrid cloud services, NTT can optimize applications with seamless migration and consistent cloud management across any delivery model. We help choose the right deployment model, applying appropriate governance and security controls for users, applications, and data. These can be physical or virtual, on-premise, roaming or in the cloud and we apply these controls through the latest on-premise solutions or by integrated cloud delivered security solutions.

We also provide the infrastructure modernization and expertise needed to quickly respond to evolving technology requirements and new application models. Our secure approach includes traditional and innovative security controls. We deliver the highest level of infrastructure, application, and data security available for physical, virtual, and container-based systems, deployed rapidly and globally consistent.

We deliver an optimum blend of private and public connectivity options to adequately connect a customer’s hybrid IT, clouds, and branch locations. We can secure and manage the entire software-defined network, to improve efficiency and reduce operational risk, giving them a flexible WAN infrastructure that is agile enough to meet the changing business needs. 

In summary, we help customers achieve their business goals in line with the infrastructure transformation. And, while their digital footprint continues to expand, exposure to an evolving threat landscape does not mean they must have to slow down the pace of change. Our extensive infrastructure and cybersecurity expertise provide customers with unique security controls across your entire hybrid IT environment – network, data centre, and cloud – to achieve visibility and protection.

DQ: How can modern collaboration for business continuity support a more flexible future that enhances employee and customer experience?

Raghuveer HR: Employers are recognizing the need for greater investment in their most valuable asset – their employees and clients. Successful organizations foster a sense of inclusion, trust and purpose. In times of global uncertainty, like we are seeing with the Coronavirus pandemic, business continuity is as much about employee and customer experience as it is about the technology that underpins the safe and effective remote worker. Modern collaboration for business continuity solution supports a more flexible future, where people are the priority and your collaboration is done in a seamless and secure way. This can be achieved by:

DQ: What is NTT doing for technologies related to the future of work? 

Raghuveer HR: The development and adoption of advanced technologies including smart automation and artificial intelligence has the potential not only to raise productivity and GDP growth but also to improve well-being, through healthier life and longevity and more leisure. Alongside such benefits, these technologies also have the potential to reduce disruption and the potentially destabilizing effects on society arising from their adoption.

NTT implements artificial intelligence and machine learning to accelerate opportunities, with humans working alongside machines, the way NTT visualizes and uses data will be key to successful outcomes. We use natural-language processing in the first steps of a client interaction, while machine learning will analyse sentiments and preferences and direct customers appropriately. Robotic process automation will identify issues and either address them directly or alert a human to intervene.

We facilitate an immersive experience by embedding technologies into physical spaces thereby creating responsive ‘phygital’ spaces, where the physical world blends with the digital.  We can create any experience which plays with the senses, including digital smells that make an environment more relaxing. Technologies not only detect but also respond to what is happening in the space.

Smart buildings are being designed with both environmental sustainability and employee happiness in mind. Workspace design has evolved to consider employee wellbeing and productivity alongside factors such as reducing running costs and minimizing environmental impact.

On the disruptive technologies front, NTT’s Cokoon Project aims to take any physical space, a meeting room, office, shop, VIP box in a stadium and plug in a limited series of technologies to transform it into a virtual environment that can create any range of experiences. Digital spaces can be created in any industry where real estate needs disruption to move from being a static, analog environment to more dynamic, responsive environment.