Image courtesy: Teradata/Pink & White Consulting

Ashok Ekbote Country manager, Teradata India Pvt. Ltd.

An Interview with Teradata India Pvt. Ltd. The concept of enterprise data warehousing and business intelligence is extremely relevant to today’s business environment, which is why it is fast catching up in India. Enterprise data warehousing is a concept where all the data relating to a company or an industry is placed together in a manner that is easy to access and retrieve. This data is then used for analytical purposes and serves as the biggest tool for business intelligence. The increasing usage of cutting edge technologies in various businesses makes it evident that the prospects for specialized data warehousing and business analytics are bright in India. Teradata is one of the world’s largest companies focusing on raising intelligence through data warehousing and business analytics. It provides a single, integrated view of data for smarter, faster decisions across enterprises and the ability to leverage data assets to gain strategic insight, recognize emerging trends, and respond quickly.

Convergence Plus spoke with Mr. Ashok Ekbote, Country Manager, Teradata India Pvt Ltd about the scope for business intelligence and data warehousing in the Indian market amongst other things.

CP: How open is the Indian market for concepts like business intelligence and data warehousing? Is there sufficient awareness?

Mr. Ekbote: India has become an integral part of the global economic trade and services. And with competitive advantages of cost-effective, skilled and large English-speaking workforces, we are witnessing investments from global players to set up operations in India. And this is visible across industries like Telecom, Banking and Financial Services, Retail and Manufacturing. As companies become more competitive in their respective marketplaces, products and services are getting commoditized with little differentiation. Hence these companies are looking to analytics and BI to uncover patterns, behavior and trends pertaining to their brands, products and customers. Analytical intelligence arms them with information that enables differentiation through innovative product offerings, better customer segmentation and service delivery. Secondly, multinationals using analytics and BI in mature markets are bringing these capabilities into their local operations. Indian companies are also adapting and evolving BI capabilities to deliver a stronger value proposition and grow their businesses.

CP: How has the response been since the start of your operations in India? What scope is there for this segment in India in the long run?

Mr. Ekbote: We have seen a very positive response from the Indian market to Teradata especially from customers in Banking and Telecom. For example, we recently announced that Aditya Birla Group selected Teradata for the Teradata Data Warehouse Appliance with its ability to start small and grow according to its future requirements. The goal for this new initiative is to gain a better understanding of customers across the financial services businesses in order to provide better, relevant and timely service to its customer base. The BI and CRM initiative will provide valuable insights for all sales, marketing and customer service-related business units within the Financial Services Group – Birla Sun Life Insurance Company, Birla Sun Life Asset Management Company and Birla Sun Life Distribution Company.

CP: What are your plans for the Indian market and which sectors are you focusing on?

Mr. Ekbote: We will continue our focus on Telecom, Banking and Financial Services and Government sector. We will continue to work with our partners such as SAS, SAP, Informatica and others.

CP: What is the importance of business intelligence for the telecom sector?

Mr. Ekbote: The telecom industry is highly competitive throughout the world, including India. Newer services like 3G and MNP could prove to be game changers, in the times to come. India is already nudging 50% penetration, and sooner than later, the focus will shift from acquiring new customers to retaining existing profitable customers. This could herald a paradigm shift in the way Indian Telcos manage their customer base.

Telco companies have large numbers of transactions with their consumers on an almost daily basis. BI can bring reliable predictive foresight. It enables companies to understand why customers buy their products and services, when they buy, what channel they use, and the propensity of their purchases in the future. This enables companies to enhance and to tailor their products and services, and offer personalized solutions to smaller segments of their customers and in a timely manner relevant to individual needs.

CP: Are you applying separate strategies to deal with public and private enterprises in India? How are you dealing with the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) market?

Mr. Ekbote: Yes, we are. As you are aware, the evaluation criteria in the public enterprises and private enterprises are different and we therefore address them accordingly. We have smaller systems like the Teradata Data Mart Appliance, and the Teradata Data Warehouse Appliance, which are perfect fits for the SME market. Even though these are smaller systems, they run the powerful Teradata Database, which helps smaller companies compete with larger ones.

CP: Has the economic slowdown globally impacted your growth in India?

Mr. Ekbote: I can’t comment about our growth since we’re currently in our quiet period as a publicly traded company. However, I can say that analytics including BI is gaining traction in the Indian market despite some shrinking of IT budgets in the last couple of years. BI adoption has been steady in certain verticals like Telecom and is slowly picking up in other domains. Further, companies have been focusing on optimizing their operational systems by bringing in best practices, process and performance optimizations and data quality initiatives. Companies have made considerable IT investments over the years in fine-tuning their operational systems and are now ready to take advantage of the power of data through better analytics and BI.