"SMAC-in" Technology Barriers in India Date:   Tuesday , September 22, 2015 Dynamic trends, complex markets, increased consumerism and homogeneity of products seem to ail enterprises across verticals and economies. The global market place is changing and unlike previously, the customers have unmatched access to information. All these factors combined are compelling organizations to constantly look out for technology solutions to help them maintain their market-share. But the term Technology encapsulates various aspects ranging from software &applications to IT platforms &mobile technology. What really is delivering services in a cost-effective manner and paving new way forward for businesses is SMAC, the integration of Social, Media, Analytics and Cloud Computing to support the new Enterprise IT model. Enterprises are focusing on adopting SMAC to grow revenues through the new sales channels like mobile devices and social media, while trying to bring in operational efficiency and customer experience. Each aspect of SMAC plays a vital role in differentiating one enterprise from the other and helps in creating a unique experience for the end user. The infographic below will be able to provide a clear picture of how SMAC can be incorporated in business: SMAC in India It is proclaimed that the traditional services such as application, development and maintenance work alone accounts for 35-40 percent of the revenue of most Indian IT firms. But with increased automation and platform-based services across segments, analysts agree that SMAC will allow the IT industry to offer more value to clients. According to a survey Offshore Insights, companies will spend 15-16 percent of their IT services and outsourcing budgets on SMAC and India will export $15 billion worth of SMAC software and services in fiscal 2017. One can safely state that SMAC has become mainstream for the top 30 per cent of any industry. For verticals such as banking, insurance, retail and healthcare, it has become absolutely critical, while traditional industries like manufacturing and infrastructure are slowly but surely adopting SMAC. The customer facing side of any business is seen to leverage SMAC more, as they pursue increased efficiency and innovation in that side of the business, but in B2B companies, these definitions are slowly dissolving. The new Indian Government has been credited for multiple significant endeavors and one of them is the accelerated SMAC adoption in India. We have all received candidate profiles and other campaign materials on our Facebook wall, mail inbox and even on WhatsApp; but what is lesser known is that the current Government also uses sophisticated social media analytics to gauge the public reaction to its choice of candidates, position on issues, impact of specific campaigns and even correct mistakes before it could snowball. It is claimed that, identifying influencers, targeting them with appropriate content and gauging their feedback were done in conjunction with SAP and InMobi. Challenges in SMAC: Adoption of SMAC comes with its own set of challenges that must be addressed if enterprises want to make optimal use in operations. 1. Data security and privacy remain one of the biggest challenges of SMAC 2. Data leakage and leak of confidential information can also be challenge with social media adoption 3. There is huge human capital shortage of SMAC skilled consultants in Indian IT industry 4. With multiple service providers and the complexity of private/public/hybrid cloud environments, it can be a challenge for most organizations to manage and control the various aspects of the ecosystem, while retaining the flexibility to choose best-in-class cloud services SMAC Trends in 2015: In 2015, the following will be some of the key trends/opportunities in SMAC: 1. Rise of m-Commerce: Mobile Commerce will be the next big thing in enterprise mobility. Mobile phones will soon be converted into an m-wallet focusing on m-Commerce transactions. 2. Hybrid Cloud: In 2015, hybrid cloud will emerge as the way moving forward for enterprise IT. Organizations get maximum control with the private cloud while they get maximum agility and scalability with the public cloud. 3. Big Data Driven Business: The art of Big Data is that it consolidates many types of data resources with different structures and data models, all in a massive, distributed storage system. Enterprises would need a very good backend infrastructure encompassing several servers to process distributed queries across multiple data sets and return result sets in record time. 4. Surging Demand for SMAC Specialists: A surge in demand for SMAC specialist people is expected in 2015. However, enterprises need resources that provide highly visible leadership and considerable IT skills. Given the tremendous business and commercial potential of SMAC, enterprises will be more than willing to take on this challenge in 2015. 5. Planning a Robust Social Business Strategy: Alarge number of enterprises will start coming up with a Social Business Strategy. Businesses will explore new ways of working with each other, their vendors, their customers, and many more. For the consumers, they should look at improved engagement and services. Indian IT services firms have begun talking about SMAC-driven growth and according to research firm International Data Corp�s (IDC�s) estimate, Indian IT vendors will generate at least $225 billion in SMAC-related revenue in 2020.However, as SMAC technologies get absorbed in the IT fabric of organizations, challenges for organizations will change from driving adoption to balancing benefits realization with the security and governance concerns. Also enterprises globally adopt new technology formats for operational efficiency, cost reduction, extend the current reach, and gain business edge, they need to assess the impact of the investment as well as consider their own strengths and weaknesses with respect to how this paradigm shift may affect the overall organization�s culture and operations.