Brainstorm SF April 2014

There’s a phrase I’ve heard bandied about by some ICT vendors, ‘eating ‘eating our own dogfood’. Or if you’re talking to a PR person looking to elevate the status of the phrase, the alternative is, ‘sipping our own champagne’. Either way, it means the company knows its products work because they’re used internally by the company’s own staff.
Of course, it makes practical business sense: why would you pay money to your market competition to provide the same solutions you offer? And by using it, your internal staff become extremely comfortable with how the software or devices work and in effect become walking, talking advocates for the technology. It also gives a reasonably friendly test-base for development and innovation before the product is unleashed on the commercial market.
The subject of this Special Focus, Hitachi Data Systems, takes that internal use and testing to another level. As part of Hitachi, Ltd., a global parent company, Hitachi Data Systems’ testing ground goes beyond its own staff, and has the potential to reach across an audience of over 1 000 multi-disciplinary subsidiaries. The vertical sectors the Hitachi group’s subsidiaries play in are diverse, from financial services to construction machinery, nuclear power generation to logistics.
Having an understanding of how different vertical sectors produce, consume and manage data gives Hitachi Data Systems a distinct advantage as its focus widens beyond its traditional sectors of telecommunications, retail and financial services.
This strategic shift is marked by another key element that is changing for Hitachi Data Systems in the South African and Sub-Saharan context. With the acquisition of Shoden Data Systems now firmly entrenched, the company is heavily focused on broadening its go-to-market approach to include a wider variety of channel partners. This move gives it the breadth of front-line experience and expertise required to tackle the increased vertical markets. It also enables the company to capitalise on the opportunities presented by the blossoming economies across Africa.
In these pages, you’ll find more depth to these strategic directions, as well as insight into how Hitachi Data Systems believes current megatrends such as big data and cloud computing can be leveraged for improved efficiency, competitive differentiation and ultimately for business success.

Happy reading.

Adrian Hinchcliffe
Editor