Large enterprises can help startups be future ready, says Himani Agrawal of Microsoft India
Himani Agrawal, Country Head - Azure, Microsoft India, said, Microsoft has an end-to-end platform to guide startups through their growth journey, with cloud technology forming the core.
The Indian startup ecosystem has witnessed increased reliance on digital technologies as these young companies are delivering their services or products completely through the cloud platform. However, this has also brought in its own set of challenges as startups need to overcome various obstacles that may be related to technology, business strategy, or just getting the right kind of talent.
Microsoft India believes large enterprises can play a crucial role in helping startups get a firm footing in several areas like leveraging technology, mentorship, or connections, all of which leads to partnerships, which will benefit everybody.
In an e-mail interview with YourStory, Himani Agrawal, Country Head - Azure, Microsoft India, says, Microsoft has an end-to-end platform to guide startups all through their growth journey, with cloud technology forming the core.
Edited excerpts from the interview:
YourStory [YS]: What are the key challenges faced by startups when it comes to aligning their innovation and technological strategies? How can enterprises bridge this gap?
Himani Agrawal [HA]: In recent years, startups have seen a surge in innovation, customer focus, and capability development across industries. While India continues to be the third-largest startup ecosystem globally, there is a larger demand for nurturing these startups to scale and become the conglomerates of tomorrow.
One of the key challenges faced by startup founders is the lack of technical guidance and choosing the right cloud partner to facilitate their startup launch. Every company needs to build its own digital infrastructure and create unique IP to stay competitive. This is called Tech Intensity, which will be central to building technological self-reliance for India and will be the foundation of empowering startups to grow and scale.
In addition to technical guidance, startups also seek a cloud partner that offers cost-effective solutions to support their operations.
When it comes to aligning these innovation and technological strategies, startups often face the challenge of a talent gap. Startups may struggle to find and attract skilled professionals with the necessary technical expertise to drive their innovation and technological initiatives. Hence, there is a need to develop a collaboration ecosystem where enterprises can help startups gain access to the necessary technical expertise and advice to streamline their innovation and technological strategies.
YS: With the increasing focus on cloud-native apps and solutions, what are the key benefits of cloud solutions to startups?
HA: Cloud will be foundational to scaling India’s digital journey, and we have seen that adoption surge massively in the last few years. Cloud-native applications offer increased scalability, resilience, agility, cost-effectiveness, automation, and developer productivity. These benefits enable organisations to deliver robust and scalable applications that can adapt to changing demands, leverage cloud services efficiently, and accelerate innovation
One of the major benefits of cloud computing for startups is cost-effectiveness. For instance, Microsoft Azure operates on a pay-as-you-go model, which allows startups to minimise upfront infrastructure costs. Instead of investing in physical servers and data centres, startups can leverage cloud resources and only pay for the computing power and storage they actually use.
To enable startups ‘do more with less’, Azure provides end-to-end cloud solutions--from building infrastructure to offering developer tools, with a focus on security. Microsoft invests heavily in security measures and compliance certifications to protect customer data. Similarly, in the era of hybrid work, startups require secure collaboration tools to bring together remote and physical workforces.
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YS: How tech mentorship from established enterprises contributes to the growth and development of startups?
HA: Startups often struggle with the same level of technical expertise as established enterprises. Tech mentorship provides startups with access to experienced professionals who can provide guidance and advice on technical aspects. This helps founders make informed decisions, navigate challenges, and avoid costly mistakes during the launch and growth of their born-in-cloud startups. This guidance accelerates the learning process and fosters a culture of continuous innovation within the startup.
Microsoft has the focus to empower the ambitions of born-in-cloud startups, from idea to unicorn and beyond. Our startup business is structured to provide targeted support to startups across every growth stage.
Moreover, Microsoft Accelerator is a global programme that helps early-stage startups mature into enterprise-ready companies. To bring people, knowledge and benefits together and to help founders solve challenges at every stage, we launched Azure Society of Excellence last year in India.
YS: How does Azure Society of Excellence (ASE) enable startups to scale?
HA: Azure Society for Excellence is an initiative developed by Microsoft India for the incubation cells in India’s leading academic institutes to meet the tech needs of Born In cloud tech startups and digital natives.
With this, Microsoft aims to establish a Centre of Excellence (COE’s) within these incubation cells and help startups with resources, including business and technical guidance, free software tools, expert mentorship and knowledge to faculty and students.
We aim to support startups by extending mentorship, employment, and entrepreneurial opportunities with this initiative. The programme will also enable access to ‘Founder’s Hub’—a talent-employability programme for future-ready startups in the premium educational institute's incubation ecosystem. Microsoft will also provide access to Azure community programmes and ongoing developer campaigns.
YS: What role does Founders Hub play in scaling startups?
HA: Microsoft Founders Hub is an initiative developed by Microsoft India to meet the tech needs of Born in Cloud tech startups and digital natives. Microsoft aims to help startups remove traditional barriers in building a tech company by democratising the entire process.
Under this initiative, startups can enjoy several benefits, including building at their own pace with up to $150,000 in free Azure credits, and connect with business experts, mentors, and technical advisors from its curated network of subject matter experts and Azure specialists.
It is centred around three key areas. This includes technology that benefits all, which means the platform eliminates traditional barriers faced by founders when getting started. Secondly, technology benefits that grow, which means keeping pace with a startup’s lifecycle, the platform helps founders speed development with free access to GitHub and the Microsoft Cloud with the ability to unlock additional benefits over time. It is also partnering with innovative companies like OpenAI that develop AI systems such as GPT-3 (Generative Pre-trained Transformer, and Codex to provide startups with exclusive benefits and discounts.
YS: Startups today are worried about high cloud costs. How is Microsoft Azure dealing with this challenge?
HA: We are helping customers with choice and flexibility when it comes to cloud costs. To address the challenge of rising cloud costs, Microsoft Azure offers a range of options to help customers manage their costs. Startups, based on consumption and criticality, can choose between pay-as-you-go, reserved instances, savings plan and spot instances.
With Microsoft hybrid, cloud solutions customers can take advantage of the scalability and cost savings of the cloud, while still maintaining control over their data and applications. Azure cost management provides customers with the tools and insights they need to optimise their cloud spending.
Finally, Microsoft runs well-architected framework sessions, based on global best practices to address cost management alongside governance and security.
Edited by Megha Reddy
