Google Cloud India sees ‘very strong’ investments: MD Karan Bajwa

Google plans to enter India’s Cloud Market with a bang. The technology giant is looking to utilise its advantage as a data company to gain leg up over competitors Microsoft and IBM.

Google is investing “heavily in people and partnerships” and will leverage its expertise in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to grab a larger share in the Indian Cloud Market, Karan Bajwa, Managing Director - Google Cloud in India, told The Economic Times.

Presently, Amazon Web Services, IBM and Microsoft dominate the market in India. Bajwa added that the company was hiring “great talent”, which - coupled with its technology and brand - would put the right people forward for customers.

“There’s very strong investments happening on the Google Cloud across the world and in India,” he added.

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As per Bajwa, the opportunity in India is huge – as much as 80 percent – given that so far only 20 percent of the workforce has migrated to cloud. He added that the coronavirus pandemic and its necessitated adaptations for work would “fast track the shift as more companies look at cost efficiencies.”

He was not much concerned about the market led by other players, pointing out that shifting to cloud would allow companies to move from capital expenditure to operational expenditure – resulting in faster acquisition of customers, even among companies that have so far resisted due to cost concerns.

“For 80 percent of companies, this is the beginning,” he added.

“By the time we are done with COVID-19, we will be bringing on board very senior people from the industry who have led organizations and who have very strong credibility. That makes a huge difference as customers feel comfortable with the people they are buying from,” he said.

The company is looking at a “differentiated partner strategy” to leverage parent reach in areas such as search, advertising and payments, Bajwa said adding that for the last two months, “digital natives” are looking to optimise existing technology for cloud.