Description: It's true, that Cloud migration is a journey, not a destination and understanding its importance is crucial for manufacturing companies. Bringing us deep industry insights with several use cases are two industry leaders - Pankaj Shah and Pushkar Sharma.
Guest Speaker:
Pankaj Shah
Senior Director and Client Partner, Manufacturing
Senior Director and Client Partner, Manufacturing
Pushkar Sharma
AVP, Cloud and Infrastructure Services
AVP, Cloud and Infrastructure Services
Transcripts
Welcome to Tech lyceum. Very excited to be here. As always, I'm Neerja, and you know, as well as I do that we always cover some very interesting topics on the show today is no different. We are going to be talking about the crucial role of cloud migration in modern manufacturing. And of course, we have two experts joining us to shed light on this.
First up, let me introduce Pankaj Shah, Senior Director and client partner manufacturing, who is a senior sales and business development expert with over 25 years of experience in discrete manufacturing, working with Fortune 500 companies, he specializes in strategic business growth, managing global relationships and large digital transformation in technology sectors like IoT, AR VR and cloud computing. Pankaj has some very valuable insights on driving business success through innovative strategies. Welcome to the show, Pankaj.
Follow Us On
Speaker – Pankaj – 01:09
Thank you for giving me this opportunity,
Thank you for giving me this opportunity,
Speaker – Neerja –01:12
of course, and let me introduce our next guest who's going to be joining us as well, Pushkar Sharma AVP, cloud and infrastructure services. He has over two decades of experience in IT infrastructure and cloud services, and has led high performing teams across travel and transport, BFSI, telecom and manufacturing verticals. He excels in client relationships, always a great thing, stakeholder management and bringing value to the table with hybrid cloud solutions and strengthening cloud practice. A warm welcome to you. Pushkar, thank you so much for joining us.
of course, and let me introduce our next guest who's going to be joining us as well, Pushkar Sharma AVP, cloud and infrastructure services. He has over two decades of experience in IT infrastructure and cloud services, and has led high performing teams across travel and transport, BFSI, telecom and manufacturing verticals. He excels in client relationships, always a great thing, stakeholder management and bringing value to the table with hybrid cloud solutions and strengthening cloud practice. A warm welcome to you. Pushkar, thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker – Pushkar –01:48
Excited to be here. Thank you.
Excited to be here. Thank you.
Speaker – Neerja –01:50
So, if I may drive the first question to you. Pankaj, very interesting topic we're covering here, and I think we should set the base for it. Q: What are some common challenges that manufacturing companies face during the cloud migration process?
So, if I may drive the first question to you. Pankaj, very interesting topic we're covering here, and I think we should set the base for it. Q: What are some common challenges that manufacturing companies face during the cloud migration process?
Speaker – Pankaj –02:06
Absolutely. Nej, it's a pertinent conversation, especially for traditional manufacturing companies. Let me give you an example. You know, this is my customer. It's a close to $8 billion global leader in their chosen field across the globe, and they have this objectives to move most of their assets on prem assets to the cloud, in this case, Azure. And you know, they have been grappling with this challenge, the business challenge of how they can, in the interim period, move some of their infrastructure, which is sitting on some of the legacy on prem, which the business decision they have to make is, hey, do we continue to put money in in kind of upgrading the on prem, or divert that investment and effort into moving to cloud, which is part of their global strategy. So in that respect, they kind of approached us because we are already their trusted partner. We are already doing their global DBMS management, and that's one of the examples I can share with you, which is very ground example, but it kind of goes on to how companies, the global system integrators like us, work with the manufacturing leaders and kind of address their day to day problems which might tie into the larger objectives of their stakeholders,
Absolutely. Nej, it's a pertinent conversation, especially for traditional manufacturing companies. Let me give you an example. You know, this is my customer. It's a close to $8 billion global leader in their chosen field across the globe, and they have this objectives to move most of their assets on prem assets to the cloud, in this case, Azure. And you know, they have been grappling with this challenge, the business challenge of how they can, in the interim period, move some of their infrastructure, which is sitting on some of the legacy on prem, which the business decision they have to make is, hey, do we continue to put money in in kind of upgrading the on prem, or divert that investment and effort into moving to cloud, which is part of their global strategy. So in that respect, they kind of approached us because we are already their trusted partner. We are already doing their global DBMS management, and that's one of the examples I can share with you, which is very ground example, but it kind of goes on to how companies, the global system integrators like us, work with the manufacturing leaders and kind of address their day to day problems which might tie into the larger objectives of their stakeholders,
Speaker – Neerja -03:42
Right, Pankaj, you've expertly highlighted some of these challenges with a real time example. And I think the follow up question really is, Q: How can manufacturing companies overcome these challenges to ensure a smooth transition to the cloud?
Right, Pankaj, you've expertly highlighted some of these challenges with a real time example. And I think the follow up question really is, Q: How can manufacturing companies overcome these challenges to ensure a smooth transition to the cloud?
Speaker – Pankaj -03:57
Certainly. Neerja, you know, going back to this example, because I think it's important to relate to real business issues. And this was pretty unique in terms of this is not something typically that we would recommend, but given the business challenge, we partnered with the client. We brought in a senior Azure architect, our business intelligence experts, our DBMS experts, and we were the charter was to do a whole mapping of their infrastructure in terms vis a vis their databases. They have close to about, I would say, 25 to 30 SQL clusters they're looking at this point. And this is just one geography, if you'll, extrapolate that to the global and interestingly, what the client requested and we recommended, is that this can be a repeatable process right across various geographies. So I think what we did is the latest and the greatest methodology was using, for example, Azure arc, custom scripting, extracting those nodal connections on inbound and outbound and how to correlate that using some of the key, you know, automation from something like Power BI, and then creating that entire mapping, which has given the client and the executive to kind of decide, Hey, these are the critical, let's say, 100 applications that definitely need to go on Azure. But hey, we can live with moving these other 100 applications maybe in phase two. So that has been an interesting journey. It's a very specific example which goes on to demonstrate how, and we are talking of multiples of millions of dollars here, you know, in terms of the phase one and the phase two, and the client is happy, client has been able to achieve their objective. There were some of us who were a little bit skeptical about this approach, but it was a client challenge, as you asked me, Neerja, and we were able to respond to it and bring in the right amount of business consulting plus you know, technology acumen to achieve the objective,
Certainly. Neerja, you know, going back to this example, because I think it's important to relate to real business issues. And this was pretty unique in terms of this is not something typically that we would recommend, but given the business challenge, we partnered with the client. We brought in a senior Azure architect, our business intelligence experts, our DBMS experts, and we were the charter was to do a whole mapping of their infrastructure in terms vis a vis their databases. They have close to about, I would say, 25 to 30 SQL clusters they're looking at this point. And this is just one geography, if you'll, extrapolate that to the global and interestingly, what the client requested and we recommended, is that this can be a repeatable process right across various geographies. So I think what we did is the latest and the greatest methodology was using, for example, Azure arc, custom scripting, extracting those nodal connections on inbound and outbound and how to correlate that using some of the key, you know, automation from something like Power BI, and then creating that entire mapping, which has given the client and the executive to kind of decide, Hey, these are the critical, let's say, 100 applications that definitely need to go on Azure. But hey, we can live with moving these other 100 applications maybe in phase two. So that has been an interesting journey. It's a very specific example which goes on to demonstrate how, and we are talking of multiples of millions of dollars here, you know, in terms of the phase one and the phase two, and the client is happy, client has been able to achieve their objective. There were some of us who were a little bit skeptical about this approach, but it was a client challenge, as you asked me, Neerja, and we were able to respond to it and bring in the right amount of business consulting plus you know, technology acumen to achieve the objective,
Speaker – Neerja –06:25
yes, absolutely. I mean, I was just going to say it's great that you gave us such a specific example. And it also shows how well equipped we are to navigate through these challenges, right? And Pushkar, from more general perspective, Q: Is there anything you'd like to add to what Pankaj has just talked about.
yes, absolutely. I mean, I was just going to say it's great that you gave us such a specific example. And it also shows how well equipped we are to navigate through these challenges, right? And Pushkar, from more general perspective, Q: Is there anything you'd like to add to what Pankaj has just talked about.
Speaker – Pushkar –06:43
Yes, absolutely. Pankaj has brought in a very pivotal point of how tense the situation is in each digital transformation journey for both business and it we at Birlasoft has proven frameworks and methodology wherein we ease out the situation for clients and make the migrations very predictable for them.
Yes, absolutely. Pankaj has brought in a very pivotal point of how tense the situation is in each digital transformation journey for both business and it we at Birlasoft has proven frameworks and methodology wherein we ease out the situation for clients and make the migrations very predictable for them.
Speaker – Neerja -07:04
Yes, that brings me to this question, Q:How can cloud solutions help manufacturing companies improve their operational efficiency and reduce costs?
Yes, that brings me to this question, Q:How can cloud solutions help manufacturing companies improve their operational efficiency and reduce costs?
Speaker – Pushkar –07:14
So, cloud adoption empowers manufacturers to stay competitive. You know, by innovating at a much faster pace, they are now able to optimize their operations and IT spend it is a definitely a strategic move now that aligns with the industry's digital transformation journey and some of the you know, but not limited to the benefits that includes is advanced analytics and automation. See today, cloud technology provides access to analytics, automation, machine learning capabilities which optimizes production processes and reduce errors, companies now are able to reduce the IT spend and cost effectiveness, so instead of managing the physical hardware, software, manufacturers can now rely on cloud services at a much lower cost. This also helps them improve the operational efficiency, enhanced data driven decision making, this is very important. Predictive Maintenance based on cloud data can enhance overall equipment efficiency. You know, by effectively scrutinizing the inventory, identify inefficiencies and improve the overall planning efficiency. And last but not the least is the ability to innovate faster. Today, cloud platforms provide services that accelerate cloud innovation. Manufacturers are able to experiment with new technologies, develop new prototypes and iterate them very, very quickly without significant upfront investments.
So, cloud adoption empowers manufacturers to stay competitive. You know, by innovating at a much faster pace, they are now able to optimize their operations and IT spend it is a definitely a strategic move now that aligns with the industry's digital transformation journey and some of the you know, but not limited to the benefits that includes is advanced analytics and automation. See today, cloud technology provides access to analytics, automation, machine learning capabilities which optimizes production processes and reduce errors, companies now are able to reduce the IT spend and cost effectiveness, so instead of managing the physical hardware, software, manufacturers can now rely on cloud services at a much lower cost. This also helps them improve the operational efficiency, enhanced data driven decision making, this is very important. Predictive Maintenance based on cloud data can enhance overall equipment efficiency. You know, by effectively scrutinizing the inventory, identify inefficiencies and improve the overall planning efficiency. And last but not the least is the ability to innovate faster. Today, cloud platforms provide services that accelerate cloud innovation. Manufacturers are able to experiment with new technologies, develop new prototypes and iterate them very, very quickly without significant upfront investments.
Speaker – Neerja –08:45
Yes. So sounds like as we stand today, lots of exciting opportunities and lots to be gained from this. But if we look towards the future, Pushkar, Q: How do you see the role of cloud technology evolving in the manufacturing industry over the next, say, five to 10 years, right?
Yes. So sounds like as we stand today, lots of exciting opportunities and lots to be gained from this. But if we look towards the future, Pushkar, Q: How do you see the role of cloud technology evolving in the manufacturing industry over the next, say, five to 10 years, right?
Speaker – Pankaj –09:03
This is a very interesting conversation Neerja, you brought up. So Cloud technology will continue to evolve at a pace that has never seen before, empowering manufacturers to innovate, optimize operations and stay competitive in an increasing digital landscape, certainly over the period of five to 10 years, cloud technology will continue again to play a very pivotal role in transforming the manufacturing industry. Some of the key important points that I want to highlight is, first of all, AI and machine learning. Cloud platforms will continue to provide a robust AI and machine learning tools. Manufacturers will leverage these capabilities for predictive maintenance, quality control, demand forecasting, supply chain optimization, second the edge computing, enabling real time data processing at the factory floor. This convergence will enhance efficiency reduce. Latency and support, mission critical applications, digital twins based on Cloud, technologies will become more sophisticated. Manufacturers can simulate, optimize processes, monitor equipment health and improve the overall productivity. Then IoT integrations, you know, we see devices, tools everywhere today, right cloud services will continue to seamlessly connect with IoT devices enable data collection, analysis and automation. This integration will drive smart manufacturing and ensure you know we have energy efficient manufacturing done in no time. Last, but not the least, is the cyber security focus. You know, because of the new digital twins IOT, there are new areas to attack for cyber criminals. As cloud adoption increases, robust security measures will be crucial, and manufacturers will invest in security cloud architectures, encryption, threat detection, you know, to make sure they safeguard the sensitive data, both on IT and OT side.
This is a very interesting conversation Neerja, you brought up. So Cloud technology will continue to evolve at a pace that has never seen before, empowering manufacturers to innovate, optimize operations and stay competitive in an increasing digital landscape, certainly over the period of five to 10 years, cloud technology will continue again to play a very pivotal role in transforming the manufacturing industry. Some of the key important points that I want to highlight is, first of all, AI and machine learning. Cloud platforms will continue to provide a robust AI and machine learning tools. Manufacturers will leverage these capabilities for predictive maintenance, quality control, demand forecasting, supply chain optimization, second the edge computing, enabling real time data processing at the factory floor. This convergence will enhance efficiency reduce. Latency and support, mission critical applications, digital twins based on Cloud, technologies will become more sophisticated. Manufacturers can simulate, optimize processes, monitor equipment health and improve the overall productivity. Then IoT integrations, you know, we see devices, tools everywhere today, right cloud services will continue to seamlessly connect with IoT devices enable data collection, analysis and automation. This integration will drive smart manufacturing and ensure you know we have energy efficient manufacturing done in no time. Last, but not the least, is the cyber security focus. You know, because of the new digital twins IOT, there are new areas to attack for cyber criminals. As cloud adoption increases, robust security measures will be crucial, and manufacturers will invest in security cloud architectures, encryption, threat detection, you know, to make sure they safeguard the sensitive data, both on IT and OT side.
Speaker- Neerja – 11:09
Pushkar, Pankaj, this conversation has given us a lot of food for thought, I must say. And can I just ask if we were to summarize this conversation, what is that one takeaway that you leave with everybody. Pankaj, why don't you start us off?
Pushkar, Pankaj, this conversation has given us a lot of food for thought, I must say. And can I just ask if we were to summarize this conversation, what is that one takeaway that you leave with everybody. Pankaj, why don't you start us off?
Speaker – Pankaj – 11:23
Thank you so much. And you know, Pushkar, obviously, is one of our leaders in this area, and I must share here for the general audience, here when manufacturing companies are looking for partners for their transformation journey, specifically around, you know, cloud migration, cloud infrastructure, I think it's critical to understand what is the size of the partner. Global System integrators come in all shapes and sizes. You know, the large ones, the mid size. Often I have seen in my personal journey working with large manufacturing companies, is that certain times my clients really resonate with the right sized system integrator. That's one the other thing I would want to highlight is that when you're choosing your path in terms of your migration journey, I think some of the examples that we are wanting to share here, they would be relevant in terms of, how do we set up that journey? How do we leverage investment from partners like for example, in this case, we have leveraged strong alignment with the partner, the cloud partner and investments technical. Know how alignment, and I would reemphasize the size so the right size partner can be critical here, the amount of attention that sometimes we would like us to kind of bring in may or may not be possible for a different size partner, where they are essentially looking for larger engagements. But sometimes, when you're setting up yourselves, you don't have the luxury to right away get into a large engagement. You're kind of wanting to test the waters, get the business buy in. So I think from that perspective, the example I gave would be relevant.
Thank you so much. And you know, Pushkar, obviously, is one of our leaders in this area, and I must share here for the general audience, here when manufacturing companies are looking for partners for their transformation journey, specifically around, you know, cloud migration, cloud infrastructure, I think it's critical to understand what is the size of the partner. Global System integrators come in all shapes and sizes. You know, the large ones, the mid size. Often I have seen in my personal journey working with large manufacturing companies, is that certain times my clients really resonate with the right sized system integrator. That's one the other thing I would want to highlight is that when you're choosing your path in terms of your migration journey, I think some of the examples that we are wanting to share here, they would be relevant in terms of, how do we set up that journey? How do we leverage investment from partners like for example, in this case, we have leveraged strong alignment with the partner, the cloud partner and investments technical. Know how alignment, and I would reemphasize the size so the right size partner can be critical here, the amount of attention that sometimes we would like us to kind of bring in may or may not be possible for a different size partner, where they are essentially looking for larger engagements. But sometimes, when you're setting up yourselves, you don't have the luxury to right away get into a large engagement. You're kind of wanting to test the waters, get the business buy in. So I think from that perspective, the example I gave would be relevant.
Speaker – Neerja – 13:19
That's a very useful insight to leave the listeners with. Pankaj, thank you and Pushkar, over to you. What are your final thoughts on this?
That's a very useful insight to leave the listeners with. Pankaj, thank you and Pushkar, over to you. What are your final thoughts on this?
Speaker – Pushkar – 13:26
I think manufacturing companies should continue to invest in increasing cloud footprint and reap the benefits as early as possible. And of course, birlasoft is there to help. That's it.
I think manufacturing companies should continue to invest in increasing cloud footprint and reap the benefits as early as possible. And of course, birlasoft is there to help. That's it.
Speaker – Neerja –13:38
Yes. Well said. Thank you so much. Pankaj, thank you Pushkar for joining us. It was a pleasure speaking to you on this and we hope to have you back again sometime soon.
Yes. Well said. Thank you so much. Pankaj, thank you Pushkar for joining us. It was a pleasure speaking to you on this and we hope to have you back again sometime soon.
Speaker – Pushkar & Pankaj – 13:47
Thank you, Neerja.
Thank you, Neerja.
Speaker – Neerja – 13:56
That concludes our episode for today. And as always, a lot of technological revelations have been made. I hope you found this interesting and informative, and I will be back with another one of these with another topic. Until then, it's me. Neerja, signing off. Bye.
That concludes our episode for today. And as always, a lot of technological revelations have been made. I hope you found this interesting and informative, and I will be back with another one of these with another topic. Until then, it's me. Neerja, signing off. Bye.
You were listening to Tech Lyceum, a podcast from Birlasoft.
Other related Tech Lyceum episodes
