Bangalore German technology major SAP launched its Metaverse initiative in June to accelerate cloud adoption among Indian enterprises. In an interview, Kulmeet Bawa, Chairman and Managing Director, SAP Indian Subcontinent, talks about the company’s focus on the metaverse, its early adopters and strategy to tap into the small and medium business (SMB) market. Edited excerpt:
What led you to decide to launch the Metaverse initiative in India?
The metaverse is the future. It represents the current experience economy, providing an immersive, interactive avenue like never before. SAP has built an entire network of ‘Experience Centers’ globally to bring our solutions to the masses in the best possible way. By leveraging the Metaverse, we at SAP hope to revolutionize various elements of our customer experience and create a network of permanent cloud companies within a truly digital universe.
We recently launched a comprehensive, experiential “Cloud on Wheels” platform aimed at accelerating cloud adoption among Indian enterprises. Designed to engage a digital-first audience, the platform will enable customers to experience the full range of ‘Rise With’ across the stages of their digital transformation. SAP offers and enables them to re-imagine processes for better business results. We have traditionally been applying digital twin technology to help clients gain insights into real-world scenarios and make predictions. Now expanding into the metaverse, we aim to introduce measures to support digital B2B services. State-of-the-art technologies such as ‘Rise with SAP’, SAP’s Digital Core, Procurement, Customer and People Experience solutions.
In conclusion, we believe the Metaverse is a great opportunity for enterprises to explore new use cases. Therefore, we will continue to conceptualize the potential impact of this new concept on our business, including identifying existing workstreams, defining goals and processes, and more.
What are the early signs of metaverse adoption in India? Which sectors are showing early interest?
A recently published report states that India ranks fifth in terms of interest in Metaverse projects. Some of this interest can be attributed to a younger population, rising household consumption, a vibrant startup ecosystem, and a large tech talent pool. In terms of sectors, the gaming industry continues to dominate the adoption of the metaverse, followed by technology and the retail industry.
Over the past few months, we have seen young consumers tend to be more creative in their lives. For example, a couple from Tamil Nadu who got married on the Metaverse was in the news. Over time, the interest and applications of the technology will increase.
Therefore, it is important that Indian enterprises prepare themselves for the emerging opportunities in the metaverse space backed by a skilled workforce and relevant service offerings.
What is your strategy to enter the SMB segment in India?
The SMB segment already accounts for around 80% of our customer base in India. we have invested 500 crore to localize our multi-cloud strategy to help Indian businesses become more resilient. Our multi-cloud strategy aims to help our customers enjoy the benefits of our platform on the cloud infrastructure of their choice. The goal is to deliver rapid innovation while providing flexibility – such as the cloud vendor of choice, a large network of available regions, reliability through hyper-scale infrastructure and capabilities, and agility to our customers. Some of our customers who have adopted these solutions in India include Sera Sanitaryware, Luminous Power, Vircent Infrastructure, Poorvankar, Waycool Foods & Products Pvt. Ltd.
What could be the challenges for SAP’s Metaverse-led cloud acceleration strategy?
As with any new and emerging technology, each opportunity comes with some additional prerequisites and learnings. For example, some use cases may require extensive physical, technologically modern digital infrastructure ranging from VR headsets to other types of devices that enhance experiences. For a more comprehensive and holistic experience, large amounts of data must be produced. Real-world computing and storage power directly affects the size and extent of the metaverse. And that means going beyond mere technological migration. That said, Metaverse is where SAP India is already looking remotely. We are committed to enable our customers to adjust their businesses to today’s environment, adopt modern processes and enhance automation through intelligent technologies
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