Why growing data traffic is good news for Docomo

BANGALORE: As mobile devices are becoming a primary source of communication, today no enterprise can afford not to be connected in real-time, either with its own workforce or customers. This has created a need for enterprises to be supported with cloud-based eco-system that keeps stakeholders connected 24X7.

In an interaction with CIOL, Himanshu Khanna, Head of Products for Tata Docomo, Enterprise Business unit, shares the company's roadmap for next level of products and services in enterprise arena.

Excerpts:

CIOL: Today enterprises are joining mobile applications bandwagon in a big way. How is Tata Docomo's enterprise business unit helping them in this regard?

Himanshu Khanna: There is a lot of traction in market in bringing enterprise applications. Tracking applications has already been adopted successfully. Now, customers are demanding different kinds of applications that are capable of real-time tracking and meaningful data capture. Be it an insurance company or hospitality industry, every industry has its own needs.

We have enabled customers to capture real-time data from field force. Travel companies can have real-time booking solutions with our applications based on cloud. So there is a lot of traction in mobility applications. There are many applications that one can think about and we are clearly moving in that direction. As has been said the future of telcos lies in data, we see data traffic growing with increasing demand for these kinds of applications.

CIOL: What is your approach to developing cloud eco-system for enterprise applications?

Himanshu Khanna: We don't do applications on our own. What we are creating is an eco-system where customers can onboard their applications and extend them to customers.

We are the prime bidder to the customer. Customers today are looking at a single stop solution. We have the best in the breed partners who develop applications. We put those applications into our cloud and extend it to our customers.

Our approach is very clear. We can ensure end-to-end performance of applications. Mobility applications and BYOD are the themes coming from emerging verticals. This is where we need to invest now.

CIOL: What is your roadmap for bringing managed services to mobile devices?

Himanshu Khanna: We have been seeing smartphones of different types and people are loading any number of applications on them. Suddenly, CIOs are a worried lot as the same phones are used to access both business and personal applications.

The traditional managed services have always been through routers, PBXs, etc. Now enterprises want to enforce policies to protect their data. We clearly see that demand. The number of mobile devices hooking on to an enterprise network has been increasing and companies are also expecting managed services so they decide on permissions, configure emails among others.

So, CIOs today want professional class of support and services. We are working on this.

CIOL: CIOs also do not want to depend on support for minor tasks. How can cloud eco-system help in self service enablement?

Himanshu Khanna: On a lighter side we are becoming more impatient. People want things to happen in real-time. In other words, CIOs want tools to perform certain tasks on their own. Self-service or self-enablement is a clear cut need.

Interactions with CIOs indicate that they want visibility to assets, perform tasks without having to wait for support. So customers are looking into flexibility and enablement. It's on a hygienic-side rather than technology. But we see a trend in this direction and certainly a lot can be done in this area because the focus has been on business side or applications.