In earlier days of computing technology, consumers and enterprises who bought products knew what they did, but not so much how they did it. They knew they could streamline work processes and increase productivity, facilitate communication among employees, etc. — but most didn’t know a client from a server or a SAN from a LAN.

Today, the situation is reversed: People know terms like Big Data analytics, the Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence, as well as something about the technology behind them. The twist, though, is that few businesses know exactly what these technologies can do for them.

Ajai Kumar, VP and global head of ERS Verticals and Mid Market, America, at HCL Technologies Ltd., said that companies who want to win enterprise customers better know what they’re technology can actually produce for them. He told Dave Vellante (@dvellante) and George Gilbert (@ggilbert41), cohosts of theCUBE, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, during Inforum 2016 in NYC about the efforts his company makes to speak to businesses in their own language.

“Anybody who wants to get into a service industry needs to have subject matter expertise in those areas,” he argued.

Moonlighting in tech

Kumar used an example from his own company to illustrate how important it is to package new technology for specific industries.

In the company’s healthcare and medical industry offerings, “We actually onboard a lot of doctors as subject matter experts in our services,” he explained. “Now that’s quite hard for a technology company actually going that route. But the reason we did that was because that is where the understanding of the domain comes in, and that is where you can create incredible value.”

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of the Inforum 2016.

Photo by SiliconANGLE