1. 11APRIL 2016
COVER STORY
The utility of analytics, the strength of Big Data or the efficiency of the cloud
needs no more discussions. Like repetitive media reports, they keep playing
over and over again, till all the eyeballs that needed to be caught are there,
and the subject itself arouses no curiosity.
Indeed, the topic of Big Data drives very little unique learnings or interest,
because even if they are not using it, most enterprises are completely aware
of its benefits. So there is data and there are technologies to facilitate its
analysis. What is now to be discussed is, how do we use new technology and
business paradigms like the cloud to make this analysis smarter, faster and
more business savvy?
How Cloud Lends Strength to
Data Analytics

2. 2712 APRIL 2016
A
s Srikanth Karnakota,
Director – Server and
Cloud Business, Microsoft
India puts it,” Data is the new
currency, analytics and business
intelligence in the cloud is real.
In order to be competitive and
increase business, customers
are looking for tools to address
new opportunities, insights
that can be meaningful and
help prepare them to have a
competitive advantage and
eventually lead the market. Data
is growing exponentially, there
is an increased complexity on
the types of data, all of this
leading to a demand for tools
that are intuitive and simple
for customers that help derive
insights from the data. The
future lies in the solutions that
will help businesses transform
and impact their Industry.
Analytics, here and now.”
Even with the super
enthusiasm that enterprises
are using while adopting the
cloud, it’s not a simple, straight
forward, plug and play solution.
Technology and its availability
(or lack of it thereof), is a very
small part of the entire mindset
change. Companies need
to understand the business
significance of adopting cloud
analytics.
The biggest challenge to
adoption is changing the silo’ed
mindset of data collation in
enterprises- the processes have
to be transformed to become
collaborative for workflow data,
identifying what’s important
and discarding what is not,
working out the best way to
capture data and the smartest
way of structuring it. All
these are new paradigms that
organisations need to face
and understand, right now. Of
course, there are a few changes
needed before the full benefit
can be derived from this new
technology business paradigm.
Change can be an issue,
especially if it challenges status
quo, but often, the enterprise
completely need to move ahead.
Adoption of the cloud and using
it for analysing data is definitely
one of those times.
IS The CLOUD Ready
FOR THE DATA AND
APPS?
The cloud is no longer an
emerging technology, and no
one questions its adoption any
more. The question that now
comes up is, are enterprises
utilising the cloud enough
for business defined tools like
analytics? Is the cloud doing
its bit for this new business
scenario, where data rules,
technology only enables- in
the real world? Says Garima
Rai, Head of Marketing, Inside
View technologies, “Saying
that cloud-based applications
are catching up would be a
redundant claim. Cloud is
already all over the place.
Be it large enterprises or
start-ups, or for that matter
individuals, we breathe cloud
day in and day out, and it
has become an indispensable
part of our routines. Today
we are churning data at rates
that were unheard of even
two years back. However, this
humongous volume of data is
of little use unless converted
into contextual insights and
made accessible to the right
people at the right time. The
first part of the problem is
addressed by analytics – which
uses algorithms to slice and dice
data and sieve usable insights
from the extremely huge pool of
data available at our disposal.
The answer to the second part
of the problem lies in cloud
and apps – which ensure
anytime, anywhere, device
agnostic access to business
critical information to key
stakeholders.”
So, the ubiquity of the cloud
and its ability to be accessible
to the relevant stakeholders
is the biggest advantage for
using the cloud for Big Data
and analytics. Companies are
already expressing faith in what
cloud does in the space (no
pun intended). Says Atul Batra,
CTO – Manthan Systems, “It is
estimated that nearly 95% of all
enterprises today are leveraging
the cloud in some manner,
across private, hybrid and public
clouds. Analytics is ideally suited
for the cloud, since analytics
infrastructure is highly compute,
processing, storage intensive
and the inherent scale, elasticity
and performance associated
with the cloud is a perfect
match. Also, today data sources
for analytics have expanded
beyond traditional source
systems behind the corporate
firewall such as ERP, CRM, POS
systems and such, to diverse
external unstructured data
sources including social, web/
clickstream, IoT, etc. Hence it is
easier to integrate all internal
and external data sources from
the cloud.”
He points towards another
key technology trend with
respect to analytics - the usage
of big data infrastructure for
running analytical workloads for
management of large data sets.
These include the crunching
and processing of structured
and unstructured data, running
machine learning algorithms
at scale as well as serving
real-time analytics. “Big data
analytics on the cloud, purpose-
built for specific industries
and verticals, packaged as
SaaS applications is today a
mainstream trend globally. As
an example, Manthan offers
comprehensive SaaS based
big data analytics solutions for
retail/merchandising analytics,
customer analytics and supplier
collaboration and analytics,” he
adds.
What Are The Issues
And Challenge There?
There are the standard issues
in analytics applications, and
the naysayers who do not trust
the cloud for core applications,
STILL, have something to say on
COVER STORY
Data is the new
currency, analytics and
business intelligence in the
cloud is real. In order to be
competitive and increase
business, customers are
looking for tools to address
new opportunities.
SRIKANTH KARNAKOTA,
Director – Server and Cloud Business, Microsoft India
Saying that cloud-
based applications are
catching up would be a
redundant claim. Cloud is
already all over the place.
Be it large enterprises or
start-ups, or for that matter
individuals, we breathe
cloud day in and day out.
GARIMA RAI, Head of Marketing,
Inside View technologies

3. 13APRIL 2016
the challenges. The fact that key
business critical information will
be stored and operated outside
their corporate firewall does
not go down well with a lot of
enterprises. “Privacy and security
are the major concerns that
have contained the potential of
cloud to a great extent,” says
Garima Rai,” Everything comes
with a disclaimer and so does
the cloud. Another adoption
challenge with cloud-based apps
is regarding interoperability
and integrability. Even the
smallest business today uses
multiple applications and
seamless integration between
these applications is the key to
operational effectiveness.”
Most enterprises agree that
the challenge associated with
analytics only get compounded
with the draw backs of a generic
cloud deployment, once it
goes on the cloud. So data
integration and structuring
could pose a challenge, and
Batra says, “Some of the
challenges associated with
running analytics in general,
and analytics on the cloud
in particular, include the
difficulty of integrating data
from a variety of diverse source
systems, both business and
infrastructure, both structured
and unstructured. The effort
and timeframe for executing
analytics projects is directly
proportional to the variety and
complexity of data sources.”
Another big challenge
to enterprise analytics is the
time to execute an analytics
projects and, in the meantime,
managing associated risks.
Traditional analytics projects
have a high risk of failure since
they typically take 12 to 18
months to implement and go
live. Adds Batra,”The trend
is now is “buy versus build”
where businesses adopt fully
packaged analytical applications
on the cloud typically via a
SaaS subscription model. The
applications are tuned to be
plugged into data sources
and can go live in a very short
timeframe. The applications
come pre-built with all the
required descriptive, predictive
and prescriptive analytics use
cases for consumption directly
by business thereby providing
high level of business value and
ROI.”
While accepting that
cloud analytics are the deal
of the day, Mr. Moshe Kranc,
Chief Technology Officer, Ness
Software Engineering Services
(SES), says, ”In the enterprise
world, there are several risks to
be considered:
• Security/Privacy: Since
data management and
infrastructure management
in the cloud is provided by a
third-party, it is always a risk
to hand over the sensitive
information to cloud service
providers
• Security attacks may come
from outsiders or from other
tenants
• There are technical solutions,
but it requires a leap of faith
(and regulatory approval)
• Vendor Lock-In: It is very
difficult for the customer to
switch from one Cloud Service
Provider (CSP) to another. This
results in dependency on a
particular CSP for service.
Despite these risks, most
enterprises are running some
applications in the Cloud, e.g.,
those applications that do not
require access to customer-
sensitive information.
How Do You Deal With
Apps Security?
Security is definitely a
doubt, but all is not under
the cloud (so to speak), and
there are definitely some silver
linings even to this threat
and as Srikanth Karnakota
says, “… with more and
more organizations adopting
cloud applications to unlock
competitive advantages, a
unique set of security concerns
regarding visibility, control and
protection of critical company
data has surfaced.””
Apps in the Cloud
should be secured via well-
know best practices such as
choosing secure passwords,
encrypting communications
across machines, SQL injection
prevention, etc. “A good Chief
Security Officer can put together
an effective security plan. If your
company cannot afford the
services of a full-time CSO, there
are companies (such as Ness)
that sell CSO-as-a-service, i.e.,
they will take responsibility for
managing your company’s online
security,” says Moshe Kranc.
Is data security in
cloud a challenge?
Yes – see the current
headlines about the Panamanian
bank leaks. Hackers are smart,
and they have business plans
that attract them to high-value
data. So, if you have confidential
or sensitive data, the public
Cloud may not be the place
for it. In some industries, e.g.,
banking, you may also face
regulation that forbids putting
unmasked customer data in the
Cloud.
There is no doubt that
maintaining security and
privacy of data on the cloud is
a primary challenge. As Batra
adds, “Security and data privacy
associated with putting data on
the cloud is one of the largest
perceived risks associated with
running analytics on the cloud.
But, much to the contrary,
cloud can in fact be a catalyst
for better security, and provide
a more secure environment
compared to running your
own private data center and
applications. For example, public
clouds today have the highest
level of Industry certifications
and compliances which will
COVER STORY
A good Chief Security
Officer can put together an
effective security plan. If your
company cannot afford the
services of a full-time CSO,
there are companies (such
as Ness) that sell CSO-as-
a-service, i.e., they will take
responsibility for managing your
company’s online security.
MOSHE KRANC, Chief Technology Officer,
Ness Software Engineering Services (SES)
It is estimated
that nearly 95% of all
enterprises today are
leveraging the cloud
in some manner,
across private, hybrid
and public clouds.
Analytics is ideally
suited for the cloud,
since analytics
infrastructure is
highly compute,
processing, storage
intensive.
ATUL BATRA,
CTO – Manthan Systems

4. 2714 APRIL 2016
COVER STORY
be hard to match by privately
owned infrastructure. Cloud
based Analytics applications
today adhere to the most
hardened security and data
privacy practices.”
However, it is not so simple
in real life usage. Says Garima
Rai,”Candidly speaking, this is an
area that needs to be dealt with
more carefully and holistically.
There are preventive measures in
place but a fool-proof solution
that guarantees 100% security is
something I would look forward
to in the near future. However,
security and privacy risks can
be minimized to a great extent
by use of data encryption and
back-up, better SLAs from
cloud service providers, and due
diligence from users.”
Yes, adds, Moshe Kranc,”
Yes – see the current headlines
about the Panamanian bank
leaks. Hackers are smart, and
they have business plans that
attract them to high-value data.
So, if you have confidential or
sensitive data, the public Cloud
may not be the place for it. In
some industries, e.g., banking,
you may also face regulation
that forbids putting unmasked
customer data in the Cloud.”
Batra has recommendations
about the security cover for
analytics apps. In his opinion,
the best way to deal with
them is on multiple levels
and as a combination of
several strategies. As far
as infrastructure security is
concerned, “Public cloud
providers such as AWS,
Microsoft Azure, etc, have
highly secure cloud data
centres that conform to the
most comprehensive industry
practices, standards and
certifications. Further, with
the usage of Virtual Private
Clouds (VPCs), customer specific
deployments have the option of
running inside a fully isolated
and secure environment, that
further partitions the application
architecture into private and
public sub-nets governed by
access control lists, security
groups, etc, that provide a
highly security and encrypted
environment for running
analytics,” he says.
For applications on the
cloud to be secure, the best way
forward is to adhere to stringent
penetration testing and security
industry best practices and
rules. “Access to the application
is provided via secure SSL
transport. Identity and access
control can be governed by
integrating application access
to existing corporate identity
management systems like Active
Directory (AD) and LDAP,” Batra
adds
While data security
anywhere is a challenge, on
the cloud, this challenge
takes bigger proportions.
Compliances, however, could
ensure a fair fight, “there
are a number of industry
compliances and certifications
that are adhered to by cloud
infrastructure and applications
running on top of it, including
but not limited to ISECOM’s
Open Source Security Testing
methodology Manual
(OSSTMM), the Open Web
Application Security Project
(OWASP), U.S. National Security
Agency (NSA), and ISO 27001
Information Security Standards,”
says Batra. “At Manthan, Data
is secured at both rest and in
motion, using the highest level
of Industry encryption including
AES-256 as well as usage of SSL
for transport.”
So data security is certainly
a challenge to mitigate. But
as Garima Rai says,”… when
it comes to trusting regulated
content to cloud-based apps
there are genuine concerns
that need to be resolved at
priority. Until we have a fool-
proof solution to this challenge
it’s crucial to have a cloud
adoption plan that classifies
data and ensures judicious
use of both private and public
cloud. Choosing a trusted cloud
partner is also a key factor.”
How Cloud Analytics
Benefits Organisations
As businesses evolve and
grow, leaders increasingly
feel the need for agile, cost
effective and reliable solutions
to automate decision-making
and analysis. Highly successful
companies are creating an
environment where the
right data is at finger tips of
executives in the boardroom
to front-line employees to help
achieve greater success.
Says Moshe Kranc,”The
benefits of the Cloud for hosting
data and applications are very
compelling:
• Low entry cost: Access to
computer resources without
having to purchase hardware
or install/maintain software.
• High availability, high quality
of service. The Cloud provider
usually knows more about IT
than you do
• Broad network access:
services/data can be accessed
from anywhere
• Scalability: (Theoretically)
infinite scalability
• Rapid elasticity: It is very easy
to scale the resources up or
out at any time.
• Self-service: easy to
instantiate, easy to use, easy
to tear down
As a result of these benefits,
more and more companies have
plans to migrate at least some
of their applications and data to
the Cloud.”
One IDG Research service
study along with Informatica
that studied more than 400
companies in North America
and EMEA, trying to track
market trends on enterprise
adoption of cloud analytics
showed some interesting
results. According to the
survey, 63% of the respondents
are positive about deploying
cloud for analytics over 2016,
while 71% were planning to
deploy a hybrid cloud or cloud
only adoption for analytics,
maximum by 2018.
The drivers to this adoption-
ease of use topped the charts
with ease of governance and
seamless movement of data
came next. So, essentially, the
three components of Business
analytics- data integration and
warehousing and BI, are now
fast moving into the cloud for
a large number of enterprises
worldwide.

5. 15APRIL 2016
What benefits do these
companies identify? The
topmost benefit cited was
lower costs of infrastructure
which the cloud naturally
provides. Agility and faster
time to market of strategies
come a close second and of
course, scalability also was cited
as a top advantage.
Moshe Kranc adds,
“Analytics by its nature requires
large amounts of compute
power for short time periods.
For example, at the end of
the month, billions of revenue
records must be aggregated
based on revenue source and
date. Once those aggregations
are calculated, they can be
looked very quickly by any
process building a report.
This kind of bursty activity is
perfect for the Cloud. Instead
of purchasing enough on
premise equipment to handle
the high-water mark of needed
computational power, run that
aggregation in the Cloud, using
as many computers as needed,
for a short period of time.
Then, store the results in a key-
value store that requires far less
computing resources.”
It’s not just a matter of
cost savings, he maintains,
“The Cloud’s ability to
provide potentially infinite
computing resources for
short bursts of time enables
new sorts of calculations that
were previously considered
unfeasible. For example, many
social network calculations
require instantiating an in-
memory graph that contains
many terabytes of data. Thanks
to the Cloud, the resources
needed to perform these
calculations are available to all.”
And to top all of these, the
fact that almost all business
applications are rapidly moving
to the cloud and companies
cannot afford to keep analytics
out of it. As Mahesh, H Nayak
Chief Operating Officer,
SAP Labs India says, “Today
most of the mainstream
applications and related data
are already available in cloud,
hence business intelligence
and data analysis cannot be
far behind.”The transition to
scalable, off premise cloud
based IT infrastructure is not
in future tense any more, it’s
happening as we speak.
Trends In The
Breakthrough
The cloud is still WIP as
far as its full potential is
concerned. Over the next
18-24 months, there are
even more profitable changes
expected, that will drive
greater adoption and much
great return on investment
for cloud analytics. Says
Batra,” Analytics is increasingly
being consumed in industry
specific manner, and the days
of executing long drawn IT
services projects to custom
build analytics systems using
horizontal analytics platforms
is on the decline. Cloud based
fully packaged industry specific
analytics applications pre-built
for specific business use cases
and roles will continue to see
increased adoption across
verticals and industries.”
In addition, he points out,
Analytics will increasingly be
consumed as a micro-services
on the cloud via API based
interfaces. “For example,
the new generation of cloud
based analytics systems will be
centered around algorithms-as-
a-service and will provide the
ability to conveniently upload
data sets and run complex
machine learning based
predictive analytics on demand.
There services are developer
friendly and easy to integrate
with,” he says.
The Internet of Things that
is gradually taking over almost
all aspects of communication
in enterprise, is creeping into
cloud analytics as well. “IoT is
now a significant data source
to cloud based analytics. For
example, in the retail industry,
beacons, sensors and mobile
apps is a major source of
customer behaviour in physical
stores and help retailers push
personalization to their loyalty
members,” Batra adds.
The cloud is here to stay,
and analytics is the strategy
builder of the enterprises, now
and always. Till some other
breakthrough technology comes
along, we need to live with
these, and benefit from the
cost and efficiency advantages
they provide. Cloud analytics
is the next buzzword….and is
assuredly a great transformation
for enterprises who want to
carve their name in the skies
(pun intended).
By Kanika Goswami
Today most of the mainstream applications and
related data are already available in cloud, hence
business intelligence and data analysis cannot be
far behind.”The transition to scalable, off premise
cloud based IT infrastructure is not in future tense
any more, it’s happening as we speak.
MAHESH H NAYAK,
Chief Operating Officer, SAP Labs India
I
ntel India has announced a key
change in its warranty policy
to benefit customers of its
Intel Boxed Processors purchased
through local authorized
distributors. Effective April 25,
2016, local warranty support
for Intel Boxed Processors will
be available exclusively for units
purchased on or after April 25,
2016 through Intel Authorized
Distributors in India, the list for
which is available here. This
ultimately benefits customers by
ensuring faster and more efficient
warranty service.
Customers who have
purchased Intel Boxed Processors
from unauthorized dealers or from
authorized distributors outside
India will still be covered by Intel’s
product warranty, but will need to
return the product to the original
place of purchase for service.
Highlighting the reason behind
this change, Rajiv Bhalla, Director,
Direct and Channel Sales, Intel
South Asia, said, “Intel Authorized
Distributors play a key role in our
overall market strategy, which
includes ensuring that authorized
Intel® Products are sold in India.
The revised warranty policy
ensures that our customers will
not only enjoy the authentic Intel®
Products purchased through our
authorized distributors here, but
also ensures an amazing service
and after sales experience that will
keep them coming back to our
authorized distributors for future
purchases.”
Intel India
Updates Boxed
Processor
Warranty Policy
Starting April 25,
2016, local warranty
support for Intel
Boxed Processors
will be available
exclusively for units
that are purchased
through local
Intel Authorized
Distributors
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