Atul Hemani

MD & CEO, Omnitech InfoSolutions Ltd

Omnitech InfoSolutions Ltd. (BSE: 532882, NSE:OMNITECH) is a global IT services company offering end to end Managed Infrastructure Services, Application Services, Business Continuity and Cloud based Solutions and Services. Expanding globally, Omnitech recently acquired Avensus Netherlands AV, a Managed Services and Security Solutions provider in Europe to fuel the growth and strengthen its regional presence with opening an office in UK. In Far-East region too, Omnitech recently opened an office in Japan as well to benefit the new and existing customer from local and partnership driven support to complement our global services.

India's Managed IT Services industry is presently experiencing stable growth with strong potential for the following years. Post global economic meltdown, organizations have been recuperating gradually and this has led to a majority of the CIOs to scout for cost effective IT solutions. The move has shaped the growth trajectories for Managed IT services industry magnificently.

Enterprises today are more inclined towards finding new ways to spend less and get more out of the existing IT infrastructure. This has translated toManaged IT services, a lucrative option for CIOs today as it offers various advantages like effective manpower sourcing and retention, low investment in tools and technologies (licenses), 24x7 monitoring and periodic assessment and more. Initially, Managed Services were mostly adopted by large enterprises, but now small and medium businesses (SMBs) are also adopting it in the form of managed network services, workplace management services and managed server services, mainly due to competitive pressures and operational concerns.

As per the business verticals map, Managed IT Services growth in Banking, Financial Services & Insurance (BFSI) has been phenomenal, because innovative services and unique client experience to deliver customer delight and gain loyalty is at the core of the banks today. Rest, when it comes to managing servers and staying up to the speed on the latest technology, they rely on their Managed Services Partners (MSP's) through an end-to-end partnership. Right behind them are Education, Health, Retail, and Government verticals.

According to reports from various sources as well as our understanding of the marketplace, India's managed IT services market is expected to reach $3.8 billion by 2013 and is growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23 percent. The ongoing growth spree has been led by emerging enterprises in wake of deploying complex applications for process automation and operational efficiency; subsequently, posing a need for robust support system to overcome issues such as round-the-clock monitoring, security, business continuity, and more. along with support for internal as well as external users. This has led the Managed Services Industry to devise innovative and cost effective solutions encompassing skilled professionals and certified processes coupled with latest tools and technology that not just support their day-to-day operations but transpire technology transformation with operational excellence and business growth.

At present, the market is deluged with a large number of Managed Service providers and channel partners, offering a wide range of services encompassing infrastructure and applications/software. Due to firm competition, the vendors are refurbishing their market strategies invariably to attain better market share and position. This entails solutions driven with the increasing demand for cost effective and scalable services which subsequently led the industry buzzed with Cloud Computing.

With the advent of cloud technology, more and more organizations have been moving towards evaluating the platform for expansion needs. Reason being, cloud platform has evolved as game changer which offers a flexible, open component that has been lacking in traditional outsourcing contracts. Even better, it offers the ability to move IT costs — a behemoth of the balance sheet -- from capital expenditures (CapEx) to operating expenditures (OpEx). This shall be driving ample growth aspects aligned to cloud adoption in future.

Cloud computing services in general terms involves delivering hosted services over the Internet being divided into Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). Currently, various reports suggest that the publicity around cloud computing in the Indian marketplace will aid SaaS bloom rapidly. SaaS adoption in India is expected to reach $352 million levels in 2012 from $105 million in 2009, as perrecent studies conducted by IT research firm Springboard Research. Whereas, according to the latest report by AMI Partners, 'services such as data storage, back-up, and security solutions like virus protection and spam filtering are currently spearheading the adoption of IaaS cloud computing by SMBs in India'. On the other hand, PaaS has been gaining recognition among the country's enormous group of independent software vendors (ISVs) and software developers which offers platform hardware and OS (Operating System) over the internet, based on pay per usage. This permits refreshment of OS, right to use virtualized servers and usage of associated resources to build, run, and examine software applications on pay-per-use mode.

Looking at the future outlook, Cloud and Remote IT Management Services (RITMS) shall be amongst the front-runners and will attract a major chunk of IT spending by SMB's. Although most of them may have internal staff and resources, but they shall be acquiring both to gain better control with alerts and basic infrastructure maintenance, thus freeing their internal IT teams to manage more sophisticated solutions focused on security and collaboration.

Considering today's business-class infrastructure which include mobile devices to security, virtual workstations to integrated collaboration, in-house support in future shall no longer be sufficient to those organizations riding on technology growth. To lead, MSPs must define their way within the industry by scaling their infrastructure landscape to meet the demands of new customers while continuing to offer refined service to existing customers by partnering with experts, increasing their services scale and enhancing manpower skills.

Following the MSP's growth, soon Indian organizations would be achieving outstanding status and a large amount of effort will be utilized for the making of superlative data centers, managed security surroundings and storage as well as other connected areas. With the expanding rural economy, businesses shall be rapidly expanding into the hinterlands. Simultaneously, formation of remote helpdesks would start across tier II and tier III cities, driving the next economic reform.