Rubaba Dowla Oracle Bangladesh, the local chapter of the global software giant, has merged its vision with the spirit of 'Digital Bangladesh' and the country's aspiration to become knowledge-based economy by 2041, says its Country Managing Director Rubaba Dowla.
Using its knowledge, infrastructure and innovation, Oracle is ready to collaborate with the government in its march towards digital transformation, she said in a recent interview with The Financial Express.
"We really want to collaborate with the government and the private sector as well and provide all kinds of supports," she said.
The leading global business software and cloud service provider is happy to support the government to set up its first state-owned data storage and disaster recovery service, she added.
"We are continuously innovating and investing in research and development to bring the latest technologies to Bangladesh to support digital transformation not only in the public sector but also in the private sector," she said.
In December last year, Bangladesh Data Centre Company Limited, the state-owned data storage and disaster recovery services provider, selected Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Dedicated Region Cloud@Customer to provide sovereign-hosted cloud services to the government.
The initiative, led by the ICT Division, is aimed at accelerating the country towards its goal of becoming knowledge-based economy by extending the use of secure, sovereign-hosted, enterprise-class cloud and digital technologies to the various government agencies and ministries.
Rubaba Dowla said the government's 'Digital Bangladesh' vision helped local firms embrace cloud service and cloud computing in a large scale.
The trend of adoption of cloud computing and cloud technologies is growing because it gives a better cloud economics when it comes to price versus performance, she said, adding that this technology also gives flexibility, scalability and choices.
Oracle is serving both the public and private sectors in Bangladesh for the last 20 years. It opened its office in Bangladesh two years ago.
With fifty plus partner communities, Oracle Bangladesh has a very strong customer footprint across various industries.
"We have experienced growing customer demand for our full set of cloud solutions. Our applications and systems are being deployed by various companies," said Rubaba Dowla.
Oracle has enabled the organisations to unlock their endless possibilities when it comes to managing their data and businesses, she added.
Bangladesh continues to be a very important growth market for Oracle, she said, adding that the country is one of the fastest-growing economies, so it has great potentials.
Rubaba Dowla said she sees a great appetite for accepting new technologies across the industries in the country, be it large or medium enterprises or the public sector.
During the pandemic, it is evident that many companies are adopting and rethinking the digital transformation strategy, she pointed out.
"The businesses and tech trends we see in the local market today will actually shape the post-pandemic world and beyond. It is the fastest way to manage risks, improve control and enhance insights."
The 4th industrial revolution is convergence and interactions of multiple technologies, and that is where Oracle comes with solutions, said Rubaba Dowla.
The use of advanced technology like cloud computing, rising concern for security and privacy for data, use of artificial intelligence and XR are some of the increasing trends.
"These are helping companies to fetch real time data to manage more efficiently their businesses and, of course, making their businesses more cost-effective," she said.
About multi-cloud, Rubaba Dowla said the companies are now realising that the use of a single cloud neither wise nor practical. Oracle provides competitive pricing as companies opt for multi-clouds.
About the Bangladesh Data Centre, she said it will actually extend the more secure sovereign-hosted, enterprise-class cloud and digital technology services to the government agencies.
"It will help government agencies and entities to maintain safety and sovereignty," she added.
The platform is called dedicated region clouded customer or DRCC.
"With Bangladesh DRCC, we have, in total, four such government clouds across the region -- one in Japan, called NRI, Australian data centre, and another in Oman," she said.
The Oracle has 37 commercial cloud regions across the world. "We have to expand it to 44 by the end of 2022," said the Oracle Bangladesh MD.
"We are really excited to continue building a strong relationship with Bangladesh government by offering choice, innovation and collaboration while we provide the most cost-effective solution and relevant modern technologies to various parties who are involved in the Bangladesh government," she said.
She expressed the hope that the deployment of DRCC will definitely take Bangladesh to the next level.
On startups, Rubaba Dowla said startups are very important for Bangladesh and for Oracle as well.
Oracle has 'market connect' where startups can connect to large corporations, investors and experts, mentors and venture capital firms, she said.
"We have 70 per cent discounts for startups from day one and US$500 free cloud credit," she said, adding that migration and technical supports are also being provided to startups to support the ideas.
Financial institutions, banks, retail, manufacturing, telecoms, automotive and healthcare sectors are making use of clouds for higher productivity and cost-effectiveness through optimising resources, she said.
According to Gartner, she said, more than US$1.3 trillion in the IT spending will be affected globally by the shift to cloud by 2022. The revenue is expected to reach about US$330 billion by 2022 globally, it predicted.
Rubaba Dowla said they are working very closely with the regulator and policymakers in Bangladesh.
"Digital Bangladesh is a common goal for us, whatever is required -- whether it is human resource development, skill development, or ensuring infrastructure level development -- we are supporting the government," she said.
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