TCS, Infosys, Wipro run Indian IT show: Forrester

Large IT services companies have widened the gap with their smaller peers in terms of revenue, strategy and differentiation, a report by Forrester research says.

The country’s top three IT vendors, TCS, Infosys and Wipro—accounted for 46.4% of exports from India during FY08 compared to 26% in FY04, according to the study ‘Understanding the new grip of vendor polarisation.’

The top-tier firms have been outperforming the rest on all counts, including profitability, revenue-per-employee and growth while the sub-$1 billion firms have not shown any differentiation either in terms of capability or providing specialised IT services, according to the research outfit’s senior analyst Sudin Apte.

Small and mid-sized IT companies are also struggling to grow the base of their existing clients and bag large orders. On the other hand, those with revenue above $1 billion are growing their revenue by 30% despite tougher economic conditions.

Wipro launches Fit for Life for its employees

Wipro Limted launched Fit for Life, a comprehensive well-being programme for its employees, today.

"The objective of the programme is to evaluate and improve well-being,both physical and mental, quotient of employees as well as integrate all current well-being initiatives under the umbrella to strengthen it further", a Wipro release said.

Commenting on the initiative, Girish Paranjpe, joint CEO and Executive Director, Wipro Limited, said, "Employee well-being is of paramount importance to us. Fit for Life is yet another initiative in this direction. Companies need to have such initiatives as they will become hygiene factors in choice of employers in the future."

Some of the initiatives to be rolled out in the coming weeks are onsite health check camps across locations, promotion of healthy habits, anti smoking awareness campaign, stress management camps, meditation and yoga, various awareness campaigns on asthma and allergy, skin care, headache disorder and alcohol.

A study by PWC on well being across 32 companies globally states well being programmes adopted by campanies make them a more attractive place for people to work and improves employee engagement levels with the organisation apart from the primary benefit of increasing well being levels among employees, it said.

Wipro becomes First SAP® Partner to Launch Innovative Solutions Lab

Wipro Technologies, the global IT services business of Wipro Limited (NYSE:WIT) today announced an agreement with SAP AG, through which it established a closer collaboration and an increased focus on customer adoption of SAP® solutions. Under this agreement, Wipro has invested in a state-of-the-art Solutions Lab, through which it is building “Industry Networks” to help companies leverage industry best practices and templates on SAP’s business process platform.

The Solutions Lab will help customers evaluate SAP solutions, build proof of concepts, and leverage adoption infrastructure to “test drive” solutions before making their buying decisions. Members of this lab will work closely with members of the SAP Co-Innovation Lab and other SAP collaborative communities such as the Industry Value Network program.

“Wipro has traditionally taken a lead in embracing enterprise SOA and creating composites on SAP’s platform to deliver value to customers,” said Manfred Heil, senior vice president, Global Ecosystem and Partner Group, SAP AG. “In particular, the use of collaborative Web 2.0 technologies will help to accelerate the accessibility and adoption of SAP’s business process platform.”

Leveraging Wipro’s thought leadership around SAP solutions and its investment in the Solutions Lab, Wipro has extended the accessibility, collaboration and adoption through use of Web 2.0 technologies, such as blogs, wikis and virtual worlds like Second Life.

Speaking on the occasion, Sangita Singh, senior vice president, Wipro Technologies said, “Wipro sees its investment in the Solutions Lab and efforts in building Industry Networks as an extension towards applied innovation. We are sure that such collaboration with SAP will go a long way in helping our customers derive maximum potential from their current and planned IT investments.”

Wipro makes more leadership changes

India's third-largest software company, Wipro, has initiated a second round of major business and executive changes within a few weeks.

A fortnight ago, the company announced the appointment of Suresh Vaswani and Girish Paranjpe as joint chief executive officers of Wipro Technologies, the company's global IT arm.

The move was said to have triggered discontent in some quarters of its senior management cadre, something the company has denied.

In the changes announced today, Wipro BPO head, T K Kurien (who reportedly wanted to quit) has been given charge of a new initiative, the scope and functions of which will be outlined later. According to sources, Kurien will report to Paranjpe for IT business, and for other initiatives he will report directly to Chairman Azim Premji.

Ashutosh Vaidya, who headed the computing business as vice-president of Wipro Infotech, will head Wipro BPO. He will work along with Kurien for a couple of months to ensure a smooth transition of responsibility. Vaidya will report to Vaswani and Paranjpe (secondary reporting).

Anand Sankaran will lead Wipro Infotech and reported Vaswani.

Following the resignation of P R Chandrasekar as president of the company's operations for Americas and Europe, Manoj Punja takes charge and will primarily report to Vaswani with secondary reporting to Girish Paranjpe.

Punja was previously vice-president of a vertical in Wipro Technologies that focuses on technology, media, transportation services, which has now been done away with.

Ayan Mukherjee and Hiroshi Aley will continue as heads of Europe, Japan and China geographies respectively.

The company has also reclassified some existing business units as strategic business units (SBUs).

They include the Manufacturing and Healthcare SBU to be headed by N S Bala, who was earlier senior VP in the Manufacturing Solutions Group.

The company plans to create a new SBU in Communications, Media and Technology, which will be headed by Sudip Nandy, who till now lead the Telecom and Product Engineering solutions business unit. Nandy will also report to Paranjpe.

Other SBUs planned are for Energy and Utilities and Financial Solutions which will also have separate business heads. A new strategic business unit for Retail, Transportation and Services has also been created as a part of the restructuring.

Product Engineering Services, which has also been reclassified as a service line, will be headed by V R Venkatesh, senior VP, Embedded Systems.

Wipro to hire more freshers

Wipro Ltd said it would hire more freshers in 2008 and has tied up with more than 14 educational institutions to give their students a sneak-peek into the company’s culture. This would improve joining ratio and help cut attrition in the long run, the company said.

Ms Priti Rajora, General Manager, Resourcing, said the company, whose margins have been squeezed by the strengthening rupee, is looking to increase the percentage of freshers to 50 per cent of total recruitment in 2008-2009, compared with 35 per cent in the previous year. This is being done to improve the utilisation level, she said.

She said it was cheaper to hire a fresher and train him rather than employ an experienced person. There could be revisions in the number of experienced people the company would hire, she added.

Ties up with colleges

Ms Rajora said the collaboration with colleges aims to bridge the gap between the industry and the academia and make the student more corporate-ready. She said the company interacts not only with the students but also with the members of the faculty, the management of the institution and the placement officers.

Ms Rajora said Wipro is planning to launch a dedicated fresher engagement program within the next couple of quarters.

Bangalore Tiger

Bangalore Tiger

Of all the tech tigers in India, Wipro is one of a handful that stands out from the pack. In the past five years, it has become one of the most accomplished tech services providers in the world, delivering business value through a combination of process excellence, quality frameworks, and service delivery innovation. Totally dedicated to customer satisfaction, Wipro is known to go above and beyond to make customers happy. It’s a move that’s paid off handsomely, with a 24 percent operating profit in its tech services division—more than twice the industry average.

Bangalore Tiger is the story of Wipro’s transformation and its impact on the tech services industry and the rules of global competition. BusinessWeek senior writer Steve Hamm takes you inside the halls of this transnational phenomenon to reveal the true secrets of Wipro’s superior business: its people, principles, and core competencies.

From Wipro’s triumphs to its missteps, Hamm mines a treasure of business lessons, explaining how and, more important, why it is necessary to:

• Expand quickly without stumbling
• Follow the new rules for outsourcers
• Innovate every day—or else
• Be obsessive about customers
• Motivate employees the Wipro way
• Plan three years ahead to prepare for rapid growth

Hamm also gives you a rare glimpse into the mind of Wipro’s charismatic chairman and thought leader, Azim Premji. Guiding Wipro’s growth every step of the way, Premji was one of the first business leaders in India to decree that his company would not pay bribes. You’ll see how his adoption of world-class business processes helped Wipro thrive—and how Wipro is helping to fulfill his dream of a better educated, more prosperous India. Removing the shroud of secrecy around Indian management principles, Hamm provides a real-world blueprint for operating a successful transnational organization, as viewed through the eye of the Bangalore Tiger.

Buy this book from amazon store

Wipro acquires Singapore firm for $256 m

FOR A LARGER REACH: Vineet Agrawal (right), President, Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting, and Gavin D. Welman, Managing Director, Unza, displaying Unza products at a press conference in Bangalore on Friday.

Wipro on Friday announced the acquisition of Singapore-based fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) company, Unza, with revenues of Rs. 683.30 crore (for fiscal year ended April 30, 2007), in a cash buy for 100 per cent stake for the equivalent of $256 million. The deal is to be closed by July-end.

Vineet Agrawal, President, Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting, which will now own the 48 brands under Unzo, told reporters here that “This will add to our consumer product portfolio and geographical reach. Unzo has a strong presence in Southeast Asia and China.

For now, the Unza brand will be retained in those markets, including parts of West Africa.” Wipro’s Consumer Care and Lighting business had revenues of Rs. 818.20 crore in 2006-07, with a 36 per cent growth.

Gavin D. Welman, Managing Director of Unza, who will continue with the combined new entity, said, “We have 48 brands, including skin care products, male fragrances and two large selling detergents. Most products have been developed for the Asian markets and are expected to do well in India as well. Wipro now access to a much larger market where our revenues have averaged 24 per cent annual growth in dollar terms.”

Wipro would also acquire Unza’s manufacturing plants in China, Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia.

Azim Premji in 30 all-time great list

India's IT Mogul Azim Premji and Bangladesh's micro-credit leader and Nobel Prize winner Mohammad Yusuf are among the all time top 30 entrepreneurs identified by leading business magazine BusinessWeek. The modern heroes find themselves in the illustrious company of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Henry Ford, Benjamin Franklin, John D Rockefeller, Thomas Edison and Michael Dell.

The 30 selected include a Ming dynasty explorer Zheng He who lived 15th century to fast food titans to contemporary computer whizzes.

Among them are Mayer Amschel Rothschild, John Jacob Astor, Milton Hershey, W K Kellogg, Joseph Horn and Frank Hardart Ray Kroc, Madam C J Walker, Estie Lauder, Ernest Gallo, Thomas Watson Sr, Thomas Watson Jr, Sam Walton Earl Graves Andy Grove, Ralph Lauren, Martha Stewart, Richard Branson, Oprah Winfrey, Jeff Bezos and and Pierre Omidyar.More>>

HCL Info, Wipro for dealerships with iPhone

Friday 6 pm U.S time. As the world gets ready for this deadline to grab one of the most sought after handsets - the iPhone - two Indian companies are also getting ready to register gains from this revolutionary offering of Apple Inc., the makers of Macintosh computer (popularly called Mac) and the iPod.

Noida-based HCL Infosystems and Bangalore-based Wipro Technologies are close to becoming the exclusive Indian distributors of the iPhone. Analysts are expecting 1-3 million handsets to hit the shelves on Friday.

A luxury product costing $499 for 4 gigabytes memory and $599 for 8 gigabytes memory, iPhone will have a large touch screen minus the conventional keypad. It will also double up as an iPod, video player and will come equipped with a digital camera.

Despite some of its flaws, the iPhone has bagged rare reviews and is being branded as a 'breakthrough handheld computer' as it automatically syncs all contacts from a PC, a MAC or internet service.

The good response is seen helping Apple Inc's head, Steve Jobs, to meet his goal of selling 10 million iPhones in 2008. Such sales will automatically catapult iPhone to third major revenue garner for Apple along with Mac and the iPod. More>>

Why vivek paul quit Wipro?

On May 5, Wipro vice chairman Vivek Paul walked into the second floor Bangalore offices of Wipro executive vice president (human resources), Pratik Kumar. The meeting was unscheduled.

Paul told Kumar about a certain sense of 'restlessness' that had seized him lately. He disclosed how he 'was evaluating to do something else'. Kumar thought Paul was at a stage 'where he wanted to make a decision'.

After the conversation, Kumar lost no time in speaking to Wipro chairman Azim Premji on what had transpired between him and Paul. Premji seemed to be aware of what was going on in Paul's mind. He simply expressed his quiet disappointment to Kumar.More>>

Wipro Roars

When Premji took over his father's business it was anything but global. It had about 350 employees, mostly in and around Bombay, and just $3 million in revenues. The company was publicly traded, and not long after Premji assumed control he faced shareholders for the first time at the annual meeting. Premji, who was self-conscious about his age, had grown a mustache in an effort to add some gravitas. But restless investors weren't impressed. One stood up to complain about the stock's lousy performance and demanded that Premji sell the company. ``'There's no way a twit like you can run it,''' Premji recalls him saying. ``More than anything else, that made me determined to prove him wrong,'' says Premji.More>>

Wipro Q2 net profit rises 46 p.c.

The net profit of Wipro for the second quarter (July-September) rose by 46 per cent to Rs. 700.20 crore from Rs. 478 crore in the same period a year earlier in a booming global outsourcing market. The consolidated revenues of Wipro for the second quarter went up by 41 per cent to Rs. 3,546.20 crore from Rs. 2,506.80 crore a year ago, as it added 54 new clients that included Global 500 or Fortune 1000 clients.

The third largest software exporter, thus, earned $589 million from global IT services and products during the second quarter, surpassing its own guidance of $577 million.

Wipro Technologies contributed higher to the volume growth in the second quarter by garnering revenues of Rs. 2,720.50 crore, 44 per cent more than a year ago period.

Revenues of Wipro Infotech grew by 36 per cent to Rs. 542.60 crore, while that of Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting rose by 41 per cent to Rs. 202.50 crore.More>>