Hitachi, Ltd. this week at its annual Social Innovation Forum announced a global Lumada Alliance Program that seeks to create a unified program through which information technology and operational technology (OT) with be sold to the conglomerate’s customers. Initial participants in the program include Amazon Web Services (AWS), Cisco, Google Cloud, Microsoft and Salesforce.
The goal is to make it simpler to sell IT solutions in collaboration with IT partners to all the customers Hitachi currently engages across a wide range of vertical industries via is Lumada initiative. First launched in 2017, Hitachi credits its Lumada initiative with driving nearly $10 billion in revenue over the last three years.
This alliance with partners will accelerate the convergence of IT and OT in organizations that rely on, for example, the construction expertise of Hitachi, says John Magee, head of marketing for digital solutions for Hitachi Vantara, the data storage and analytics arm of the conglomerate.
The Lumada Alliance will eventually include additional technology partners as well as solution providers who develop, integrate, and deliver digital solutions and innovation partners who provide deep expertise in vertical industries, government and public infrastructure, and research and development, says Magee.
Technologies such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT), and edge computing will provide the foundation for solutions delivered via the alliance, notes Magee. Edge computing applications will drive a wave of OT integration opportunities for Hitachi partners in the months and years ahead, notes Magee.
“It takes a village to bring different capabilities together,” says Magee.
Hitachi presides over a sprawling international empire that includes everything from consumer electronics to power plants. The Lumada initiative was originally created to promote cross-selling across all the business units that Hitachi operates. Now Hitachi is looking to expand that effort to create a massive channel ecosystem.
It may take a while for a conglomerate as large as Hitachi to tap into that potential. However, at a time when much of the focus is on large-scale digital business transformation initiatives the Hitachi effort may simply be too larger for many channel partners to ignore.
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