Exclusive Interview: P V Vaidyanathan, Co-founder & CEO, ProcessIT Global

P. V. Vaidyanathan, Co-founder and CEO at ProcessIT Global, graduated from Calcutta University, Kolkata, in Physics. Also, Vaidyanathan has more than 24 years of experience in the industry.

In November last year, Rajarshi Bhattacharyya, Arindam Mitra and P. V. Vaidyanathan founded ProcessIT Global. These days, ProcessIT Global provides its services across multiple industry verticals. Furthermore, ProcessIT Global offers products in Healthcare, Last Mile and Automation, and have clientele in Government and PSUs, BFSI, Telecom, Manufacturing, Media & Entertainment, Healthcare and Education.

Mr. Vaidyanathan provided his thoughts on a multitude of topics related to telecom, digital transformation and 5G in his interaction with Voice&Data.

What do you think is the biggest challenge for the telecom sector today?

Several challenges exist in the telecom sector today.  High competition and tariff wars in addition to poor telecom infrastructure in rural and semi-rural regions and limited spectrum availability are some of them.  The biggest challenge lies in the upgradation of the legacy systems.  It is important for telecom providers to upgrade their IT and digital infrastructure so as to enable to provide, reliable, high quality as well as affordable data and voice services, as the many OTT service providers.  They have to put in place strategic digital transformation and transform the way work gets done.

With the accelerated Digital Transformation and Technology Adoption in the country, what should be the course of action for major telcos?

Customer and technology are at the core of the telecom ecosystem.  With customers comfortable with smartphones, laptops and other devices, they prefer to engage with service providers digitally.

Therefore, the industry has to adopt the digital transformation strategy. This strategy should focus on creating an exciting digital experience for end customers by leveraging technology. At the same time the major telecom service providers should also retain business continuity, efficacy and profitability.

Telcos should digitize operations so that they can bring new services to markets faster and provide innovatively priced options and earn customer loyalty.

How will Digital Transformation propel the Government’s target of making India a $1 Trillion Digital Economy?

Today a significant number of Indians are benefitting from mobile phones and digital connectivity.  Beneficiaries of several schemes are able to receive money directly to their bank accounts with the enablement of Aadhaar card.  Digital applications are also providing new opportunities in the education, agriculture and healthcare among other sectors.  Online education can support increasing the literacy rate in the country.  Digital technologies can support farmers to establish precision agriculture which will lead to increase in farm incomes.

Digitization can help in overcoming India’s healthcare shortcomings.  Digital transformation can bring in innovations that have the potential to transform the way healthcare delivery is done, by instantly connecting people with services, support in the automation of routine tasks and enable analyzing patient data to improve healthcare decisions.

Also, telemedicine can save hospital infrastructure costs and treat patients in the comfort of their homes. Digital transformation will create millions of jobs. Therefore, there need to be relevant re-training facilities for the workforce.  Similar benefits, financial and others, will be seen in other industrial sectors with digital transformation significantly contributing to the Government’s target of making India a $1 Trillion Digital Economy.

How much of an impact do you think 5G will have on the Digital Environment of India?

These days the number of users preferring smartphones and internet becoming the common access environment, is increasing. As such, people’s lives have been made simpler as they are now able to focus on other priority tasks.  Now more than before, users are demanding high-capacity networks, with faster access to applications and a wide-variety of services. Enabling 5G allows 100 times more data transfer rates than 4G, making it all possible. This is having a significant impact on people’s lives.  Telemedicine will provide timely means of delivering diagnosis and treatments.  Moreover, connected cars can improve traffic infrastructures. Telecommunications can get much better by automating of all the processes. Online education can achieve Education for All. Yes, 5G will impact digital environment of India greatly.

Do you think 5G will create room for more and more technology-driven, customer-services and products in the future?

The impact of 5G in general is massive. In that regard, 5G has three very visible impacts.

• Higher Capacity – More number of devices can be connected adding to faster and better-informed decision making.
• Faster Response Times – 5G Network will have nearly 300 times lower latency which means data can be analysed in real time and AI can make better decisions. So faster and more accurate intelligent automation can be achieved.
• Big Bandwidth – This will allow organisations to work more closely with their partners and suppliers even if they are far away from each other. Remote collaboration will be much easier and in real-time leading to increased productivity and efficiency. Everything offline is also online and offers real-time ability, saving time and energy.

How do you think technology and IT services can help in the current COVID-19 Crisis?

Next-gen technologies such as cloud, AI/ML, analytics, robotics along with 4G/5G Networks have contributed to innovations in the pandemic response.  By providing accurate information and data, technology can rule out misinformation avoiding panic-like situation among people.  Big-data analytics can track infected patients with facial recognition. That can further help bring them back into the chain leading to reduction in further infections.

AI and Big Data can do risk assessment and forecasting. This will help in forecasting the spread along with medication and treatment provided easily. To reduce the spread of infections, people should adopt contactless deliveries and payments. Remote working technologies will help to maintain social distancing without affecting business continuity. New age technologies can equip one better to address the current crisis, while preparing better for any future outbreak.

How does ProcessIT Global approach the alarming lack of Digital Transformation within the Healthcare sector?

ProcessIT Global has been working on a project called Seva60plus which is primarily built to connect citizens directly with caregivers and receive primary healthcare at any given point of time. In doing so, we intend to impart primary healthcare services accessible to all. This platform will be scalable to administer telemedicine/medical consultation to patients who need informed decision-making capabilities. This will take away a lot of load from the existing public healthcare system and allow them to have the much-needed time to build a more robust healthcare infrastructure. This transformation using digital technologies will significantly bridge the GAP between the Haves and Have-nots.

ProcessIT Global’s Cybersecurity Practice, based on NIST 1.1 Framework will provide the much-needed skills to design, implement and maintain robust, scalable and reliable security solutions around the digital healthcare system and ensure availability, confidentiality and integrity of the data.

Our Services around IT-Operations Management and Intelligent Automation will ensure IT systems work as one and deliver availability, scalability and reliability of the digital healthcare system.