New Delhi, Apr 25 (IANS): As the pandemic accelerates the digital transformation journeys of most enterprises, information technology (IT) has now become business technology which needs a different approach and skill-sets to help companies with their Cloud journey, Kalyan Kumar, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Head of Ecosystems for HCL Technologies, has emphasised.

Actively involved in the product and technology strategy, Kumar who is also the Chief Product Officer and is responsible for all Cloud and tech OEM ecosystem business units for HCL, said that in order to stay ahead in the "techade", companies need to adopt five core new-age technologies.

"We have entered the era of Business Technology, as Information technology is not just enough to help enterprises scale in the era of Cloud. To remain ahead of the curve, companies of all sizes need to embrace five key advanced technologies," Kumar told IANS.

The five key technologies according to him are: Distributed Cloud, hyper scale connectivity, responsible Artificial Intelligence (AI), quantum computing and Metaverse.

Recent disruptions, mainly from the pandemic, have drastically accelerated enterprise cloud transformations with increasing demands for a distributed workforce.

As enterprise networks continue to grow, IT teams face increasing complexity across a variety of environments.

According to Kumar, a robust distributed network cloud strategy can fast-track transformations across the enterprise.

"Other upcoming technologies that will share the future of the industry are Blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT), 3D printing and robust cyber defence networks," noted Kumar who is the Global Practice/SBU leader for Digital Foundation (Infra and Platform Modernisation, Hybrid Cloud, Digital Workplace, Enterprise Networking and Telco Cloud.

HCL recently launched a dedicated AWS Business Unit to accelerate Enterprise Cloud Transformation last year.

According to Kumar, the need for flexibility, scalability, and reliability while migrating to the cloud is imperative for any modern enterprise.

"Our skills and expertise in delivering (AWS) cloud-based products help enterprises plan for digital transformation and embark on a cloud-native journey," said Kumar.

The dedicated business unit within HCL is supported by AWS engineering, solutions and business teams.

"The new business unit is helping businesses modernise their legacy systems and mainframe applications and reliably adopt cloud technologies that boost efficiency, achieve objectives and meet regulatory compliance, all the while migrating and managing SAP workloads on AWS," informed Kumar.

Enterprise consumption of Cloud has witnessed a dramatic shift. More than 90 per cent of enterprises already leverage one or more public clouds in their enterprise environment.

"The AWS business unit is an important part of our larger #HCLCloudSmart strategy in servicing every aspect of cloud delivery to build effective ecosystems that help our customers stay ahead of their competitors," Kumar emphasised.

"Leveraging our extensive relationship with AWS, the AWS business unit synergises the best of what both companies have to offer, driving digital, cultural and customer-centric transformations," he added.

The unit is helping enterprise clients modernise and migrate at scale, sustain cost advantages and focus on experimentation by combining HCL's experience and expertise in building adaptive cloud smart portfolios, and AWS's depth and breadth of services and rapid innovation.

HCL is uniquely positioned to help enterprises, both as a global systems integrator (GSI) and an independent software vendor (ISV), with a cloud-focused ecosystem and product innovation strategy.

According to Kumar, Cloud is now the fundamental backbone of any enterprise.

"The new world poses a challenge for how businesses can move into the future, taking into account multiple factors and dimensions that stretch the limits of existing high-performance computing resources. The pandemic has changed the way we work. It is time to adopt newer strategies to stay ahead in the race," said Kumar.