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(^) Outlook BUSINESS / (^) 22 December 2017
What are the major businesses for Hitachi in India?
With a well-established footprint in India through 28
businesses, Hitachi operates in diverse industrial sectors
such as Infrastructure, Railways, Energy, Construction
Machinery, Healthcare, IT, Automotive and Payment
Services amongst many others. Each of these verticals
touches millions of lives in India – be it through our Railway
Solutions dedicated towards enhancing safety in transport
and ensuring that people reach their destination on time;
Infrastructure Solutions that contribute to solving the Water
supply and management issues; GIS Solutions dedicated
towards the benefit of Indian agriculture and farmers;
Enterprise data solutions for ADHAAR and Employee
Provident Fund; IT solutions that set up infrastructure for fully
digitized e-Sewa Kendras to promote citizen centric services
and e-governance; Payment Solutions that provide secure,
innovative and cost effective services across electronic
channels and banking channel products; or our futuristic
R&D solutions that re-affirm our commitment to make India
future ready.
How are you pursuing your Social Innovation
Business in India?
Hitachi has an 80-years-old history with India. We harbour
ambitious goals of taking this partnership further by becoming
a trusted and strategic partner in India’s growth story and
help build a solid foundation through our Social Innovation
Business in India for its people and the future generations.
A variety of business and developmental challenges are
fast-emerging – how to respond to rapid urbanization, large-
scale concentration of people in cities, exploring sustainable
transportation solutions, efficient supply and management of
water and energy and creating stronger security solutions for
the age of the Internet of Things (IoT).
Hitachi believes in addressing these challenges through
our Social Innovation Business, which focuses on resolving
issues faced by society and customers, thereby leading a
Social Transformation and striving to create a sustainable
society.
What is the purpose of holding Hitachi Social
Innovation Conclave and Forum?
Hitachi Social Innovation Conclave and Forum has been
inspired by our global flagship events which are conducted
across global geographies. In India, we have been holding
similar events for over 4 years now. This year, Hitachi India
successfully hosted the Hitachi Social Innovation Conclave
2017 in Bengaluru (August) and Mumbai (October). Through
these events we aspired to set stage to bring together
thought leaders, opinion makers and industry experts for
a highly interactive dialogue on India’s IoT landscape and
how India’s businesses and enterprises can maximize
their productivity and efficiency to shine in an increasingly
competitive global market. The culmination of these events
will be in a high decibel Hitachi Social Innovation Forum, Delhi
that will be organized in February 2018.
What inroads has Hitachi made in the field of IoT?
Hitachi’s strength is its uniqueness and ability to combine
extensive proficiencies in Operational Technology (OT) with
over 50 years of experience in Information Technology (IT) to
create novel solutions to social problems. No other company
in the world has this unique leverage of a combined strong
legacy in OT and IT.
In future, because of digitalization, the society will change
even more than we ever imagined. Digitalization, and
concepts such as IoT and Artificial Intelligence (AI) present a
plethora of business opportunities and Hitachi is already in
the process of adapting to this trend. In 2016, we announced
the 2018 Mid-term Management Plan which outlined our
objective - “Collaborative Creation” with customers through
our advanced Social Innovation Business will help establish
Hitachi as an Innovation Partner for the IoT era. Our prowess
in manufacturing complemented with digital technologies is
enabling Hitachi to gain a head start in this Internet of Things
(IoT) era. Hitachi developed an IoT platform called Lumada
which incorporates Artificial Intelligence and Analytics to
create a wide range of digital solutions, thereby steadily
developing and promoting our Social Innovation Business.
The development of this IoT platform is a huge step in driving
our business strategy across the globe.
As a next step, we are focusing on the Industrial IoT
(IIoT) space as it has huge potential for growth. To make
manufacturing or services truly ‘Smart’, digital interventions
will play a pivotal role. Hitachi’s Industrial IoT will draw the
distinction for us in an IT Smart Country like India.
On the same lines, there was an announcement
about a new Hitachi company called Vantara – how
will it change the game plan for India?
Hitachi Vantara is a new business entity that will leverage the
broad portfolio of innovation, development and experience
from across Hitachi Group companies to deliver data-driven
solutions for commercial and industrial enterprises. This new
company will unify the operations of Hitachi Data Systems,
Hitachi Insight Group, and Pentaho into a single integrated
business as Hitachi Vantara to capitalize on Hitachi’s social
innovation capability in both operational technologies (OT)
and information technologies (IT).
‘Hitachi’s Strength Lies In Combining Expertise In
Operational Technology & Information Technology To
Create Novel Solutions To Social Issues’
Mr. Bharat Kaushal,
Managing Director, Hitachi India