Modi building Cloud-first approach to empower Indians

Washington: For a country like India, the hope lies in a visionary leader like Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is aiming to create a Cloud-first approach towards skilling and digital transformation, thus empowering over a billion people, says Teresa Carlson, Vice President, Worldwide Public Sector, Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Carlson, who reports directly to AWS CEO Andy Jassy and has been in India twice in recent times to explore the government's digital transformation initiatives, hailed the return of Modi government to power.

"Leaders like him understand that they require transformative actions and sustainable economic development models to drive the change which would eventually benefit the masses. Adopting the secure Cloud-first approach is top priority for governments the world over.

Data is like currency because that's where all the information and the opportunities lie, which can make a real difference in the lives of millions of people," Carlson said on the sidelines of AWS Public Sector Summit attended by over 18,000 technologists here on Tuesday. AWS is the Cloud arm of retail giant Amazon. In the first quarter of 2019, AWS reported an annualised revenue run rate of $31 billion, registering 41 per cent (year-on-year) growth.

According to Carlson, who joined AWS in 2010 and organised the first Public Sector Summit with just 50 people participating, it is high time for the Indian government to deploy Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning-driven Cloud models to make sense of humongous sets of data -- analyse it, share it and parse out the key insights to researchers and related stakeholders who could then better help communities.

"I strongly feel that the Indian government can unlock the potential of data-sets across the domain with the help of AI and ML and use the models in ways that actually help citizens in solving their real-life problems," emphasised Carlson, who would be to New Delhi for the AWS Public Sector Summit in September. Cloud today has become the new normal, she said, adding that when she started the public sector Cloud business, customers didn't even really understand what Cloud computing was.