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Wipro, the Indian IT services and consulting group, says it plans to “aggressively” expand its US workforce, as it seeks to localise its operations and counter political opposition in the world’s largest economy to offshore outsourcing.

The outsourcing of work to companies such as Wipro, and the granting of work visas to foreign workers, including Indians, has long been of concern to US labour unions and is likely to become a political ‘hot potato’ in the upcoming presidential election.

The Indian information technology services industry, which accounts for the bulk of offshore outsourcing undertaken by US companies, has sought to reverse its negative image as an industry that takes away jobs from the country, particularly at a time of high unemployment.

Instead, the Indian IT sector is trying to present itself as a job creator. Wipro said it plans to expand its 8,700-strong US workforce through acquisitions and taking on new staff.
Like other Indian companies such as Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys, Wipro seeks to use the time ahead of the upcoming election – when state and federal governments are keen to woo voters – to negotiate tax breaks and land acquisitions for new facilities.

Azim Premji, the chairman and majority owner of the company, told the Financial Times that Wipro would establish two new software-development facilities in the US in the near future, staffed primarily by Americans.

At Wipro’s development centre in Atlanta, 90 per cent of its 800 employees are local hires and the company aims to duplicate this success elsewhere.
“In the US, we are aggressively localising,” Mr Premji said. “We are evaluating two more centres in the US, hoping to set up scenarios similar to Atlanta. We will make a call on this in the next three months, absolute maximum.”

Mr Premji, who has a personal fortune of $13bn and is the third wealthiest Indian according to Forbes magazine, plans to expand Wipro’s local hiring across the world over the next few years to ensure that at least half of those employed by Wipro overseas are from the host country. Currently, 38 per cent of Wipro’s workforce outside India are locals. Bangalore-based Wipro employs a total of 130,000 people globally.

“Hiring salaries of locals are not any more expensive than the hiring of talent from India,” Mr Premji said. “You do not have the back and forth of transfer expenses.”
TCS, India’s largest IT company by sales, announced the opening of a new unit in Silicon Valley last month, while Infosys, which is second in size after TCS, has hired about 2,000 Americans in the past two years and is now looking to hire about 500 locals in the first three months of this year alone. Similarly, HCL Technologies plans to create 10,000 US and European jobs.

Mr Premji added that Wipro – which has operations in 45 countries across the US, Europe, Middle East and Asia-Pacific – has an aggressive acquisition pipeline globally. Wipro is looking at buying companies with expertise in analytics, cloud, mobility and “big data” – the collection and processing of large amounts of customer data – particularly in industries such as healthcare, financial solutions, energy and utilities, which he sees as high-growth sectors.

He said Wipro still has scope to expand in northern Europe, particularly France and Germany. Sector analysts have said the ongoing debt crisis is providing attractive valuations for Indian IT companies looking for potential acquisition targets in the continent.

Source:http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/d6fe9894-51a0-11e1-a9d7-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1llILQk4A

Wipro Technologies, the global information technology, consulting and outsourcing business of Wipro Ltd, announced the launch of ‘Wipro SprintHR’, a cloud-based platform offering Oracle Fusion Human Capital Management (HCM) modules.

“It is available as a SaaS (software-as-a-service) model and is designed to help enable enterprise customers transform their HR processes,” city-headquartered Wipro said in a statement.

“Leveraging its strong relationship with Oracle and co-development experience on Oracle Fusion Applications, Wipro SprintHR helps significantly reduce cost and deployment timelines,” it said.

Based on Wipro’s rapid deployment framework for cloud applications, Wipro SprintHR is a productised service that helps customers configure the functional scope while deploying this solution, with little impact on business continuity, it said.

It offers a blend of Fusion HCM modules that include HCM processes such as talent management, benefits management and core HR administration, the statement said.

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/news/software-services/Wipro-Oracle-team-up-to-offer-cloud-based-HRM-modules/articleshow/11603782.cms

Wipro’s IT services revenue grew 12 percent year on year in U.S. dollar terms in the quarter ended Dec. 31, but its growth lags behind Indian outsourcing peers such as Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).

The overall macroeconomic sentiment continues to be uncertain, company chairman Azim Premji said Friday, while announcing the company’s results for the quarter.

Wipro’s revenue from IT services was a little over US$1.5 billion for the quarter. Revenue growth was higher in rupee terms at 28 percent, mainly because of the depreciation of the rupee against the U.S. dollar. The results are stated in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

The company has other businesses in consumer care and lighting, and does not break out the profit from its IT business. Wipro’s net profit for all activities in its third fiscal quarter rose by 10 percent in rupee terms, with overall revenue rising 28 percent, the same rate as for the IT business alone.

TCS, India’s largest outsourcer, said earlier this week that its revenue for the quarter was $2.6 billion, up by 20.6 percent on the same quarter a year earlier, with net profit up 9.1 percent at $568 million.

Infosys, the second-largest outsourcer in India, said last week that revenue for its third fiscal quarter was $1.8 billion, up about 14 percent on a year earlier, with net profit up 15.4 percent at $458 million. However, the company reduced its revenue growth forecast for the fiscal year ending March 31, citing the debt crisis in Europe and an uncertain market.

The business environment is challenging and the market is growing slowly, but Indian outsourcers such as TCS have performed better because they have been able to adapt to the changed market situation and better meet customers’ needs, said Sudin Apte, principal analyst and CEO of Offshore Insights, a research and advisory firm in Pune, India.

If earlier Indian outsourcers rose or fell together, after around 2008, customers have started distinguishing among their Indian suppliers which were earlier generally seen as primarily low-cost providers, Apte said. “Indian companies were all selling the India story at that time,” he added.

Wipro is perceived by customers as a cost cutter that is strong on technology, but it is not highly regarded for its knowledge of customers’ businesses or its domain expertise, Apte said.

The company has lagged behind its Indian competitors, which led the company to reorganize and focus around some vertical markets, said Amneet Singh, vice president for global sourcing at Everest Group. “It may be too soon to expect too much from Wipro,” he added.

Wipro’s IT services business, which accounted for 76 percent of the company’s revenue, had 136,734 employees at the end of the quarter, after adding 5,004 staff during the quarter. It added 39 new customers in the quarter.

The company said it expects revenue from its IT services business in the current quarter to be up to $1.55 billion, a sequential growth of up to 3 percent.

Wipro, like other top Indian outsourcers, gets most of its IT services revenue from the U.S. and Europe, which together accounted for about 81 percent of revenue in the quarter. Most of the company’s staff are still in India, although the company has been expanding its presence in the U.S. and other markets both through acquisitions and local hires.

Source:http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/248449/wipros_it_revenue_rises_but_lags_peers.html

Wipro Technologies, the Global Information Technology, Consulting and Outsourcing business of Wipro Limited WIT +0.97% , today announced that it has entered into a strategic partnership with VendorNet, a leading provider of web-based omni-retailing and supply chain solutions, to solve retailers’ challenges when it comes to synchronizing channels and having a single cross-channel view of inventory.

The collaboration involves the resale and integration of VendorNet Commerce Suite with Wipro’s ENCORE e-commerce platform and will help retailers overcome organizational and cultural roadblocks inherent to the adoption of an omni-channel business model. The combined Wipro and VendorNet solutions will provide retailers with a true view of all their sales and fulfillment channels to enable a buy anywhere, anytime customer experience.

VendorNet’s Commerce Suite delivers automated cross-channel integration and inventory visibility technology for best source fulfillment from any location, including stores, warehouses, and third-party suppliers. VendorNet’s solutions include:

– StoreNet(R) Live for in-store pickup, ship-from store and ship-to store

– Dropship Manager, Stock PO Manager

– Order Broker for distributed order management

– SKU Trak for inventory tracking technology, as well as, add-on modules for returns and event management.

VendorNet integrates with platforms such as Wipro ENCORE to automate order routing and transmission, order status tracking, shipping, invoicing, reporting, and order lifecycle visibility.

“Our partnership with Wipro is very exciting. It is really taking the omni-channel retailing promise to the next level providing retailers with a fully integrated retail enterprise,” stated Sharon Gardner, President of VendorNet. “Partnering with a global company such as Wipro means retailers worldwide have an opportunity to overcome the manageable challenges presented by omni-channel retailing. Our combined technologies and best-practice knowledge will ensure retailers can put the right product, at the right price, at the right time in the hands of consumers at any point-of-purchase.”

The combined ENCORE and VendorNet solution will help retailers enhance their operations by linking inventory across channels including online, store, and dropship suppliers to source products from the most efficient locations.

According to Srini Pallia, Senior Vice President and Head, Retail, CPG, Transportation & Government, Wipro Technologies, “It is Wipro’s endeavor to help retailers improve the omni-channel customer experience, which translates into higher sales and better margins. Through the VendorNet partnership, the ENCORE platform will be better equipped to fulfill sales by optimizing inventory to meet online demand and deliver a best-in-class customer experience. The ability to leverage store inventory to augment the online experience, provides enhanced customer experience and meets the dynamic needs of today’s cross-channel customers.”

Forrester’s “U.S. Online Retail Forecast, 2009 to 2014″ predicts that online retail sales will total $249 billion by 2014 up from $155 billion in 2009. It also forecasts that US online and web-influenced retail sales will account for 53% of total retail sales in 2014 up from 42% in 2009. Similarly, the report further predicts web-influenced sales will reach $1.4 trillion.

These statistics clearly demonstrate a growing demand for multi-channel integration as well as real-time, KPI-based (Key Performance Indicator) dashboards to set business objectives and measure performance with the associated business intelligence to guide immediate changes in commerce, merchandizing and marketing to maximize opportunity.

Wipro’s retail experience spans global customers across geographies and the company’s focus is to integrate legacy investments and future proof systems used to manage Operations, CRM (Customer Relationship Management), Shrinkage, ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), Data Warehousing, Predictive Data Analytics and Price Optimization. Wipro’s capabilities span Grocery, Fashion, as well as Health and Wellness Retailing.

Source:http://www.marketwatch.com/story/wipro-technologies-partners-with-vendornet-to-provide-retailers-next-gen-omni-channel-retail-capabilities-2012-01-19

Wipro Technologies, the Global Information Technology, Consulting and Outsourcing business of Wipro Limited WIT -0.90% today announced the launch of ‘FLoW’ an Oracle-based Pricing, Supply Chain And Finance Management Solution, for the retail sector. The solution will provide retail franchises and wholesalers greater data visibility needed for faster and more accurate trading transactions. The technology is a composite solution to the Oracle Retail Merchandising System (RMS), developed in line with result of customer feedback.

‘FLoW’ will enable users get a comprehensive view of their wholesale operations in sync with other functionalities of Oracle’s Retail Suite. This significantly increases visibility and operational efficiency, as users can now see and manage their Retail, Franchise and Wholesale operations on one integrated dashboard. The flexibility of the solution means that retail franchises and wholesalers have more control over pricing, fulfillment and billing. Additionally, the solution, which is fully aligned with Oracle Retail, leverages Oracle RMS functionalities such as item creation, transfers, and replenishment.

Mike Davies, Vice President, Wipro Retail — Europe, Latin America and Wipro’s Global Oracle Retail Practice said: “Historically, retail suites have offered broad functionality for the general retail environment, but not much has been done for the benefit of franchises and wholesalers. Customer feedback indicates the need for a comprehensive retail solution that allows them the best of both worlds and allows the user to oversee the entire process from beginning to end. Wipro is uniquely positioned to provide this level of flexibility because of our deep retail knowledge and experience in working with a wide variety of retail businesses, across the globe as well as our strong partnership with Oracle.”

Wipro’s retail experience spans global customers across geographies and the company’s focus is to integrate legacy investments and future proof systems used to manage Operations, CRM (Customer Relationship Management), Shrinkage, ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), Data Warehousing, Predictive Data Analytics and Price Optimization. Wipro’s capabilities span Grocery, Fashion, as well as Health and Wellness Retailing. Wipro is a tier 1 Oracle Retail Partner and one of the most successful integrators of Oracle Retail solutions.

Source:http://www.marketwatch.com/story/wipro-launches-flow-a-technology-solution-for-the-retail-sector-2012-01-16

Wipro rose 0.52% to Rs. 407.40 at 9:20 IST on BSE after the company’s American depository receipt, or ADR gained 1.6% to settle at $10.18 on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, 23 December 2011.
Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was up 66.74 points, or 0.42% to 15,805.44.
On BSE, 4,391 shares were traded in the counter as against average daily volume of 1.89 lakh shares in the past one quarter.
The stock hit a high of Rs. 407.50 and a low of Rs. 404.15 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week low of Rs. 310.20 on 19 August 2011. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs. 496.30 on 28 December 2010.
The stock had outperformed the market over the past one month till 23 December 2011, gaining 11.03% compared with the Sensex’s 0.25% rise. The scrip had also outperformed the market in past one quarter, surging 19.63% as against 2.62% fall in the Sensex.
India’s third largest IT company by sales has an equity capital of Rs. 491.62 crore. Face value per share is Rs. 2.
On a consolidated basis, Wipro’s net profit fell 2.55% to Rs. 1300.90 crore on 6.2% growth in net sales to Rs. 9094.50 crore in Q2 September 2011 over Q1 June 2011.
Wipro provides comprehensive IT solutions and services including systems integration, information systems outsourcing, IT enabled services, package implementation, software application development and maintenance and research and development services to corporations globally.

Source:http://www.indiainfoline.com/Markets/News/Wipro-hardens-as-ADR-gains/4086766838

India’s IT outsourcing giant is getting into smart grid and green power in a big way, both abroad and at home.

There’s a pretty short list of IT services giants that are making a big name for themselves in the smart grid — think IBM, Capgemini, Accenture, Logica and the like. Wipro, India’s IT outsourcing giant, wants to add its name to that list.

It would appear to have a claim to the title. Wipro has utility projects underway in Europe, Asia, Australia and North America, ranging from bread-and-butter enterprise asset management and smart meter integration projects to building and selling smart meters into the European market and designing and building solar farms in India.

It’s had U.K. utility National Grid as a client of its asset management services for more than a decade, and is building a private utility cloud for the utility’s OnStream gas and electric metering subsidiary. In the United States, Wipro is helping utilities deliver energy usage data to customer smartphones and iPads, Subbi Lakshmanan, vice president of industry practices for Wipro’s energy, natural resources and utilities business unit, told me in an interview last month.

On the renewable energy front, the Bangalore-based IT giant is managing massive solar power plants in India and in the U.S. Southwest, according to Anand Padmanabhan, senior VP at Wipro’s utility unit. It’s also working on cloud computing models to deliver solar power management services, whether for solar farms or distributed solar rooftops, he said.

These kinds of projects — particularly its cloud computing platform efforts — would appear to put Wipro in competition with the big boys of smart grid IT. Indeed, Wipro has been winning deals in head-to-head competition against the likes of IBM, Capgemini and Accenture, Padmanabhan said — and it’s not just because Wipro’s services are cheaper.

“It’s not just a story of India offshoring because it’s cost-effective,” he said. “Smart grid isn’t really about funds — it’s about implementations and getting it right the first time.”

On that front, Wipro can point to some experience. Utility and energy projects now make up about 13.5 percent of the company’s business, up from about eight percent last year, and that business is growing at an annual rate of 30 percent or so, he noted.

That’s significant, considering that parent company Wipro Limited has 131,000 employees and clients across 54 countries and reported profits of $265 million on $1.9 billion in revenues in the most recent quarter ended Sept. 30.

Still, there’s little doubt that Wipro — along with Indian IT competitors such as Infosys, HCL and TCS — is hoping that its cost-competitive positions can help the company gain market share in smart grid IT along with its broader enterprise IT work.

Wipro started targeting the green IT sector in a big way a few years ago, and has been pitching the value of “outsourcing smart grid” services at conferences over the last year. Projects includes smart meter integration for utilities in Nevada and Arizona and customer care and billing for Australian retail utilities like TruEnergy, among others.

This integration work also touches a laundry list of smart grid partners. In Australia, Wipro is helping utility Origin Energy integrate Tendril Networks’ demand response software into back-office software from SAP, for example. Its work for U.S. utility UGI involves integrating Oracle financial databases, and Wipro is also building a gateway for Oracle’s meter data management platform, Lakshmanan said.

Wipro doesn’t build meter data management software to compete with the likes of Oracle, Aclara, Ecologic Analytics and eMeter (now being bought by Siemens). But it does have a line of business unusual for its IT-based competitors, Lakshmanan noted: “We’re also a hardware company,” building PCs and servers for Indian markets, as well as meters that it’s now selling into Europe under another brand.

Lakshmanan wouldn’t give many more details about Wipro’s smart meter work, though he did say the company was interested in developing systems that could meet the technical specifications of some of Europe’s larger planned rollouts, such as France’s planned 35 million smart meter deployment.

It will be interesting to see how Wipro applies its expertise to its home market. India’s smart grid market is projected to hit $1.9 billion by 2015, according to research firm Zpryme. Smart meters that can serve remote rural areas and protect against power theft in urban areas will be important — and they’ll need to be cheaper than the smart meters being installed in the U.S. and Europe.

Beyond that, India wants to add more and more green power to a grid that’s already struggling to deliver electricity to the majority of its citizens. IT outsourcing giant Infosys has a huge report on how IT can serve India’s smart grid needs (PDF).

In particular, India could be a proving ground for distributed power generation and microgrid systems that can leapfrog ahead of inadequate central power delivery systems, much like cellphone service has leaped ahead of wireline telephone service there.

Source:http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/wipro-it-outsourcing-meets-smart-grid/

Wipro Ltd. said Tuesday it is strictly restricting the time an employee of its technology outsourcing division can spend at client locations to two years, in a move perceived to be aimed at checking attrition.
In a statement, India’s third-largest software exporter by sales said it will start rotating employees on assignments at client locations as part of the policy, which was designed a few years ago.
“We have found that this rotation policy provides an equal opportunity for all employees to be part of the client’s environment,” it added, adding that it could extend the period by up to six months if there is any customer requirement.
Assignment at client locations abroad has been a tool that Indian technology companies use to attract employees.
The policy may help Wipro motivate its staff as such assignments are often considered lucrative as those working abroad get payments in foreign currencies for the number of hours they put in.
At the end of the September quarter, Wipro had 131,730 employees at its outsourcing unit, where the attrition rate was more than 21%.
Bangalore-based Wipro restructured its technology services division earlier this year to give an impetus to the business that has been struggling to find traction after the economic slowdown.

Source:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204879004577109913912351698.html

Indian IT majors Wipro and HCL Technologies have won a multi-million dollar deal to enhance British pharma major AstraZeneca’s end user computing infrastructure. The deal is said to stretch over 5 years.

Sources said these companies have been selected as IT partners for the deal along with US telecom services provider AT&T and European IT infrastructure services company Computacenter. IBM had a 7-year IT outsourcing arrangement that it signed with AztraZeneca in 2007, but it was speculated early this year that AstraZeneca was dissatisfied with IBM and was looking to cancel that agreement and move to other IT providers.

Wipro will be involved in a range of services including software packaging, desktop management, identity and access management. These efforts would be a part of AstraZeneca’s efforts to improve efficiencies in its operations and finance. The size of the deal for Wipro is said to range between $50-100 million. Wipro officials declined to comment saying they are in a silent period ahead of their third quarter results.

HCL will manage AstraZeneca’s data centre environment across over 60 locations globally. AT&T is expected to provide the network services while Computacenter will be involved in service support.

Indian IT majors have traditionally been slow to tap into the pharma and healthcare services vertical, which has in recent years emerged among the fastest growing verticals. They are now building this practice to catch up in the $100-billion global healthcare IT market. Dell, CSC and Cognizant have over $1 billion revenues coming from their healthcare IT practices.

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Wipro-HCL-part-of-big-AstraZeneca-deal/articleshow/11138117.cms

Not being able to find work after studies is not the worst nightmare for India’s rural youth: most of them have experienced it. But when 21-year-old Rajagopal finished his BCom in Anatapur, Andhra Pradesh, he didn’t give up hopes of finding a full-time job and go back to farming like his elder brothers.

Without a fixed income, he wasn’t going to be able to support his family or pay back his education loan. That’s when he contacted Rural Shores, a firm that had just set up a business process outsourcing (BPO) centre in Bagepalli district of Karnataka — two hours from his home in AP.

After an interview and a basic English test, Rajagopal was asked to join work the next day. “It was unbelievable. I didn’t know they were going to give me job”, says Rajagopal who now earns Rs 4,000 a month.

“All of us were trained to speak English and work on computers. We sit here and sort out the payrolls of HDFC’s employees. We don’t need to go to Bangalore or Hyderabad for a job now.” Founded in 2008, Rural Shores Business Services is one of the largest providers of BPO services out of rural areas, offering jobs to 1,000 educated youth.

Brainchild of former Ernst & Young partner VV Ranganathan, Mastek MD Sudhakar Ram, former MD of Xansa India Murali Vullaganti and CN Ram, president and group CIO of Essar Group, Rural Shores today serves over 20 clients including HDFC, Infosys, Wipro Technologies and Genpact. It aims to employ over 10,000 youth by 2014.

“There is a lot of energy here. After offshoring, we are now moving towards rural shoring. It offers great opportunity to the youth in rural areas, improves their skills and gives them a fixed salary”, says Vullaganti, CEO of Rural Shores.

“Attrition rate at rural BPO centres is a measly 3-5% compared to 50% at urban centres and operational expenses are 30 to 40% lower. This has encouraged many companies to shift to rural areas. The idea has become bigger than any of us ever imagined.”

In three years of business, Rural Shores has set up 10 centres across 7 states with investments from HDFC and Lokpal Capital Venture Fund. The firm plans to break even in 12 months. India for long has been the favourite destination for offshore BPO centres over the past several years.

For a generation of young graduates in urban areas, the BPO sector had offered immense opportunities and stable pay. Drawn to this promise, many firms are now seeking ways to set up BPO centres in rural areas. The clearest indicator is some of the top software exporters in the country entering this space.

In August this year, Wipro BPO, the BPO arm of Wipro Technologies had launched its first rural BPO centre at Manjakkudi Village in Tamil Nadu. In October, Infosys BPO had signed an agreement with the Andhra Pradesh government for rural BPO centres in 22 districts.

In the recent past, independent rural BPO initiatives like Desicrew, GramIT, Next Wealth, FOSTeRA and Tata Business Support Services have also got their feet wet. “Most youngsters you meet in an urban BPO would have migrated from a rural area in search of work. So, we thought, why not take the job to their villages and employ them there ? “, asks Manish Dugar, who heads BPO operat ions at Wipro. While erratic telecom and power connections continue to be a challenge in rural areas, Dugar says low attrition rates and infrastructure costs make rural BPO centres an attractive option.

Nasscom says IT-BPO firms plan to increase the total rural BPO employee base by more than 10 times over the next three years, from 5,000 now. So, where is this trend headed for? India may still be a strong player in the global BPO industry but HDFC Chairman, Deepak Parekh says that countries like China, Malaysia, Vietnam and Philippines have already begun to eat into the pie.

“India’s English speaking advantage is fast diminishing as countries like China are making huge efforts to increase their English speaking population. The BPO industry is costsensitive and clients will not hesitate to shift BPOs or move to countries that offer services at lower costs. One answer lies in encouraging more rural BPOs”, he said.

While most rural BPO centres tend to be cost-effective, the journey has not been a smooth one for initiatives such as the rural Shores.. “It has not been an easy ride. Rural Shores is yet to make any profits,” says Sudhakar Ram, co-founder of Rural Shores and Mastek MD.

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/news/outsourcing/Infosys-Wipro-moving-into-rural-BPOs/articleshow/11092203.cms

Not being able to find work after studies is not the worst nightmare for India’s rural youth: most of them have experienced it. But when 21-year-old Rajagopal finished his BCom in Anatapur, Andhra Pradesh, he didn’t give up hopes of finding a full-time job and go back to farming like his elder brothers.

Without a fixed income, he wasn’t going to be able to support his family or pay back his education loan. That’s when he contacted Rural Shores, a firm that had just set up a business process outsourcing (BPO) centre in Bagepalli district of Karnataka — two hours from his home in AP.

After an interview and a basic English test, Rajagopal was asked to join work the next day. “It was unbelievable. I didn’t know they were going to give me job”, says Rajagopal who now earns Rs 4,000 a month.

“All of us were trained to speak English and work on computers. We sit here and sort out the payrolls of HDFC’s employees. We don’t need to go to Bangalore or Hyderabad for a job now.” Founded in 2008, Rural Shores Business Services is one of the largest providers of BPO services out of rural areas, offering jobs to 1,000 educated youth.

Brainchild of former Ernst & Young partner VV Ranganathan, Mastek MD Sudhakar Ram, former MD of Xansa India Murali Vullaganti and CN Ram, president and group CIO of Essar Group, Rural Shores today serves over 20 clients including HDFC, Infosys, Wipro Technologies and Genpact. It aims to employ over 10,000 youth by 2014.

“There is a lot of energy here. After offshoring, we are now moving towards rural shoring. It offers great opportunity to the youth in rural areas, improves their skills and gives them a fixed salary”, says Vullaganti, CEO of Rural Shores.

“Attrition rate at rural BPO centres is a measly 3-5% compared to 50% at urban centres and operational expenses are 30 to 40% lower. This has encouraged many companies to shift to rural areas. The idea has become bigger than any of us ever imagined.”

In three years of business, Rural Shores has set up 10 centres across 7 states with investments from HDFC and Lokpal Capital Venture Fund. The firm plans to break even in 12 months. India for long has been the favourite destination for offshore BPO centres over the past several years.

For a generation of young graduates in urban areas, the BPO sector had offered immense opportunities and stable pay. Drawn to this promise, many firms are now seeking ways to set up BPO centres in rural areas. The clearest indicator is some of the top software exporters in the country entering this space.

In August this year, Wipro BPO, the BPO arm of Wipro Technologies had launched its first rural BPO centre at Manjakkudi Village in Tamil Nadu. In October, Infosys BPO had signed an agreement with the Andhra Pradesh government for rural BPO centres in 22 districts.

Source:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/ites/many-big-it-firms-like-infosys-wipro-genpact-moving-into-rural-bpos/articleshow/11087971.cms

Wipro Technologies, the global information technology, consulting and outsourcing business of Wipro Ltd, has created a focused global unit called the “Business Operations Unit”, which will enable it to deliver differentiated value for clients with seamless, predictable execution.

The company will consolidate its Business Application Services, Global Delivery, Quality and IS teams under the newly formed Business Operations Unit, a press statement said.

Mr Bhanumurthy B.M. who is currently the Senior Vice-President and Head of Wipro Technologies’ Retail, Consumer Goods, Transportation & Government (RCTG) Strategic Business Unit will take over as the Chief Business Operations Officer.

Mr Srini Pallia will take over as the Strategic Business Unit head for Wipro Technologies’ Retail, Consumer Goods, Transportation & Government (RCTG) business unit. He currently leads the Business Application Services (BAS) Service line. “With his expertise in leading sales, business and technology practices, Mr Srini will be able to help drive differentiated services for clients,” the statement said.

Mr Sambuddha Deb, Global Chief Delivery Officer, Wipro Ltd, will retire from the company by March 2012. The changes will be effective from January 1.

Source:http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/info-tech/article2692289.ece?homepage=true&ref=wl_home

Wipro Technologies, the Global Consulting, System Integration and Outsourcing Business of Wipro Limited (NYSE:WIT) along with Outsourcing Center, an Alsbridge company, today announced the findings of a survey conducted on data center optimization, at the Gartner Data Center Conference being held in Las Vegas. As the amount of data proliferates across all industries, organizations of all types are challenged with optimizing their data center operations. Since data is at the very heart of most businesses, it benefits organizations to develop a strategy to deal with their data centers.

Outsourcing Center and Wipro conducted a survey that included 75 CIOs and Heads of IT from Fortune 1000 companies across US, Europe and APAC that aimed to determine the current state of organizations’ data centers as well as explore the attitudes and challenges towards data center optimization. The participants represented a range of industries including retail, financial services, transportation/logistics, manufacturing, healthcare and telecommunications.

The key findings of the survey are:

– Datacenter strategies (IT infrastructure, applications, network and facility) clearly impact businesses.

Wipro and Outsourcing Center survey participants seem to agree that a data center strategy impacts their organization’s business. While more than half of participants (53.1%) said that they believe a data center strategy impacts their business, only a scant 15.6 percent of participants said that such a strategy has no impact on their organization.

– Most organizations operate from multiple data centers but owned fewer than half of their data centers.

According to the Wipro and Outsourcing Center survey, a majority of organizations currently operate from more than just one or two data centers. More than two in five participants (41.9%) said they operate from three, four or five data centers. More than 10 percent of participants (12.9%) said they operate from more than 20 data centers. More than half of survey participants (56.2%) said that they owned fewer than half of their data centers.

– Most organizations do not know the detailed cost breakdown of each data center.
A whopping 71.9 percent – nearly three-fourths – of all survey participants reported that they do not know the detailed cost breakdown of each data center. And most organizations only know a portion of their data center costs– not the whole cost picture.

– Fewer than half of organizations have adopted alternative models for data center management.

The participants in the Wipro and Outsourcing Center survey were about evenly split on their adoption of alternative models for data center management, although slightly fewer (46.9%) said they have not yet adopted these models to manage their data centers.

– Lack of measurable return-on-investment is holding organizations back from moving to alternate data center management models.

A majority of participants in the Wipro and Outsourcing Center survey cited lack of measurable ROI as a challenge they face in moving to alternative data management models. However, since organizations don’t know their costs, they can’t really gauge how, or whether or not, the alternative models are benefitting them in terms of cost. The cost of such an initiative and lack of necessary budget was identified by 22.6 percent of participants.

The survey also points out new approaches to the data center can provide organizations of all types with myriad benefits. By standardizing, consolidating, virtualizing and automating processes, organizations can transform their data centers to be lean and energy efficient. Transforming the data center can enable growth, minimize risk, increase speed and agility, and lead to dramatic cost reductions.

Source:http://www.businesswireindia.com/PressRelease.asp?b2mid=29326

Wipro Technologies and Diversey Win ‘IT Outsourcing Project of the Year’ award at National Outsourcing Association Awards

Wipro Technologies, the Global Information Technology, Consulting and Outsourcing business of Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT) and Diversey, a leading global provider of commercial cleaning, sanitation and hygiene solutions, have jointly won the ‘IT Outsourcing Project of the Year’ award at the eighth annual National Outsourcing Association (NOA) Awards ceremony.

Wipro and Diversey’s award-winning IT transformation project was characterized by certain unique and innovative features. This included the introduction of a new role – the ‘Value Director’ – which positions IT as a driver for proactively addressing the business’ emerging needs. The ‘Value Director’ is an onsite Wipro executive who works alongside Diversey’s Chief IT Architect and Wipro’s CTO to identify system and process solutions to support the business community. The implementation of the Value Director role has allowed Wipro and Diversey to better anticipate future technologies and projects through better staff acquisition and training.

“We are honored to receive this prestigious award. This recognition is the result of extraordinary partnering between Diversey and Wipro which continues to drive outstanding value for our business and its stakeholders. The applied principles serve as an example for the outsourcing industry,” said Brent Hoag, Vice President & CIO, Diversey.

Bhanumurthy B M, Sr. Vice President, Retail, CPG, Transportation & Government, Wipro Technologies, said: “This engagement highlights the strong partnership relationship between Wipro and Diversey. It is a win-win partnership, where Diversey benefits from Wipro’s experience and insight, while Wipro gains from Diversey’s creativity and determined approach. The Wipro-Diversey partnership is a testament to a deep-rooted, ongoing relationship focused on IT innovation through collaboration and the adoption of best practice.”

The NOA awards recognize and reward innovation and achievement by suppliers, users and integrated teams within the outsourcing industry.

Martyn Hart, NOA Chairman, said: “Congratulations to Wipro and Diversey on their excellent winning entry for IT Outsourcing Project of the Year. The judges felt the project was a powerful example of continuous IT service improvement. It demonstrated various development techniques working together to generate impressive benefits, whilst streamlining the budget spend on IT infrastructure and new application development.”

About Wipro Technologies

Wipro Technologies, the global IT business of Wipro Limited (NYSE:WIT) is a leading Information Technology, Consulting and Outsourcing company that delivers solutions to enable its clients do business better. Wipro Technologies delivers winning business outcomes through its deep industry experience and a 360 degree view of “Business through Technology” – helping clients create successful and adaptive businesses. A company recognized globally for its comprehensive portfolio of services, a practitioner’s approach to delivering innovation and an organization wide commitment to sustainability, Wipro Technologies has 120,000 employees and clients across 54 countries.

Source:http://www.4-traders.com/WIPRO-LIMITED-9059079/news/WIPRO-LIMITED-Wipro-Technologies-and-Diversey-Win-IT-Outsourcing-Project-of-the-Year-award-at-Nation-13895751/

Wipro Technologies – an IT, Consulting and Outsourcing business of Wipro Limited – on Thursday announced that it has implemented its new generation Aircraft Parts and Material Management System for the airline in All Nippon Airways (ANA).

The company said a in a press release that it has completed the first phase of the IT project to overhaul ANA’s legacy Aircraft Parts and Material Management System.
Wipro commenced its partnership with ANA in 2006. In 2009, ANA had embarked on transforming its legacy material management system to support its new fleet as well its expansion into Tokyo’s Haneda International Airport.

The first phase of the project to overhaul ANA’s legacy Aircraft Parts and Material Management System involved the addition of several new features and critical enhancements to ANA’s Engineering and Purchase functions such as Engineering Order (EO), Service Bulletin (SB) and Airworthiness Directive.
Also read: Wipro tops Greenpeaces India guide

This phase aims at strengthening ANA’s regulatory compliance and Quality Control processes, improve the prediction of spare parts demand and help optimize the inventory stock. The improved material management system will enable ANA to proactively manage the parts life cycle.

This is one of the largest and most complex IT transformation programs for ANA and is testimony to The implementation involved the synchronized orchestration of teams drawn from different multiple service lines across Wipro and distributed geographies and the integration of services of multiple vendors in ensuring a seamless customer experience and predictable delivery.

TakanoriYukishige, SVP, T services, ANA, said, “We had partnered with Wipro as we had immense confidence in their depth of understanding of the Airlines industry and their oft proven global best practices in program execution.”

The seamless Go Live across all of our locations has reaffirmed our confidence in them as our partner of choice and further strengthens our long term symbiotic partnership. It is a testimony to our strategic planning and foresight in IT as we continue our endeavors to become a more efficient and global airline,” he concluded.

Source:http://www.ciol.com/Enterprise/EC-Services/News-Reports/All-Nippon-Airways-deploys-Wipros-IT-soln/156654/0/

Wipro Limited has appointed Inderpreet Sawhney as Senior Vice President and General Counsel for the company. Inderpreet will head Wipro’s legal function and uphold Wipro’s tradition of doing business in an ethical, transparent and responsible manner.
Inderpreet, an attorney with 20 years of experience who has worked both in India and U.S. will also drive corporate compliance with the various business operating entities globally.

T K Kurien, CEO IT Business and Executive Director, Wipro Ltd. said, “Inderpreet brings with her a wealth of transnational experience, which I am confident will benefit Wipro immensely. Her experience coupled with a passion for excellence and an unflinching integrity makes her an ideal choice to lead Wipro’s legal function.”

Prior to joining Wipro, Inderpreet served as the Managing Partner of The Chugh Firm Silicon Valley office, where her mandate included counsel on complex international transactions, corporate review, mergers and acquisitions, litigation management, employment (including immigration) matters, primarily for information technology, business process outsourcing, retail service and hospitality companies. Inderpreet began her career in ITC Limited.

She also serves on the National Advisory Council of NASABA (North American South Asian Bar Association). Her past leadership positions include President NASABA, Board Member of Partham Bay Area, Foundation for Excellence, Indus Women Leaders.
She has a BA (Hons.) and LL.B degree from Delhi University and a LL.M from Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada. Inderpreet has been awarded the 2006 Minority Bar Coalition Unity Award, 2010 Outstanding Mentorship Award, SABA Northern California and, the 2010 NASABA Cornerstone Award.

Source:http://www.itvarnews.net/news/13561/wipro-appoints-inderpreet-sawhney-as-senior-vice-president-and-general-counsel-.html

India-based ICT and business process outsourcing company Wipro Technologies plans to set up a strategic delivery centre in South Africa that will create job opportunities for about 1 000 skilled professionals over the next three years.

Wipro currently has an office in Johannesburg, and has around over 500 employees, both onsite and offsite, servicing its clients in the region.

According to a statement this week, the company says it views South Africa as a market for potential growth and has created a special structure to drive global presence and business growth in the region.

“South Africa’s IT end-user spending, as a portion of real gross domestic product (GDP), will reach 8.6% in 2013,” said Wipro Technologies senior vice president Manoj Punja. “This positions the country at the upper-middle level of IT spender nations within emerging markets.”

High potential market for growth
The South African government has launched a number of initiatives to drive ICT sector growth and bolster the country’s position in the global economy.

South Africa’s IT spending is projected to increase from US$10.7-billion in 2011 to about $17.4-billion in 2015. The largest industries contributing to South Africa’s GDP include financial services, business services and manufacturing.

According to the statement, the company sees the region as a “high potential market for growth” and will help diversify its presence and portfolio, especially in the financial and telecommunications sector.

“Factors like the time zone advantage, language, cultural compatibility and skill access makes South Africa a favourable destination for the growth of business process outsourcing and IT services,” Punja said.

Gateway to EMEA region
The country is a gateway to other countries in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region and Wipro has built up significant traction in telecoms, financial services and oil and gas industries in Africa.
Its large talent pool with multi-lingual skills, proximity to the Middle East and Europe, and cultural and business understanding of the market in Africa is a huge benefit that Wipro is prepared to tap into.

“To tap the large pool of IT educated graduates, Wipro plans to initiate campus recruitment drives and establish training and skills development programs,” added Punja. “These recruits will then undergo a competency evaluation test and be deputed on projects accordingly.”

Source:http://www.southafrica.info/business/investing/wipro-151111.htm

Indian equities are among the worst performers this year compared to other big emerging markets like China and Russia. The Bombay Stock Exchange`s Sensex has lost more than 13% year to date, while the Shanghai market is down about 9% and the Russian index down 10%.

India faces many short-term macro challenges including a string of corruption scandals and persistently high inflation. Fears that rising borrowing costs and an overall global slowdown will hurt corporate profits continue to weigh heavily on sentiment towards Indian equities.

However, the long-term story in India continues to be attractive, and there are a few Indian firms posting strong performances despite global uncertainties. But investors must understand the unique positioning of companies considering the backdrop of global macro issues. Investing without a clear understanding of the environment can lead to sub-par performance.

With that in mind, here are two key themes to consider and assess:

Strong Consumer Consumption
Unlike China, India has one of the youngest population profiles in the world, with more than 70% of the population under 35, according to the latest Indian Census. As economies grow, the middle-class tends to expand and that is what is happening in India today. Citigroup estimates that the middle class (people with an income of between USD 6,000 and USD 30,000 a year) is around 160 million, and within five years, this is forecast to grow to 267 million people.

One only needs to walk down the bustling streets in any major Indian city to see that consumption is alive. While high inflation certainly does negatively impact middle class consumption, in the long term, a favorable demographic bodes well for economic growth over the next 20 year.

As a result, look at companies that are poised to capitalize on the Indian consumption story. Companies like Hindustan Unilever, the Indian unit of Unilever, which sells personal care products and packaged food, may hold promise for investors. The firm reported a 21% growth in profit over July-September this year with sales expanding 18%, and has been raising prices, which should help boost value. The stock is one of the best performers on the BSE Fast Moving Consumer Goods Index.
The transportation industry (auto and motorcycle) sales tend to rise as the middle class expands. According to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, India`s automobile industry is expected to grow 11-13% in the fiscal year ending March. India`s largest motorcycle maker,Hero MotoCorp (formerly Hero Honda Motors) continues to perform well; the company posted a 19% rise in quarter two profit.

Additionally, Hero MotoCorp`s recent break from its 26-year joint venture with Japan`s Honda Motors is seen as a positive as it gives the firm the opportunity to explore new products and export markets.

Investors should note that even for these strong companies, raw material costs, high inflation and weak currencies, are all legitimate concerns. However, these concerns are in the short to medium term. In the long term, we see demand that is likely to thrive.

India`s Niche in the Tech World
Despite an uncertain global environment, Indian IT firms still have managed to hold their own. The recent July-September quarter results reflected stable growth for Indian IT companies with no major downside surprises.

Over the years, Indian tech companies have successfully found a niche in the back office of companies in the more established economies. Indian tech firms continue to provide low costs IT solutions and have been able to maintain global economic market share. The cost differentials are significant enough for services to still be priced at a level that is highly competitive relative to other countries.

There is recognition among India IT giants that they need to go beyond just low cost outsourcing. Some, like TCS, are adopting strategies to climb up the value chain by offering higher-value services.

Infosys, a company that provides business consulting and technology outsourcing services, continues to perform well. While many Indian companies are highly diversified, Infosys continues to focus on its core strength and target its service offering.
Another tech company, Wipro, is beginning to show encouraging volume growth of 6% quarter on quarter, and increased revenue from all geographies despite a difficult global environment. In its latest second quarter report, revenue from America and Europe increased by 2.2% and 6.8% quarter on quarter, respectively.

Long-term Positives
However, the short-term issues facing India are serious. Headlines of fresh corruption scandals continue to weigh on investor sentiment.
As with any emerging market risks have to be factored into investment decisions. But short-term concerns must be measured against long-term opportunity. India, while facing challenges, can be a profitable investment for prudent investors. Choose wisely and with a view towards participating in future trends. That`s the best strategy for maximizing the odds for investment success.

Source:http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/fii-view/india-stillgood-long-term-bet-expert_614899.html

Wipro Technologies, the Global Information Technology, Consulting and Outsourcing business of Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT), has today announced the consolidation of its India and Global IT Infrastructure Business to form a New Business Unit called Global Infrastructure and Services (GIS).

One of the cornerstones of Wipro’s success over the years has been the leadership in Infrastructure Services business. Infrastructure Services have been a high growth, high impact segment and the market is poised for the next level of transformation with increased focus on variabilization of IT.

TK Kurien, CEO, IT Business and Executive Director, Wipro Ltd. said, “We see tremendous value in establishing global practices, integrated delivery, program governance and global career opportunities for our teams. A single entity across the globe will further accelerate our growth in the infrastructure business and build on our leadership position.”

Anand Sankaran, SVP, Head Wipro Infotech and Global Infrastructure and Services, Wipro Technologies said, “Wipro is now better positioned in the infrastructure services market through its global footprint, comprehensive alliance ecosystem, system integration proposition and transformational capability. The new consolidated structure will help Wipro maximize value delivered to clients globally through our best of breed service innovation and research efforts.”

To bring in common direction and leadership, Anand Sankaran will lead the Global Technology Infrastructure Services business, in addition to his current responsibility as Head of Wipro Infotech. As a result of the consolidation Deepak Jain would work closely with Anand Sankaran to build and execute strategies to enable Wipro’s leadership in the global Infrastructure services market, which is currently estimated to be USD 250bn.

About Wipro Technologies

Wipro Technologies, the global IT business of Wipro Limited (NYSE:WIT) is a leading Information Technology, Consulting and Outsourcing company that delivers solutions to enable its clients do business better. Wipro Technologies delivers winning business outcomes through its deep industry experience and a 360 degree view of “Business through Technology” – helping clients create successful and adaptive businesses. A company recognized globally for its comprehensive portfolio of services, a practitioner’s approach to delivering innovation and an organization wide commitment to sustainability, Wipro Technologies has 120,000 employees and clients across 54 countries.

Source:http://www.4-traders.com/WIPRO-LIMITED-9059079/news/WIPRO-LIMITED-Wipro-Technologies-Announces-Consolidation-of-Global-IT-Infrastructure-Business-13885495/

Indian information technology (IT) services biggies Infosys, Wipro and IBM are in discussion with tower infrastructure company Indus Tower for a contract, potentially in the range of $500-600 million (Rs 2,430-2,916 crore).

Sources close to the development confirmed the tower infrastructure company had been evaluating IT services vendors. “So far, Wipro, Infosys and IBM have responded to the request for proposals (RFPs). The contract will be for eight to 10 years,” said a senior executive of a company familiar with the details.

Indus Tower is a joint venture between Bharti Group, Idea Cellular and Vodafone Essar. It owns 110,000 towers and has operations in 16 of the 22 telecom circles.

Indus Towers is looking for a partner to provide end-to-end IT solutions. This will cover areas such as infrastructure management, application development and other related managed services.

“Discussions are on. They are looking at several options. They are yet to decide whether they want to go in for a complete end-to-end outsourcing deal or go in for infrastructure outsourcing and even application development maintenance services. Or, go in a phased manner,” said another senior executive in the know.

Emails to Indus Tower and Wipro did not elicit any response. When contacted, a Infosys spokesperson said, “We do not comment on market speculation.”

Analysts tracking the industry said if the deal goes through, it will yet again set industry standards. “Like the Bharti-IBM deal, which was a trend-setter, this deal, too, has potential to do that. This will be a significant deal, as Indus is one of the largest players in Indian telecom space,” said Alok Shende, founder director at Ascentius Consulting.

In June, IBM had signed a five-year integrated managed services (IMS) agreement with Viom (earlier known as Quippo-WTTIL), a joint venture between the tower arm of Tata Teleservices and Srei group’s Quippo. While financial details of the deal were not disclosed, IBM was to provide technical support system to revamp Viom’s IT infrastructure for its operations through India.

IBM in 2009, had also managed to bag Bharti Airtel’s IT requirement for its tower company, Bharti Infratel.

The only other winner of big deals in the Indian telecom space has been Bangalore-based Wipro. In 2009, its India business, Wipro Infotech, had managed to bag a $500-million strategic outsourcing contract from Uninor. Before that, in 2008, Wipro had also managed to bag a $600-million deal from Aircel.

Source:http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/infosys-wipro-ibm-in-fray-for-600-mn-indus-tower-deal-/454740/