INTERVIEW | [ 121 ]
“WE SEE A LOT OF PROMISING NEW PROJECTS IN REFINERY”
Anil Bhatia, Vice President and Managing Director for Emerson’s Automation Solutions business in India, shares his insights on digital trends in India and globally, his company’s performance in India, as well as expansion plans, and solution offerings. Excerpts of the interview:
sensors or connectivity devices, as well as software and applications. This would generate a lot of data, requiring big data solutions. By using data-driven approaches to our plant operations, which are the most energy-intensive processes, ML and AIbased analytics are the best place to start. A classic example is a heat exchanger which is a high-energy intensive asset in any chemical plant. Today, data from multiple host systems, both structured and unstructured, is being brought to a data lake wherein it can be analyzed in a secure way to help operators make the right decisions. The pandemic has certainly brought agility into this process because of the RoI it yields by helping the chemical industry achieve significant cost reductions, enhanced safety and improved reliability.
How would you rate Emerson’s
ANIL BHATIA
VICE PRESIDENT AND MANAGING DIRECTOR,EMERSON’S AUTOMATION SOLUTIONS INDIA
What are the global digitisation trends in 2021? As we bid goodbye to 2020 and welcome 2021, digitisation has led to transformation across industries in the aftermath of the pandemic. A large number of organisations globally have taken significant measures to enhance digitisation in their working methodologies. According to a Gartner report, 89 per cent of hi-tech CIOs expect the increase
in the use of digital channels to reach performance in 2020 and what is customers. Digital transformation will your forecast in 2021? become essential for economic recovery In 2020 we were doing very well until in 2021. Digital trends like cybersecurity the pandemic stuck. It affected the inhave become the need of the hour; work- dustry as a whole, so ripple effects were from-home, remote and virtual spaces felt in more ways than one. But we were shall remain the new normal; Artificial able to get back on our feet soon, with Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learn- the momentum picking up by Septeming (ML) will be the backbone of most ber 2020. I am being cautiously opdigital tools, and the concept of timistic about decision-making software as a service (SaaS) is and I hope the markets will gaining momentum. Creatrecover soon as more and ing a digitally empowered more companies start inworkforce with actionvesting in new projects “I feel we will lead able insights is the next or upgrades. I feel we the pack as we move step to achieving gamewill lead the pack as we towards economic changing performances. move forward towards recovery during 2021” economic recovery durWhat are the digitiing 2021.
sation trends that you see in India?
Advanced analytics powered by AI and ML are the critical enablers that will fuel India’s digital transformation. We’ve seen repeatedly how a practical approach – one that generates shortterm wins with measurable gains – can be replicated for an enterprise-wide impact., Indian chemical companies are investing in digital technologies such as
Will this cautious optimism be for the entire year or do you see it changing in the second half? I believe our outlook will improve significantly in the second half of the year. As the COVID-19 situation gets better on the ground, so will the momentum of activities that are already moving in the right direction.
