FP Exclusive: Dell’s Indrajit Belgundi explains what India Inc. wants out of AI

The opportunities that AI brings for India’s tech companies and businesses come once in a generation. Luckily, we are more than ready to capitalise on this and establish ourselves as a major player, says Indrajit Belgundi, Senior Director & General Manager, Client Solutions Group, Dell Technologies.

In all of this, security plays a major role, something that Dell and Belgundi are woefully aware of. That is why, in their refreshed commercial portfolio of AI-enabled PCs, they are leveraging AI to not only enhance performance and productivity but also have a major focus on security, across various levels.

In an exclusive conversation with Firstpost, Belgundi explains how Dell plans on leveraging their line of AI PCs, how AI will have to go beyond being just a buzzword, and, what India Inc. wants. Edited Excerpts:

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You have seen India’s IT scene evolving through one of its fastest phases. How have India’s computing needs evolved over the years?
The adoption of technology in India is unbelievably fast, perhaps one of the fastest anywhere in the world — this is what we have observed at Dell Technologies. One reason could be that we have very knowledgeable people and students joining the workforce each year, eager to adopt new technology.

Take the rolling out of UPI as an example. Not only was UPI adopted quickly in India, it has also evolved as one of the largest payments systems in the world.

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We base our strategies based on these insights. At Dell Technologies, we work very closely with customers and partners, as they give us great benchmarks on features that we should be bringing in with our products and solutions. Based on their collective input, we have categorised them across various personas.

Even our AI solutions are being deployed based on those strategies. For example, developers, knowledge users and power workers will use their machines differently, so they have to be designed and tuned differently, they need to have different features. We are confident that the product and solutions that we have on offer today, are going to help organisations as well as end-users in improving productivity and enhancing collaboration across various teams

With the advent of AI, how have business demands from IT companies like Dell evolved?
We see tremendous potential and opportunity for ourselves, when we look at what is being demanded, and the solutions that we have for businesses in India. The demand for devices is increasing exponentially.

When we look at the difference in numbers from the pre-pandemic, pandemic, and post-pandemic era, we see that the opportunity is immense. Users are looking for devices that best suit them, instead of going for generic options. They’ve come to believe in what we have been practising all these years — that one size doesn’t fit all. It has become more about having the right solution to their specific needs

With the new refresh cycle coming in, This was the perfect time for us to announce AI PCs.

Hybrid work seems to be all the rage now and it looks like it will be like this for a couple of more years. How do Dell’s AI PCs help employees as well as businesses with this new hybrid work era?
The hybrid work setup is not a new concept for Dell. I joined Dell about 23 years ago, and during my time here, I have been a hybrid employee much before it became as popular as it is today. The hybrid work model perfectly encapsulates what I call Dell on Dell. It all comes down to the user and the work they are engaged in.
It has been advantageous for us because we have had the right solutions for hybrid workers all along.

Within hybrid, users are bound to have different requirements based on their setups and preferences. Some users prefer thin-and-light notebooks whereas others prioritise battery life over everything else. Others would prefer having the best possible performance from their notebooks.

Hence we have different solutions which are available for different users and their specific needs. One way or another, the hybrid work environment is going to continue.

Different organisations will have different guidelines for hybrid work. There are lots of advantages, which, businesses have also come to realise. Plus, we have seen many new collaborative tools being developed, so it makes everything much easier. The hybrid working environment is here to stay.

What are the top challenges of a business that they might face today when developing their AI?
The opportunity is immense, but what businesses need to realise, is that it is not just about coding. Now, AI is more about working on, having the right data sets in place, and working on a variety of data. It is also having the right ML algorithms, and then ensuring that the systems evolve along with that, in the right direction.

We are at a phase where organisations are seeing the benefits that AI can bring in from the user standpoint, whether it’s being more effective, more collaborative, and so forth. We have end-to-end solutions with end devices, data centres, and the cloud, along with various services and security solutions we offer.

What challenges do you see in developing data sovereignty and more importantly, keeping security tightly knit?
In any organisation, the first point of attack is usually the end devices that users use. Our commercial product portfolio has security solutions that work both, below the OS level, and above it. We also work with security solution providers to provide the right solution for end customers and end users, in case they have very specific needs.

When it comes to security, having a proactive approach is a critical thing. We have to stay on our toes. For example, Dell Optimizer is a software that comes with all Dell commercial products. Now, let’s say you are at the airport or are working from a cafe on one of our notebooks, on a confidential document. If you have your web camera on your notebook will look out for people peeping into your device. So if someone is trying to intrude on your privacy, and is standing behind you trying to have a look at the document, Dell Optimiser will automatically make the screen go blank.

Solutions such as these are very simple, and yet, so important for security.

The C-suite in India is very excited about implementing AI in their businesses. How should CIOs approach integrating AI into their processes? How do they ensure that AI is being implemented in the right direction?
It’s a very relevant question from a business’ perspective. AI cannot be treated just as a buzzword, it is going to be a major technological revolution. And again, not only from the device point of view but in terms of computing ability, how it enables other things in return, etc, etc.

The approach that CIOs take will need to be based on the workloads they are dealing with. Based on that they will have to look for solutions that are right for them, that can work for them. Some of the CIOs, are looking at this new technology as a pilot.

In India, we have various Global Capability Centres or GCCs. It is not just about India headquarters and customers, but also a lot of work is happening in terms of how they can optimise their workloads, what can be the right solutions for their users, and so forth. So that’s a, I believe that a major technology shift is happening. We are at the cusp of a major change that is going to benefit organisations and users as well.