IBM betting big on hybrid cloud

With almost 75% of enterprise workloads yet to shift to the cloud, IBM is betting on hybrid cloud, which represents a $1-trillion market opportunity globally, to drive digital transformation for clients.

“Cloud has been there for a long time, but globally, only about 25% of enterprise workloads have actually moved to it and 75% are still to move,” said Sandip Patel, MD, IBM India.

“Interestingly, those 75% are more critical workloads. We are reshaping our future as a hybrid cloud platform and an AI company. We are going to be leaders in that space, and I think we have all the ingredients,” he said.

Mr. Patel said that the company estimated hybrid cloud to be a $1-trillion market globally. The journey to hybrid cloud was intensifying for enterprises in India, he added.

He pointed out that according to a recent IBM CEO study, almost 6 out of 10 CEOs in India expected cloud computing to deliver results in the next 2-3 years.

“We are seeing a direct impact of this as we continue to grow our hybrid cloud business. I always say that IBM India is a microcosm of the IBM Corporation and we sort of continue to see some of those [global] trends reflect here as well,” he said.

Talking about the Indian market, he said India was one of the largest concentrations of employee population for IBM. “In India, we have our software labs, hybrid labs, which actually serve as global missions. Also a lot of our design centres are based in India, research labs are based in India... a lot of the product announcements that you find, those actually come out of India,” Mr. Patel said.

“This gives you an indication of what India is relative to the importance within the IBM ecosystem,” he added.

IBM is currently working with close to 1,000 clients in India on their ‘digital transformation journey’  as part of their services business.