In an era where digital transformation is reshaping industries worldwide, the balance between physical and digital storage solutions has become a critical consideration for organizations. Satyamohan Yanambaka, CEO of Writer Information, stands at the forefront of this evolution, leading a company that seamlessly integrates both physical and digital information management. In this exclusive interview, Satya shares his insights on the shifting landscape of storage solutions, the challenges and opportunities within the industry, and how Writer Information is positioning itself to meet the diverse needs of its clients. From the importance of secure physical storage to the transformative potential of digital data, Satya offers a comprehensive look into the future of information management.
TAM: The role of physical storage in information management is evolving with digital transformation. How does Satya see the balance between physical and digital storage solutions shifting in the coming years?
Satyamohan Yanambaka: In developing countries today there is a mix of physical and digital worlds that co-exist, indicating it has moved beyond purely digital or purely physical models. The ratio of physical to digital might fluctuate depending on the country or situation. However, the one constant is this: coexistence. That’s why organisations like ours are evolving to cater to the entire spectrum of our enterprise clients’ physical and digital needs.
At Writer Information, we offer secure physical storage for vital records, along with services to convert physical data into a digital format for easy access. We also provide robust digital hosting solutions. Additionally, for easy availability and accessibility to the information, we have software and applications that can give access to the digital data apart from the physical retrieval of files
TAM: What strategies should organizations adopt to integrate their physical and digital information management systems seamlessly?
Satyamohan Yanambaka: Retrieval time is a key differentiator between physical and digital data. With digital content, a simple click grants access, and the possibilities are vast. One can search, analyse, and extract insights in ways simply unimaginable with physical data.
This is precisely why we believe every enterprise should have a digital transformation strategy for their information assets. While physical documents hold undeniable value, the digital content and the data that is digitised from physical assets help unlock the insights hidden within.By strategically converting physical archives into digital data, companies create a powerful information repository. This combined resource – the physical record for accuracy and the digital data for searchability and analysis – empowers businesses to gain a holistic understanding of their information.
Also read: Writer Information Partners with Cymmetri to Offer Converged IDAM as a Shared Service
Therefore, I strongly recommend a two-pronged approach: physical archive storage alongside digital and a combination of both shall help to extract the best possible insights. digital data and a combination of both physical and digital data should be used to kind of extract the best possible insights, you can add that.
TAM: The key challenges and opportunities facing the information management industry.
Satyamohan Yanambaka: One key challenge is the operating model of physical storage companies. These businesses are capital-intensive, with long payback periods for physical storage infrastructure. It can take 7-12 years to see a return on investment, making it a long wait. Many customers underestimate the true worth of their physical documents and might not entirely grasp the critical role secure storage plays in protecting vital assets, especially for highly regulated industries like banking and insurance. So, the challenge really is the mindset that we need to change among the customers for them to understand the importance of secure storage.
At Writer Information, we’ve made significant progress in our digital transformation journey. However, we acknowledge there’s still a considerable path ahead. We’re constantly innovating and are kind of trying to reinvent ourselves to reinforce our position as a digital transformation company.
TAM: The DPDP Act has now become the law. How should organizations approach the evolving regulatory landscape to ensure they remain compliant? How can organizations balance the need for accessibility with the imperative to protect sensitive information?
Satyamohan Yanambaka: The current DPDP Act primarily emphasises on consent as far as the private data is concerned and the second emphasis is the security, and safety of the data that enterprises host for their customers. We need robust security measures to prevent data breaches, but these shouldn’t hinder legitimate data access.
In terms of consent management, there is consent taken by all enterprises from their customers. The data privacy law makes it very clear what data means and the kind of consent and context that needs to be obtained. Therefore, it is necessary for all enterprises dealing with private data to kind of create that software infrastructure so that the auto triggers can happen as far as consent management is concerned.
Companies like Writer Information can come forth with the right infrastructure to help them to comply. Our combined data privacy tools and cyber security services provide a comprehensive solution to ensure compliance and data protection.
TAM: How are emerging technologies like AI and machine learning impacting digital information management?
Satyamohan Yanambaka: The entry of Emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are acting as a powerful catalyst in the world of digital information management for a lot of our clients. It enhances productivity, quality, and turn-around time for these programs. For instance, Writer Information works with High courts and the Supreme Court, where we have a system that digitizes legacy case documents and uploads them into a content management solution with proper metadata entry. This allows users to retrieve these documents, potentially for a cost.
Currently, this process is entirely manual, including document digitisation, metadata capture, and uploading. AI algorithms can automate all these tasks. But in a country like India, or even in European countries, converting a vernacular language into English is a huge challenge. We have an algorithm where using the Natural Language Processing (NLP) program, we can read and convert vernacular into English creating a database of digitised documents. AI enhances our capabilities and allows us to deliver value to our customers.
TAM: How does Writer Information leverage its expertise in Cloud and Data Services to enhance data security and operational efficiency for clients, especially in highly regulated industries?
Satyamohan Yanambaka: Community clouds are one of the most important requirements when it comes to regulated environments and industries like banking and the public sector. The data is shared within the community which is why community clouds falls somewhere in between private and public clouds which is more secured because of the amount of security layers the community cloud builds. We also have a suite of cybersecurity solutions and we assess the needs of our clients and recommend cybersecurity tools to them for their needs.
TAM: Having led the corporation of niche services such as Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO), Cloud and Data Services, and Hyper Automation, how does Satya ensure that Writer Information stays ahead of the curve in these rapidly evolving fields?
Satyamohan Yanambaka: As a service provider of Information Management, our core strategy is to constantly add value to our customers, and continuously improve the outcomes for them. Value creation is our core philosophy. We actively adapt to new emerging technologies in the market so that we can give incremental value to our customers.
For instance, for all our PPO clients we actively look for automation opportunities in all processes giving insights using the analytics platform layer so that we can consistently deliver value to our clients. Adopting emerging technologies is an opportunity for us to deliver value to our clients.
TAM: Satya’s vision for Writer Information for the near future, especially in terms of technological advancements and market positioning?
Satyamohan Yanambaka: Over 7-8 years, we have established a unique position in terms of the value we add to our customers. We compete across various segments, including IT services, Information Management, software product companies, and BPO & ITES companies. We will continue providing services that meet end-to-end enterprise value chain requirements for our customers, from process to storage solutions.
We have physical storage services, BPO services, Cloud and Data Centre services, and a suite of hyper automation solutions. Having a combination of these four is rarely offered by a single company. Currently focused on our Indian clients, we aim to be known as a global enterprise.
We are constantly looking to provide far more integrated and digital solutions for greater value to our customers and reduce the total cost of operations for our clients thereby enhancing our customer satisfaction as we move forward.
