India Is The Fastest Growing Market For Lenovo ISG, Says MD Amit Luthra
In an interview with Lenovo ISG India MD Amit Luthra, BW Businessworld explores India's rising significance in the company’s global strategy, possible artificial intelligence (AI) investments in the country and developments in generative AI. Excerpts:
In light of evolving geopolitical scenarios and shifting macroeconomic conditions, how has the importance of the Indian market grown for Lenovo ISG?
India as a market has grown for us multifold. And it reflects in our company filings and our revenue declarations as well. During the pandemic, many organisations faced supply chain challenges, leading some to migrate workloads to the public cloud. Now, with supply chain stability returning, organisations are reconsidering the cost-effectiveness of public cloud hosting and repatriating their workloads. In this context, we observe a dynamic pattern of workload migration to and from the cloud. Overall, the Indian market holds great promise, with a strong focus on digitisation and adoption of advanced technologies like AI, ML, IoT, cloud and 5G, placing India at the forefront of technological advancements.
Where have you seen the maximum traction in India?
We have attracted a diverse range of clients, including large hyperscalers, cloud service providers, major manufacturing companies, banks, financial institutions, insurance firms, spanning various sectors like oil and gas and the public sector. This widespread client base contributed significantly to our growth. Additionally, our SMB (Small and Medium-sized Business) segment has seen substantial growth, driven by the confidence our partners and customers have placed in us. This growth in our SMB business is primarily partner-driven.
Did the early-year headwinds in the BFSI sector impact the deals you have secured?
We achieved over 100 per cent growth in the BFSI sector in India. Today, the banking and financial services sector is not just about core banking but also omnichannel strategies, customer acquisition and retention, all emphasising the importance of leveraging digital platforms for cost-efficiency. Digital transformation relies on efficient IT transformation, which is the key to making digital growth a reality in the banking and financial services sector in the country.
How does your performance in the Indian IT services segment compare?
It has been the most lucrative sector or biggest sector for us on IT services. I would say, the sector is most matured when it comes to technology adoption.
How does Lenovo ISG view the AI boom? How is the company powering the evolution of AI-based computing?
We have a rich history of serving high-performance computing customers. In fact, we are the leading vendor in terms of supercomputers installed. High-performance computing has always been at the core of AI. What Supercomputing did for the research community, we are now bringing to general enterprises as enterprise artificial intelligence. With 30 years of experience in high-performance computing, we are well-equipped to excel in the field of artificial intelligence.
Our primary goal when engaging with customers is to demystify artificial intelligence, addressing questions about what it can and can't do, its ease of use and its potential impact. Once we have clarified these aspects and organisations are ready, we work in partnership to help them transform their data into knowledge. This transformation is our central objective because without it, AI deployments may not truly benefit organisations or their customers.
Could you tell us about your collaboration with Nvidia and VMware in AI?
Our collaborative efforts in edge and cloud innovation labs, involving Lenovo, VMware and Nvidia, are vital as Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly essential. This shift is crucial for unlocking the potential of businesses, including traditional workloads.
Generative AI is gaining strategic importance across organisations of all sizes, both at the edge and in the cloud. Hence, in response, we have established innovation labs where we closely collaborate and share expertise among VMware, Lenovo and Nvidia. This collaboration primarily aims to empower users, particularly independent software vendors (ISVs) and software companies seeking to leverage AI-driven efficiencies and insights. Furthermore, these solutions simplify data utilisation, making it easier for organisations to harness the power of data, which is now the currency of the modern world. These joint innovation labs play a pivotal role in supporting organisations in building their AI-based ecosystems.
What portion of Lenovo Group's recently disclosed USD 1 billion investment in AI deployment do you foresee being directed towards India? Will it be substantial?
I cannot reveal the numbers, but yes.
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