VARs playing pivotal role in implementing advanced technology and helping to make India a Tech Hub - 12th WIITF, Mumbai

Advancing technology has brought a lot of transformation in many industries. Digital Transformation, Customer Experience and Services-led Selling took Centre Stage at the 12th edition of Western India Information Technology Fair WIITF 2022.

The physical event brought new hope among the OEMs and partners that happened after a gap of two years. The theme of the event was “Transforming VARs for a Digital World”. The event witnessed more than 150 VARs, CIO/CTOs and Five OEMs exhibited at the WIITF in Hotel Taj Lands End, Mumbai on 25th, Friday, March 2022.

It was a unique event where the partners, CIOs and the vendors came under the one platform to share ideas, showcase new technologies and discuss their readiness for the future. The event witnessed high-profile delegates, discussed various issues related to the businesses, cyber security and the future of Hyper Converged Infrastructure/back-up and many core issues on how the cloud business is going to bring newer opportunities for the partners growth.

This year’s event attracted an enviable roster of delegates from across the country. The Key-note address was presented by Kersi Tavadia, CIO- BSE INDIA, and the other delegates present included Navdeep Narula, E.D. – Mobility, Compute & IoT, Ingram Micro India, Dipesh Kaura, General Manager- Kaspersky South Asia, Mansi Mahajani, Partner Business Manager- Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Abir Banerjee, National Business Manager (BFSI)- Aruba, A Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company, Sanchari Banerjee, Distributor Account Manager- Microsoft India, Amit Deshmukh, Head of India Channels & Distribution- Cohesity , Dr. Harold D'costa, President- Cyber Security Corporation, Kapil Mehrotra, Group CTO- NCML, Dr. Chitaranjan Kesari, Head IT- Hive Carbon Zero Developers Ltd., Tushar Parekh, Chairman-ASIRT, Viren Bavishi, President- TAIT, Ajay Bhayani, Regional Secretary – West-ISODA and industry pioneer from UK with strong edge over HCI and back-up portfolio to his credit.

The event was kick-started with the welcome address by Dr. Deepak Kumar Sahu, Editor-in-chief-VARINDIA. He spoke how our world has gone digital and sometimes we cannot control it. Most things about us, anything we write or talk about, our profiles are available to the prying eyes of the world, including hackers and cyber criminals. And we live in a time when not having a digital identity is not an option! VARINDIA’s commitment has always been partner focused and is continuing its vision to serve the Partners like a platform. Whereas all that may change with Web 3:0. The fundamental tenets of web 3:0 are privacy and ownership of data.

Technology is democratizing. Natural language processing, low-code platforms and robotic process automation are adding a grassroot layer to enterprise innovation strategies. With democratized technology, every employee can be an innovator, empowered to create technology-driven solutions on their own. Today, the buzzword is metaverse and in a few days we will hear about the Petaverse. With every technological innovation, it brings new opportunities and also new risks.

Next was the presentation from Navdeep Narula, E.D. – Mobility, Compute & IoT, Ingram Micro India spoke on how Ingram Micro as No.1 technology distributor brings various opportunities to the Partners, VARs as well as the OEMs in the country. He said, “Ingram Micro takes pride in weaving the technology together. Our vision has moved from just being a product supplier, to a solution partner and to an eco-system partner. We are trying to offer an entire expanse of solutions, end-to-end financial services etc in the tech eco-system to provide you everything in a one-stop shop manner.”

Presenting the Keynote address Kersi Tavadia, CIO- BSE INDIA said that digital transformation is the integration of digital technology into all areas of a business, fundamentally changing how you operate and deliver value to customers and it is imperative for all businesses, from small businesses to the enterprises. Technology plays a critical role in an organization's ability to evolve with the market and continually increase value to customers; CIOs play a key role in digital transformation. Technology partners play a key role in the process of transformation.

Digital transformation is fuelled by the adoption of cloud and therefore cloud planning has to be a key to it, not just the cloud part but the entire technology areas of IoT. VARs and Partners should be proud of what they have achieved till now. They have played a pivotal role in making the IT industry what it is today. It has given many of the large OEMs in the industry and has created a talent pool for the customers and OEMs.

There were Five OEMs including Hewlett Pack Enterprise, Aruba, Microsoft, Kaspersky and Cohesity who shared their strategies on how to navigate the dramatic shifts taking place and arming partners with the inspiration, knowledge and expertise to optimize revenue, streamline costs, and future-proof their businesses.

The first speaker from the corporate was Mansi Mahajani, Partner Business Manager- Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and she said, “Innovation has been core to our DNA since much before the inception of HPE. We are constantly innovating and we are doing it to help the enterprises, redefining experiences for their customers and drive faster hyper efficient operations for their businesses. We are also speeding up the time to market with the help of new cloud based ventures. We are doing that by creating new smarter digital workspaces.”

Abir Banerjee, National Business Manager (BFSI) - Aruba, A Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company, remarked, “Earlier the user moved where the network was, the user moved where the security was. Today it has been changed, the network moves where the user is, the security moves where the user is, which is a big transformation. In this industry the edge or the end point has become very busy as applications are moving into the cloud.”

Sanchari Banerjee, Distributor Account Manager- Microsoft India, commented, “Hybrid work is about to stay. As per a survey 73% of people want these flexible remote options to stay whereas 67% want to go back to in-person work options. In this hybrid work mode we have faced many challenges; some of the challenges were remote management, cognitive overload, communication barriers, work style flexibility and data security.”

Dipesh Kaura, General Manager- Kaspersky South Asia, said, “Kaspersky talks about being cyber immune rather than being cyber secure, as nobody can not be secure today, someday somewhere it can go wrong. Kaspersky is a 25th year old organic organization which still invests a lot of time and resources in research and development. By 2023 we intend to open three more transparency centers across the globe. We have confidence in our technology and the comfort we give to our customers.”

Amit Deshmukh, Head of India Channels & Distribution- Cohesity, commented, “We believe that we are the last line of defence who can help you manage your data, protect your data, make it available and give it back when it is required. Initially, data management was to keep data safe from human errors. It was all about unplanned downtime. Today, it is about business reputation, avoiding your data getting accelerated into the dark web so that there is no business disruption.”

Panel Discussion Session:

The theme of the panel discussion was “How can we Innovate to Thrive in 2022 and beyond''. The panel discussion session had invited experts to discuss on the topic, and they were Dr. Harold D'costa, President- Cyber Security Corporation, Kapil Mehrotra, Group CTO- NCML, Dr. Chitaranjan Kesari, Head IT- Hive Carbon Zero Developers Ltd. and Viloo Williams, CIO & HEAD - DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION-Sir H N Reliance Foundation Hospital and the panel discussion session was moderated by Dr. Deepak Kumar Sahu, President & CEO-VARINDIA.

During the panel discussion session, the panellists felt that the technology sales channel is undergoing a dramatic shift as consumer and commercial buying habits evolve aimed at driving partner growth in 2022 and beyond.

The panel felt that, to power the Digital economy, there is an ongoing shortage of skills driving demand for security services, particularly security outsourcing, managed security services and security consulting. CIO and CISOs are under increasing pressure to ensure their organisations do not become victims of external attackers, while simultaneously maintaining compliance with regulations.

The panellists also raised concern on the data sovereignty and refreshment of the IT act. As India continues to struggle with the increasingly falling prey to a series of cybersecurity attacks over the past year, with many hunkering down and working from home. Over the past few months, a broad range of critical sectors – including aviation, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and the government – have been affected in one way or another.

However, India already has several cybersecurity measures in place. In addition to CERT-In’s alerts and advisories on cyber threats, the government has issued guidelines for security applications to chief information security officers and mandated regular cybersecurity audits and mock drills.

Awards ceremony:

Coming to the later part of the 12th edition of WIITF, witnessed 11 partners to get recognised starting from the categories of VARs to the best system Integrators, solution partners and the best value-added Distributors from Western India. The awards were honoured by: Kersi Tavadia, CIO- Bombay Stock Exchange, Navdeep Narula, E.D. – Mobility, Compute & IoT, Ingram Micro and Dr. Deepak Kumar Sahu, President & CEO- VARINDIA.

The Best VAR, Western India went to Sound Solutions.	The Best VAD, Western India went to iValue Infosolutions Pvt. Ltd.	The Best Sub-Distributor, Western India went to Miracle Tech Distributors Pvt. Ltd.

The next set of awards were presented by Mansi Mahajani, Partner Business Manager, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Sanchari Banerjee, Distributor Account Manager- Microsoft India and Dr. Deepak Kumar Sahu, President & CEO- VARINDIA.

The Best Solution Partner, Western India, was won by LDS Infotech Pvt. Ltd.	The Best System Integrator, Western India, was bagged by Pentagon System and Services Pvt. Ltd.	The Best Information Security Partner, Western India was bagged by Essen Vision Software Pvt. Ltd.	The Best Cloud Solution Partner, Western India went to Shivaami Cloud Services Pvt. Ltd.

The next set of awards were presented by Abir Banerjee, National Business Manager (BFSI)- Aruba, A Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company and and Dr. Deepak Kumar Sahu, President & CEO- VARINDIA.

The Best Digital Transformation Partner, Western India, was won by Wysetek Systems Technologists Pvt. Ltd.	The Best Cyber Security Partner, Western India- went to eCaps Computers India Pvt. Ltd.	The Best Company for introducing "Make In India products" was won by MINIX.	The Best IT Services Partner Western India- was bagged by SHRO Systems Pvt. Ltd.

The focus of this year’s WIITF was on ease of doing business and VARs were bullish to understand how VARs could transform in the Digital world. To complement there were vendors and top Tech Distributor Ingram Micro who took the centre stage. The leaders from Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Ingram Micro, Aruba, Microsoft, Cohesity, Kaspersky and Viewsonic shared their viewpoints during the evening session. The event had bought 360 degree advantage for the solution partners to scale their business.

The event was supported by various IT Associations including TAIT, ISODA and ASIRT. At the end of the session, Anil Kumar Sahu, Regional Manager (West & East), VARINDIA, proposed the Vote of Thanks.