For Orange, India offers myriad growth opportunities

India is at the cusp of a major digital revolution and provides an interesting scope for companies to invest in the country through its different growth initiatives. Leveraging these opportunities, Orange Business Services has set a roadmap of continued investment in the market and support to different enterprises. Thierry Bonhomme, CEO - Orange Business Services in an interview throws more light on this - 
 

Please tell us about Orange Business Services operations in India?
Orange Business Services, the B2B branch of the Orange Group is an infrastructure operator, technology integrator and a value-added service provider. Focused on supporting the digital transformation of multinational enterprises and French SMEs across five continents, our ambition is to offer companies digital solutions that help foster collaboration, better serve their end-customers and support their projects.

In India, we support more than 600 customers who rely on our domestic experience and robust network. Orange counts over 2,300 staff in India across 32 sites and has 14 self-owned Points-of-Presence (PoPs) in the country.

The key priorities for us in India for 2017 include supporting our customers with their digital transformation, focusing on cybersecurity, connectivity and smart cities solutions.

What has been your experience so far in the Indian market?
Orange has been providing data communications services in India for close to 50 years. It has been a progressive and interesting market to be in, especially with the ‘Digital India’ and ‘Smart Cities’ initiatives that the government of India has introduced. The country is quickly adopting innovative technologies, and we are happy to be associated with the government and multiple enterprises to support them in their vision of digital transformation.

What distinguishes Orange from any other brand in the same industry?
Orange Business Services is a global IT and communications services provider, with services in 220 countries. As businesses worldwide are experiencing a greater urgency to undergo digital transformation, Orange has a unique position. We are the only provider in India with a full range of network and integration services in key cities. We have one of our five global Major Service Centers located in India. In addition, we have a CyberSOC in Gurgaon, a dedicated security operations centre for cyber security, a Center of Excellence in Mumbai with highly skilled specialists focused on private branch exchange management, remote infrastructure monitoring and application management, and we provide our customers with managed integration services through Global Services India.

How is India benefitting from your global expertise in various solutions?
Orange works closely with various State governments, such as the State of Gujarat, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Goa and Jharkhand, to help them on various IT projects. This includes State Data Centers and network connectivity through which we also contribute to the Government’s Digital India initiative. 

The State Data Center that Orange deployed for the Himachal Pradesh government has been designed using ‘green’ data center concepts, minimizing power requirements and increasing power utilization efficiency. We also installed solutions like surveillance systems and vehicle tracking fleet management in the country. For smart city projects, we are focusing on areas such as smart parking, smart lights, public Wi-Fi and digital signage.

What are the hurdles you face in India? How do you plan to overcome this barrier?
The journey to digital transformation is extremely fast paced. It is not merely about deploying cloud services or other IT technologies available today, but using digital technologies to change the way you operate, innovate and interact with your stakeholders. We see organizations struggling with the “change“or the readiness to move away from legacy systems. 

On the Government side, the‘Digital India’ initiative is a step in the right direction. But it involves vast roll-out with multiple stakeholders, which can end up with delays in processes. We hope that the government identifies the right partners to deploy the right solutions to meet the project’s goals.

Any future strategy and growth plans for the Indian network?
Orange plans to continue to support enterprises and government in the region. We will continue to focus on the digital transformation journey of enterprises, rolling out innovative and flexible solutions for them to keep pace with change. We will also keep working closely with the Government of India, contributing in the Digital India & SmartCities initiative through our offerings.