Are SPs ready to capitalize on Digital India?

The ambitious Digital India (DI) initiative, one of the flagship projects proposed by the Narendra Modi government, is a crucial step towards making India digitally vibrant. The DI project which aspires to transform India into a connected knowledge economy, aims to bring culture of digitization in the administration and facilitate transparency, accountability and efficiency. Since announcement, several big IT giants have expressed their keenness to participate in the mega project.  DI is not only an excellent opportunity for vendors but for system integrators and solution providers who has got very crucial role to play and capitalize on it.

DI to bring Digital Revolution

The Digital India (DI) initiative is an ambitious project of Government of India which focuses on integration of various government departments and people through advanced digital means. The project aims to create digital infrastructure, delivery of various government services digitally and bring digital literacy. It includes a plan to connect rural areas with high-speed internet networks and digitize government services. This project is one among the top priority projects of the Modi government which is slated for completion by 2019. The net worth of the project is pegged at around Rs.100,000 crores.

Prospects for SPs and SIs

The DI program has already generated huge interest nationally and internationally and primarily Telecom, IT Infrastructure Services and Cloud Infrastructure providers are going to drive the entire project in a big way. SPs and SIs working in these domains have got enormous business prospects to take a lead and drive the part of actual implementation of these solutions.

V.Ranganath, VP - System Integration & Solutions Division of Sheeltron Digital Systems said, “There are many opportunities for the Digital India project like Basic IT Infrastructure Services, Cloud Infrastructure, OpenSource Software, Mobile Apps, etc. depending on the Business of the Indian Companies.”

DI project provides continual opportunities for SPs and SIs engaged in the government vertical. There is a wide range of opportunities to deploy the solutions in local bodies. As all the government departments will be available to citizens electronically, every organization needs to be connected to this network.

Ravi Bhavnani, of Taurus IT said that DI would help the SIs and SPs in providing Infrastructure to enable SME's to join the Internet bandwagon.

“With the advent of Bharat Broadband Network and National Optical Fibre Network, there are endless opportunities for System Integrators and solution providers. We foresee an interconnected network once every organization gets access to high speed fibre connectivity. All these networks require IT Support to setup and maintain where SPs and SIs have a great role to play”, he said.

 Challenges for SPs

Unlike any other government project, DI is also not free from challenges and hurdles. The success of the DI project largely depends on the digital acceptance of all Government departments. Considering the rigidity and complexity in the working style of government departments, the task for SPs and SIs begins from convincing government officials to switch to digital platform.

Chetan Shah, Managing Director, Xpress Computers said, “It is a big challenge to convince the government authorities at various levels. The speed that the government officials responds is sometime takes a toll of patience. The rules and qualification criteria to qualify for any government tender are very rigid and time consuming. For the success of DI or any project, government needs to bring simplicity in rules and procedures.”

There are many Solution providers who have their own brand of Servers, Storage or Cloud Solutions. SPs opined that while promoting local manufacturing, government needs to encourage local brand owners who are qualified to offer hi-tech solutions.

“The government prefers big IT companies like HP, Dell, IBM, Cray, SGI, Cisco for such projects. Indian SIs like us do not even qualify for many of the Government tenders today”, V.Ranganath pointed out.

“Government needs to identify and encourage all local companies in the area so that Make in India and Digital India become a reality”, he said.

V.Ranganath said that the government needed to identify and announce officials responsible for implementation at different levels to make the procedural task hassle free for SPs.

The path ahead

Though there are challenges, the Digital India initiative is worth exploring project for SPs and SIs and can largely impact their traditional approaches of dealing with the government.  With the government taking crucial steps to speed up the project changes are happening in the approaches but it is needed to be expedited on an immediate basis. With proper implementation of policies, SPs and SIs can start looking at the off shoot business being generated out of Digital India project.