Businesses are entering a new phase, moving beyond AI pilots to find real value in the technology. As data, infrastructure and security become central to this shift, India is emerging as a key market for adoption – and a potential hub for building solutions for the world. Richard McLaughlin, president, Asia Pacific, Japan & Greater China, Dell Technologies, speaks to Sudhir Chowdhary about the changing enterprise landscape, India’s technology opportunity, the rise of agentic AI and what it will take to turn investments into business outcomes. Excerpts:
What are you seeing in the market today that is different from a year ago, and where do you see the biggest opportunities?
The biggest change I see is the acceleration in enterprise AI adoption. A year ago, many organisations were still asking what AI could do for them. Today, they are asking how they can take successful pilots into production, how they can use the data they already have as a competitive advantage, and where those workloads should actually run.
We are also seeing a significant increase in interest around AI sovereignty, both from governments and enterprises. For Dell, that creates a strong opportunity because we have the breadth to support AI across the edge, the desktop and the data centre, depending on what the customer is trying to achieve.
India is becoming one of the most important markets for technology and AI. What, in your view, will determine whether India can turn its AI ambition into real business value?
India has some very unique advantages. With a population of 1.4 billion people, India is generating tremendous amounts of data, 87% of households with a smartphone, and a digital ecosystem where platforms such as UPI are operating at enormous scale. That creates an incredibly rich environment for AI.
I also think India’s technical talent is a major advantage. But the question is how quickly we can scale people on the technologies of tomorrow. There is already a significant AI skills gap globally, even though India has one of the largest pools of AI professionals. That is why initiatives such as Udaan (girl student education) are important. Through this project, we are working with partners to create pathways into AI application development, cloud, electronics manufacturing and field technician roles. India’s opportunity is not just about having the technology or the data, it is about having the people and skills to turn those assets into business and societal outcomes.
Enterprises have moved quickly from talking about AI to investing in it. What are the biggest challenges now holding back wider AI adoption?
The first challenge is data. In many organisations, information is fragmented across different systems and environments. If you cannot bring that information together and make it AI-ready, the quality of the outcome is going to be limited. The second is making the right decisions around models and where workloads should run. There is no single model that is right for every business problem, and the cost of running the same workload can vary significantly depending on those choices. Security is another important consideration, particularly as organisations introduce agents that can act on their behalf.
Agentic AI is expected to change how businesses operate. How do you see it evolving over the next two to three years, and which industries are likely to see the biggest impact?
I would start by looking at the work rather than the industry. Organisations need to identify which workflows can benefit most from AI agents and where they can create measurable business value.
There are different components to work: productivity, hygiene, coordination, expertise and the human element. Agents will take on a growing proportion of productivity, hygiene and coordination tasks, as well as parts of expertise-based work. But that does not mean removing people from the process. Critical reasoning becomes even more important to determine whether the outcome produced by an agent is actually good for the business.
At Dell, we are already looking at this across supply chain, sales, customer service and engineering. I am also optimistic about what this means for the workforce. Technology has historically changed the nature of work while creating new categories of jobs, and I expect the same with Agentic AI.
Across APJ, are you seeing a shift in technology spending from traditional IT infrastructure towards AI and other emerging technologies? What does that mean for CIOs?
The starting point should not be the technology. It should be the business outcome. Every AI investment should answer a simple question: does this help us increase revenue, improve margins, reduce cost or mitigate risk? Once you understand that, you can work backwards into the infrastructure and calculate the return on investment.
At Dell, we have looked at hundreds of potential AI opportunities internally, but focused our investments on areas where the business impact could be clearly measured, including engineering, supply chain, customer service and sales.
The other important consideration is not to create AI infrastructure in isolation. Organisations already have significant investments in compute, storage and networking, and modernising and consolidating those environments can free up capital and capacity for AI. The goal should be to support today’s business while creating room for tomorrow’s AI workloads.
Looking ahead, which technology trends do you believe will have the biggest impact on businesses in India and across APJ over the next few years?
I would put three things at the top of the list: AI and data sovereignty, bringing AI closer to the desktop and edge, and modernising existing infrastructure to create capacity for AI.
India is at a particularly interesting inflection point because organisations are already adopting AI across multiple functions. The opportunity now is to scale that adoption and turn it into measurable outcomes. What excites me most about India is the ability to build solutions here that can ultimately have global relevance. There is a very strong sense of innovation and possibility in the market, and I think we will see much more of “made in India, used globally” in the years ahead.