In focus: Key industry trends to watch out for, by Satpal Singh, CEO, Numeric

What are the most interesting trends you've seen emerge over the last few years?

There have been two interesting trends that we saw over the last 2 years – the rapid digital transformation across segments gave rise to the demand for high power UPS leading to growth in data centres while on the other hand WFH and the subsequent hybrid work environment have pushed the need for small power UPS, to ensure business continuity while the Indian workforce started work from anywhere. This apart, sustainable and green initiatives have also gained focus over the last few years.

Business across segments, irrespective of the scale and size have an increased thrust on digital acceleration efforts and focus on Digital first initiatives. This has given rise to the need for high power availability. The rapid digitalization has also increased the data exchange rate and the need for data availability at the edge. Over the last few years, there has been an increase in the investment in data centers and capacity increase of the existing data centres.

Evolution of data centres is primarily driven by hyperscale/large colocation data centre service providers who are giving cloud space to enterprises and also the edge data centres which are closer to user for last mile computing. This trend is changing the dynamics of data center industry drastically in which on one side huge hyperscale data centres are getting built in Tier 1 cities and on the other hand egde data centres are getting built in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.

On the other hand, with the hybrid work model here to stay, there is a dire need to ensure business continuity with work from anywhere. We saw corporates investing in their employees’ work infrastructure to provide UPS for uninterrupted business.

The pandemic has in fact strengthened the organized market, with corporates turning to established and reliable players for uninterrupted business continuity. Service in UPS is a crucial part, and brands that had proven network of service centres and quicker access to customers were at an advantage.

Another interesting trend we observed was no contact service, with health and safety being the priority. To cite an example, we were able to address this need with our quick and smart solution through DIY UPS, which required no service engineer intervention for installation. With a simple need-based innovation, we were able to ensure business continuity of our customers.

Brands that were able to understand the new needs and address customer pain points had a significant advantage. This had opened new opportunities for Numeric to further expand its customer base.

Sustainability, energy efficiency, low TCO, compact footprint and connected UPS will be the growth drivers, going forward. The role of UPS in circular economy is rapidly gaining attention. Globally, at the Legrand group level, we have been at the forefront in implementing sustainable initiatives, consciously working towards designing our UPS system that not only provides high efficiency but also minimize the carbon footprint.

Reducing the impact of buildings on the environment starts with the design choices. The Product Environmental Profile (PEP) is a reference tool to measure the environmental impact of electrical products. For each product family we draw up an EPD (Environmental Product Declaration) or PEP (Product Environmental Profile) in line with ISO 14025: it is a declaration that is a sort of environmental photograph of the product.

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To be attributed to Satpal Singh, CEO, Numeric

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