Microsoft India bets big on its security unit to drive cloud growth

Microsoft India is betting big on cyber security solutions for cloud adoption growth as Indian businesses seek better security.

More businesses are looking at hosting their applications on the cloud, shifting from the traditional IT infrastructure on-premise to improve efficiency and bring down costs. Firms are looking to move to a model from one-time expense for software licenses and IT hardware in the on-premise model to pay as you rent model on the cloud with upgrades thrown in during the usage period.

Radha Rajappa, Services Head, Microsoft India says cyber security will be of core importance to Microsoft as they enable digital transformation of Indian business and Delhi-based Cybersecurity Engagement Center and global Digital Crimes Unit (DCU) will help organisations to ensure security as they grow business.

Microsoft’s DCU, which is an international team of attorneys, investigators, data scientists, engineers, analysts and business professionals based in 30 countries, uses big data analytics, forensics and novel legal strategies to secure data of its clients. With the help of the DCU, the cyber security unit in Delhi will create collaborations with public and private sector organisations to ensure secure cloud computing environment.

“It (cyber security) is the number one priority for the company in terms of investment. The story is end-to-end. While Microsoft gives digital platforms, it ensures trust of data,” Rajappa told Business Standard in an interview.

A recent survey conducted by the company called Microsoft Asia Digital Transformation Study 2016/17 finds out nearly one-third of the businesses in India say “security concerns and cyber threats is the biggest barrier in digital transformation journey”.

The company reached out to nearly 1500 respondents across Asia.

During his visit to India last month, Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella said the company would have a significant focus on ensuring security to companies start-ups and companies that want to move their infrastructure to its cloud.

Rajappa believes security becomes more important as businesses going forward will have to move to cloud to reap benefits, as the way consumers use services has changed dramatically.

“For Microsoft, the cyber security cell in Delhi constantly scans millions of records and we have a predictive model to say what could go wrong. All of our products are tested extensively for both security and compliance,” he said.

Competitors of Microsoft such as Google are equally focusing on security and expanding it beyond key management services. It means Google is trying to protect data not only at the underlying hardware level, but on virtual machine too.