Cloud is the main enabler for startups to succeed: DD Mishra, Research Director, Gartner

By Anusha Ashwin

Gartner analyst DD Mishra, in a brief conversation with Voice&Data, throws an analytical insight into how the startup culture in India is evolving with the support of Government policies and new technologies. Excerpts:

Voice&Data: In your view, how has the Startup India Action Plan brought about a paradigm change in the startup ecosystem?

DD Mishra: The response has generated a lot of excitement but I would say it is too early to judge the results in a few months. Execution is the key and it will go through some iterative process to perfect itself but of course, it does addresses the expectations of startups in various ways starting from funding, approval, processes, and so on. In my view, both startup ecosystem and government is going through a learning curve for the first two years.

Voice&Data: How has funding and policy aided the development of IT startups in 2016?

DD Mishra: Many startups have seen this as positive and can go a long way. Government is working to expand its base and further ease out policies. I am sure it will also see expansion of approved corpus as well. In my view, this needs to happen more quickly than what is happening now. What is needed is an urgent speeding up of startup ecosystems to drive more ideas and job creation in the coming days to boost economic growth and job creation.

Voice&Data: What are the emerging technologies that IT startups are exploiting?

DD Mishra: Startups with their flexibility, agility and breakthrough ideas are more suited for disruptive innovation in digital technologies. We also see traction for automation, IoT and analytics from India based small technology firms. Cloud is the main enabler for such startups to succeed. Incubating startups to drive innovation is one of the models that large IT companies are adopting as well. Most of the technologies that actually address a business challenge are more lucrative from a startup perspective.