Words: 8489
Wipro Azim Premji Profile Born: July 24, 1945 Achievements: Chairman of Wipro Technologies; Richest Indian for the past several years; Honored with Padma Bhushan in 2005. Azim Premji is Chairman of Wipro Technologies, one of the largest software companies in India. He is an icon among Indian businessmen and his success story is a source of inspiration to a number of budding entrepreneurs. Born on July 24, 1945, Azim Hashim Premji was studying Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, USA when due to the sudden demise of his father, he was called upon to handle the family business.
Azim Premji took over the reins of family business in 1966 at the age of 21. At the first annual general meeting of the company attended by Azeem Premji, a shareholder doubted Premji’s ability to handle business at such a young age and publicly advised him to sell his shareholding and give it to a more mature management. This spurred Azim Premji and made him all the more determined to make Wipro a success story. And the rest is history.
When Azim Premji occupied the hot seat, Wipro dealt in hydrogenated cooking fats and later diversified to bakery fats, ethnic ingredient based toiletries, hair care soaps, baby toiletries, lighting products and hydraulic cylinders. Thereafter Premji made a focused shift from soaps to software. Under Azim Premji’s leadership Wipro has metamorphosed from a Rs. 70 million company in hydrogenated cooking fats to a pioneer in providing integrated business, technology and process solutions on a global delivery platform.
Today, Wipro Technologies is the largest independent R&D service provider in the world. Azim Premji has several achievements to his credit. In 2000, Asiaweek magazine, voted Premji among the 20 most powerful men in the world. Azim Premji was among the 50 richest people in the world from 2001 to 2003 listed by Forbes. In April 2004, Times Magazine, rated him among the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine. He is also the richest Indian for the past several years. In 2005,Government of India honored Azim Premji with Padma Bhushan. Azim Premji (Gujarati:???? ?????? ) (born July 24, 1945) is an Indian businessman and the Chairman & CEO of Wipro, one of the largest software companies in India. It is headquartered in Bangalore, “the Indian Silicon City”. He was rated the richest person in the country from 1999 to 2005 by Forbes[2]. His wealth today is estimated at 74,000 crores INR [3] which places him as the third richest Indian; ahead of DLF Chairman Kushal Pal Singh. |Contents | |[hide] | |1 Early life | 2 Awards and Accolades | |3 Family & Personal Life | |4 Azim Premji Foundation | |5 See also | |6 References | |7 External links | [pic][edit] Early life Premji attended St. Mary’s School I. C. S. E. in Mazagaon, Mumbai. Premji was just finishing his undergraduate engineering studies at Stanford University in 1966 when his father passed away. He had to return to India to handle the family’s fledgling vegetable oil business.
Premji started off with a simple vision: to build an organization on a foundation of values. Premji eventually received permission to take correspondence art courses to complete the requirements for his bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering. [edit] Awards and Accolades In 2000, he was conferred an honorary doctorate by the Manipal Academy of Higher Education. He was also declared the Businessman of the Year 2000 by Business India and is featured in the Business Weeks all-time top 30 entrepreneurs of the world in 2007. He is a member of the Prime Minister’s Advisory Committee for Information Technology in India. 4] As of 6th October 2007, he is the 5th richest Indian, with a net worth of $13. 6 billion. [5] [edit] Family & Personal Life Premji is married to Yasmeen Premji and has 2 sons – Rishad Premji & Tariq Premji. Rishad Premji is married to Aditi Premji. Premji is known for his modesty and frugality in spite of his wealth. He drives a Toyota Corolla and flies in economy class. He prefer to stay in company guest houses rather than luxury hotels. He even served food in paper plates at a lunch honouring his son’s wedding. [1] [edit] Azim Premji Foundation
The Azim Premji Foundation says it “Aims at making a tangible impact on identified social issues by working in active partnership with the Government and other related sections of the society”. The Foundation was set up with financial resources contributed by Azim Premji. Programmes of the Azim Premji Foundation focus on “creating effective and scalable models that significantly improve the quality of learning in the school and ensure satisfactory ownership by the community in the management of the school”. Azim Premji Foundation says it “dedicates itself to the cause of Universalization of Elementary Education in India”.
The organisation has over the years been instrumental in improving the quality of general education, specially in rural schools. Citing a technology initiative, the Foundation reported: “Think of a single PC with three display terminals, three keyboards and three ‘mouses’, which can be simultaneously used as if they are three independent computers”. This innovative idea from the Azim Premji Foundation is being deployed in the computer aided learning centre at the Byatarayanapura Higher Primary School in Bangalore South District and in another school.
Five new titles of educational CDs for Indian schools have also been produced earlier in 2005. They are: Friendly Animals and Journey on the Clouds (English), Swatantra Divas, Fun with Chinchoo in Mathematics and Khel-Mel (Hindi), released in February 2005. This makes the total number of master titles available at 70. There are now 68 titles in Karnataka, 42 for Andhra Pradesh, 35 for Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, 18 for Urdu medium schools, six for Orissa, 14 for Gujarat, 3 for Punjab and 1 for Kerala.
This Foundation is also involved in computer-based assessment in Andhra Pradesh (50,000 students took part in early 2005), a learning guarantee programme, and a policy planning unit in Karnataka. Whole Company is his family Azim Premji is a graduate in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, USA. On the sudden demise of his father in 1966, Premji took on the mantle of leadership of Wipro at the age of 21. Premji started off in Wipro with a simple Vision – to build an organization on a foundation of Values.
Under his leadership, the fledgling US$ 2 million hydrogenated cooking fat company has grown to a US$1. 76 billion IT Services organization serving customers across the globe. Wipro is today ranked among the top 100 Technology Leadership Among others, Wipro has recently won the prestigious ‘Risk Management Award,’ instituted by the Financial Times-The Banker magazine. What is that which makes this company so successful? “An obsession for excellence,” says Azim Premji, Chairman & Managing Director, Wipro Limited.
Chairman and Managing Director of Wipro, Premji is credited with transforming Wipro, his family’s vegetable oil business, into one of the world’s foremost software company. Although one of the richest Indians, he flies economy class and is happiest when hiking, reading or discussing the foundation he has set up to promote primary education. [pic] These are changing times. Yet in the middle of all the changes there is one thing that constantly determines success. Some call it leadership. But I feel it is excellence Excellence endures and sustains. It goes beyond motivation into the realms of inspiration.
Excellence can be as strong a uniting force as solid vision. Excellence does not happen in a vacuum. It needs a collective obsession as I have experienced the benefits of excellence in my own life. Excellence is a great starting point for any new organisation but also an unending journey. What is excellence? It is about going a little beyond what we expect from ourselves. Part of the need for excellence is imposed on us externally by our customers. Our competition keeps us on our toes, especially when it is global in nature. But the other driver of excellence is internal.
I have found that excellence is not so much a battle you fight with others, but a battle you fight with yourself, by constantly raising the bar and stretching yourself and your team. This is the best and the most satisfying and challenging part about excellence. How does one create excellence in an organisation? First, we create an obsession with excellence. We must dream of it not only because it delivers better results but because we truly believe in it and find it intrinsically satisfying to us. We must think of excellence not only with our mind but also with our heart and soul.
Let us look outside, at the global standards of excellence in quality, cost and delivery and let us not rest till we surpass them. Second, we need to build a collective self-confidence. Organizations and people who pursue excellence are self-confident. This is because excellence requires tremendous faith in one’s ability to do more and in a better way. Unless, we believe we can do better, we cannot. Third, we must understand the difference between perfection for its own sake and excellence. Time is of essence. Globalization has made the customer only more impatient.
This may seem like a paradox: should we aim for excellence or should we aim for speed? Excellence is about doing the best we can and speed lies in doing it quickly. These two concepts are not opposed to each other; in fact, speed and timeliness are important elements of quality and excellence. Fourth, we must realise that we cannot be the best in everything we do. We must define what we are or would like to be best at and what someone else can do better. Excellence is no longer about being the best in India. It is about being the best in the world.
We have to define what our own core competencies are and what we can outsource to other leaders. Headaches shared are headaches divided. Fifth, we must create processes that enable excellence. Today, there are a number of global methods and processes available whether it is Six Sigma, CMM or ISO. Use them because they are based on distilled wisdom collected from the best companies in the world. Also, we must build a strong foundation of information technology, because in this complex, dynamic world, it is imperative that we use the most modern tools to keep processes updated.
Sixth, we must create a culture of teaming. I have found that while great individuals are important, one cannot have pockets of excellence. Quality gives ample opportunities to build a culture of teaming. Cross-functional teams that are customer facing can cut through an amazing amount of bureaucracy, personal empire building and silos and deliver savings that one would not have imagined possible. The other advantage of building teams focussed on quality is that the teaming culture eventually spreads to the rest of the organisation and teaming becomes a way of life.
Seventh, invest in excellence for the future. Future always seems to be at a distance. But it comes upon you so suddenly that it catches you by surprise, if not shock. What constitutes excellence in the future will be significantly different from what it is today. In these days of severe market pressures, there is big temptation to sacrifice the future to look good in the present. We must certainly trim our discretionary expenses, but we must ensure that our investments in strategic areas that lead to excellence in the future are protected. Finally, excellence requires humility.
This is especially needed when we feel we have reached the peak of excellence and there is nothing further we can do. We need an open mind to look at things in a different way and allow new inputs to come in. Otherwise, there is a real danger of becoming complacent or even downright arrogant. I would like to end my talk with a story that illustrates this very well. ILLUSTRATION A brilliant young professor went to meet a famous Zen master to have a discussion with him on Zen (A Buddhist doctrine that enlightenment can be attained through direct intuitive insight). He found himself in front of a modest house.
He rang the doorbell and waited. A while later, he heard shuffling footsteps and the door was opened by the Zen master. He invited the professor to sit with him on the dining table. The professor was a little disappointed with the shabby appearance of the Zen master. He started quizzing him immediately on comparative philosophies and the Zen master gave some brief answers. When the professor began to debate with him on those answers, the Zen master stopped speaking and kept smiling at him. Finally, the professor got angry. He said, “I have come from a long distance just to understand the relevance of Zenism.
But apparently you have nothing to say. I have not learnt anything from you at all. ” At this point, the Zen master asked the professor to have some tea. When the professor held the cup, the Zen master started pouring tea into it. After some time, the tea started spilling and the professor shouted, “Stop! The cup can contain no more. ” The Zen Master stopped and then, once again smiling, he said, “A mind, full of itself can receive nothing. How can I speak to you of Zenism until you empty your mind to learn? ” The professor understood and apologized to the Zen master.
He parted from him, the Zen master — a wiser man AZIM PREMJI FOUNDATION… |Wipro Applying Thought in Schools | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |This is Wipro Corporation’s initiative to contribute towards | | |improving Indian education.
We work with a network of over 25 social | | |organisations across the country, and offer long-term developmental | | |programs to teachers, principals and schools. | | | | |Till date, we have engaged deeply with over 8,000 educators and 900 | | |schools across 17 states of India. | | | | | | | | | | | | | |http://www. azimpremjifoundation. rg/ | | |The weight of wings |National Learning Conference 2007 | | | | | | | | | | |I think progress is defined by the changing nature of issues that a |The third annual National Learning Conference was organised by Azim | |society considers topical.
We have made the transition from concern |Premji Foundation in collaboration with the Union Ministry of Human | |for just basic literacy to improvement of the quality of education. |Resources Development in Bangalore from 24th to 26th of May, 2007 at | |We need to progress from a compulsion to mass-produce stereotypes to |NIMHANS Convention Centre, Bangalore. The theme of the conference was| |creating independent thinkers and active learners. We have to create |’Equitable Education for Equitable Society’. | |the right balance between our diverse subcultures and create an | | |education system that caters to the need of every one of them. | | | | | | | |Mid-day Meal and the Joy of Learning |A Tale of two government schools | | | | | | | | | | |Nutritious mid-day meal needs to be recognised as an integral part of|The contrast between the two government schools could not have been | |a healthy school environment and this recognition needs to be |more telling. Both the schools faced similar problems of | |reflected in permanent legal entitlements as well as in political |infrastructure. But, one school proved that lack of infrastructure | |priorities and financial allocations says Jean Dreze…. |could not deter learning while the other school refused to create a | | |conducive atmosphere for learning. | | | | | | | | | | | | |Inequity in Education: Structural Dimensions of the |Interview with Dileep K Ranjekar , CEO , Azim Premji | |Problem |Foundation | | | | | | | | | | |We need to talk of state-specific policies; we also need to get out |Dileep Ranjekar, CEO of Azim Premji Foundation talks about the | |of the spurious debate that sees investment in basic and/or higher |Foundation in an interview with Anirudha Dutta of CLSA. | |education as competing fields opines Padmini Swaminathan. | #25 Azim Premji |[pic] | |© AP Photo/Gautam Singh | Age: 60 Fortune: self made Source: Software Net Worth: 13. 3 [pic] Country Of Citizenship: India Residence: Bangalore, India, Asia & Australia Industry: Technology Marital Status: married, 2 children Stanford University, Bachelor of Arts / Science Owns 82% of NewYork-listed Wipro, India’s third-largest software exporter. Is expanding operations outside Bangalore headquarters to other cities to combat employee attrition.
Recent acquisitions: technology infrastructure consultancy cMango in California, Austrian chip design firm NewLogic and payment processing firm, mPower in New Jersey. Wipro [pic] At Wipro we have fine-tuned the science of viewing innovation through the lens of practicality to design unique solutions for end customers. Applied Innovation is the ability to infuse newer ideas and newer ways of doing things into all parts of the organization, and improve business outcomes, often without major disruptive change. It is a 360-degree business approach covering process, delivery, business and technology Innovations that help Wipro to work collaboratively with clients for cost take-outs, speed to market and new business opportunities.
This approach is backed by a 25-year heritage in providing domain-intensive technology solutions and a solid delivery backbone with industry leading credentials and certifications such as CMMi Level 5 and BS15000. |Wipro Technologies is the No. 1 provider of integrated business, technology and process |[pic] | |solutions on a global delivery platform. [pic] |[pic] | |Wipro Technologies is a global services provider delivering technology-driven business |[pic] | |solutions that meet the strategic objectives of our clients.
Wipro has 40+ ‘Centers of | | |Excellence’ that create solutions around specific needs of industries. Wipro delivers |[pic] | |unmatched business value to customers through a combination of process excellence, quality |Fast Facts | |frameworks and service delivery innovation. Wipro is the World’s first CMMi Level 5 | | |certified software services company and the first outside USA to receive the IEEE Software |[pic]The largest independent R Services provider in the world | |Process Award. [pic] | | |[pic]Over half billion revenue from R | | |[pic] | | |[pic]Among the top 3 offshore BPO services provider in the world | | |[pic] | | |[pic]A strategic partner to five of the top ten most innovative | | |companies in the world | | |[pic] | | |[pic]Only Indian company to be ranked among the top 10 global | | |outsourcing providers in IAOP’s 2006 Global Outsourcing 100 listing | | | | | | • Some quick facts on Wipro • Wipro becomes the first Indian IT Service Provider to be awarded Gold-Level Status in Microsoft’s Windows Embedded Partner Program • Wipro is the world’s largest independent R&D Services Provider • Worlds 1st PCMM Level 5 software company • Wipro one among the few companies in the world to be assessed at maturity level 5 for CMMI V1. 2 across offshore and onsite development centers, 2007 • Worlds 1st IT Services Company to use Six Sigma • The pioneers in applying Lean Manufacturing techniques to IT services • World’s first SEI CMM/CMMI Level 5 IT services company The first to get the BS15000 certification for its Global Command Centre • Functional RFID Enabled Concept Store and Global Data Synchronization Laboratory BS7799 and ISO 9000 certified • Among the top 3 offshore BPO service providers in the world • Wipro is a strategic partner to five of the top ten most innovative companies in the world* (*Technology Review Innovation Index 2005) • Over 50 industry facing ‘Centers of Excellence’ • 647 clients – 72000+ employees • 53 development centers across globe Hindu Business Line What makes Premji the top CEO in Asia-Pacific Anjali Prayag Bangalore , Dec. 8 “WHEN Azim H. Premji is in a meeting with us, we are only aware of the task at hand.
He is only there to see that the job is well done and never to promote himself,” says Mr Anand Swaminathan, Manager (Corporate Branding), Wipro Ltd. In a study by global human resources and outsourcing firm, Hewitt Associates, Mr Azim H. Premji, Chairman, Wipro Ltd, possibly the most enigmatic personality in India’s corporate sector, was voted the top CEO among 203 others in the Asia-Pacific region. What makes the Wipro line-up go for success and how does the captain lead the team to it? Business Line got an insider view from the company’s HR team. The study found that the `CEOs’ involvement is much higher in financially successful firms and that the best CEOs spend 25 per cent or more of their ‘time building leadership’.
Confirming that this was one of the key strategies at Wipro to build internal leaders, Mr Ranjan Acharya, Corporate Vice-President, Human Resources Development, Wipro Ltd, says, “Apart from spending half a day in the Wipro Leaders’ Program, Mr Premji spends an enormous amount of time on talent planning and review of all senior and top managers. ” He even goes through the appraisal and 360-degree feedback of every senior manager. The report highlights another common factor among the top players in the corporate sector: These companies on an average groom about 76 per cent of their total leadership internally and hire the remaining 24 per cent from outside, while the others fill up to 41 per cent of their leadership roles with external talent.
And all the leading ten companies studied by Hewitt in Asia-Pacific have a specific strategy for developing leaders, compared to 72 per cent of the other study companies. And most of these companies use their leadership competencies in their succession-planning processes, discloses the report. Commenting on these conclusions, Mr Pratik Kumar, Corporate Vice-President, Human Resources, Wipro Ltd, says, “Wipro has always followed these processes. We have been `focussing right’ from the beginning. ” The stories about how Wipro has created leaders in the IT industry, is old hat now. Talking about Mr Premji’s leadership style, Mr. Pratik Kumar says, “He believes that personal credibility is one of the most important traits of a leader.
Leadership must coach and energise others is what Mr Premji demonstrates at the training sessions. ” Mr Kumar also points out that Mr Premji knows `when to back out of the limelight and credit someone else in the organisation with success. ‘ Other factors that have contributed to Mr Premji’s success as a CEO have been transparency and involvement. “Winning leaders are demanding leaders too,” says Mr Kumar. April 20 2006 New book about Indian Ismaili Azim Premji January 19, 2007 Posted by ismailimail in Countries and Regions, India, Ismaili Muslim Authors, Ismaili Muslims in the News. trackback [pic][pic][pic][pic]Ads by GoogleTime & attendance Track employees using their fingerprints. Low cost software. www. imeofficesoftware. comWipro is Hiring Wipro is hiring 3500 employees in India. Post CV for this Job! ClickJobs. Com/WiproJobs/Post-CV Author ‘ STEVE HAMM’ Writes about ‘WIPRO’ & ‘AZIM PREMJI’ It is the time when the East is rapidly overtaking the West in IT. IT in the East is incomplete without the contribution of Indian software companies such as Infosys, TCS and Wipro. Steve Hamm writes a compelling story about one of the India’s technology giants, Wipro, It’s remarkable leader Azim Premji and the company’s success formulae, in his first book ‘Bangalore Tiger, How Indian Tech Upstart Wipro Is Rewriting the Rules of Global Competition’.
This is the story of Wipro’s transformation and its impact upon the technology services industry and the rules of global competition. It’s also about the journey of Wipro from an Indian company with revenues of $500 million to a global technology giant with revenues over $2. 4 billion and market capitalisation of $20 billion in a matter of five years. He explains the success of Indians in the IT world and the reasons behind that. India has over 8, 00,000 engineers coding the software that keeps Wall Street, Motor City and Hollywood running. “It’s a billion people with great intellect. It will get bigger and bigger, and it will be a significant player in the global economy. ” says Jack Welch, former chairman of General Electric Company.
According to his study, the major equation which plays a part in India’s success is the combination of brains and the Internet along with the power of low cost. This equation is creating opportunities transforming India into an important player for the world economy. Even though Wipro is ranked after TCS and Infosys, Hamm chose it as the topic of discussion due to its broader array of services and its style of doing business. The senior writer at Business Week, Steve Hamm reveals the secrets of Wipro in a well documented and inspirational manner. Hamm starts off with the chapter Taking on the West, by narrating that Wipro matters for technology industry in the same way as Wal-Mart matters for retail. He explains the art of global collaboration adopted by Wipro.
Even though Wipro’s workforce is scattered around the globe it works as a team and all employees are treated like a vast pool of brainpower and expertise rather than just staff. One of the key success formulae for them is their hunger for improvement and the intensity with which they work. Success comes with the desire for it, which must be achieved by taking one step at a time. At Wipro, from Premji down to the youngest paper handler, everybody has their eye on the goal and means of achieving it. [pic] Title: Bangalore Tiger, How Indian Tech Upstart Wipro Is Rewriting the Rules of Global Competition Author: Steve Hamm Publisher: Tata McGraw-Hill
Hamm explains the transformation of Wipro starting from when it was squeezing profits from peanuts in the form of oil business led by a 21 year old Stanford University student to working on bits and bytes and becoming a powerhouse in global technology led by the same man. That 21 year old was none other that Azim Premji who took the mantle at traditional oil making company in 1966 upon his father’s death. Premji was one of the first business leaders in India under the legal command that said his company would not pay bribes. He believes in the atmosphere of zero politics and honesty within the organisation, if an employee is not honest he will be out of the company irrespective of his rank.
Interestingly, they have the Wipro spirit printed at the back of their business cards which is a constant reminder for them. The company’s values are intensity to win, acting with sensitivity and unyielding integrity. Wipro has various mechanisms to succeed which are being followed with the utmost commitment. They believe in planning everything in advance for rapid growth of the company with a minimum of three years of planning. Wipro puts its customers in the driver’s seat in the hunt for success. There should be a desire to innovate every day to ensure better productivity. Wipro, by motivating its employees, manages to expand rapidly without stumbling.
Hamm provides a complete insight into how to make your company as successful as Wipro by giving a few success stories of Wipro and defining all the qualities or rules followed by Wipro. | | |[pic]Business Quotes by Indian Billionaire Azim Premji | | | |As you get bigger, you have to learn to delegate. It’s also an excellent way to get staff involved in the company’s operations. |Azim Premji – Companies – Learning – Priorities | | | |The early years were more about learning than about acting. I had to carry on my father’s work, which was a big challenge. | |Azim Premji – Companies – Learning – Challenges | | | |As an advisor, I can say what I want. If I were a politician, I would constantly have to compromise, and I’m incapable of doing that. |Azim Premji – Politician – Dishonesty – Truth | | | |I want Wipro to be among the top ten IT companies in the world. | |Azim Premji – Companies – Technology – Ambition | | | |Character is one factor that will guide all our actions and decisions. We invested in uncompromising integrity that helped us take difficult| |stands in some of the most difficult business situations. |Azim Premji – Truth – Decisions – Actions – Challenges | | | |There are millions of children today who don’t attend school. However, education is the only way to get ahead in this country. | |Azim Premji – Learning – Encouragement – Poverty | | | |In our way of working, we attach a great deal of importance to humility and honesty; With respect for human values, we promise to serve our | |customers with integrity. | |Azim Premji – Truth – Customers | | | Azim Hasham Premji
If you have read the past one week’s Economic Times you know who is the personality of the fortnight. Almost everyday the cover page of the Economic Times carries news about Wipro. The Indian Software Giant started by the Bill Gates of India Azim Hasham Premji, this fortnight’s personality of Bizkool. com. Three decades ago Azim Hasham Premji, now 53, abandoned his engineering studies at Stanford two quarters short of graduation. The cooking oil business remains, and so do several other basic consumer product lines; but the real glamour in Wipro are computers and software. Glamour pays off. Controlling 75% of the stock, Premji is India’s first infotech billionaire. If Premji is a Bill Gates, he’s a very Indian version of him.
Although information technology holds the greatest promise for Wiprouit’s the third-largest infotech provider in India, behind the HCL and Tata groupsuit remains a rather conventional Indian conglomerate, with interests ranging from vegetable oil to lighting to software. For family-controlled Indian companies that prospered in a protected economy, Premji provides a lesson in how to succeed in a global market. A very private person, Premji has never associated with the Bombay Club, a group of Indian businessmen opposed to policies favoring foreign investment. Rather than seek protection from the government as some industrialists do, Premji welcomes international competition. “It raises product quality and xpands the market,” he says. He was an innovator long before he entered the world of computers. Premji’s first task on returning home from Stanford was to modernize the vegetable oil business. “We were the pioneers in packaging for the mass market,” says Premji. “A customer would go to a retail shop and ask for 50 grams, 100 grams of vanaspati [solidified fat]. The retailer would scoop it up from an open boxuin which there were crawling mosquitoes and fliesuand put it in a plastic container. We went from bulk packs of vanaspati to [smaller size] consumer packs. ” That worked; but after studying in America, Premji wasn’t going to be satisfied with cooking oil.
In 1980 Wipro began building minicomputers with technology licensed from Sentinel Computer Corp. , U. S. A. It was the first of many international partnerships and long preceded India’s opening up to the global economy in the early 1990s. To gain credibility, Premji stressed service. Wipro sold directly to corporate customers and provided after sale service, thus establishing its brand. It also started distributing products by such well-known companies as Canon, Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard and Sun Microsystems. It also distributed software from Adobe, Borland and Netscape and began designing and manufacturing dot matrix printers with technology from Epson.
Early in the PC era 1985 Wipro allied with Acer, the Taiwanese PC-maker. “Our [PC] the first 18 months was largely an Acer kit,” says Ashok Soota, former group president of Wipro Infotech. It’s no great trick to assemble computers in India, and local products, being 30% cheaper than international brands, have 75% of the market in units. For the nonpremium market, a local product was needed, so this year Wipro introduced a computer with only its name on it. Additionally, Soota, taking advantage of India’s huge pool of educated English-speakers, has added network and facilities management services for both international and domestic customers.
Thus, a customer with a problem might call a help number and never know that the call has been beamed to India for resolution. Wipro had been writing software since getting into the computer business. Premji and Soota have the highest hopes for this part of their business. “We knew we could become a world player in software,” Soota says. Because software is labor-intensive, India has a huge advantage in that a good engineer who might fetch $60,000 per year in the U. S. is happy to earn $10,000 in India. Wipro began doing custom projects for customers, all of it for export. Last fiscal year Wipro’s software exports exceeded $100 million. “We’re growing iterally as fast as we can based on the availability of skilled and trained manpower,” says Soota. Now Wipro is beginning to concentrate on what Premji calls “domain skills.. ” Among the “domains” on which Wipro is concentrating for exportuespecially to the U. S. uare health care, telecommunications, enterprise resource planning and data communications. As India deregulates its telecommunications, Soota says Wipro intends to become a full-service Internet provider for domestic customers. Wipro already offers E-mail and data transfer networks. Once the state-owned Internet service loses its monopoly, the number of Internet users in India is expected to increase as prices fall.
Information technology comprises nearly 60% of Wipro’s revenues, but the group’s overall operating margin of 14% is less than half that of firms specializing in software, such as Infosys Technologies, says R. Ravi, an analyst at Birla Marlin Securities in Bombay. Wipro’s software margins exceed 30%, but its margins in computer hardware are only about 5%. As software’s growthu50% annually, predicts Raviucontinues to outpace the rest of the company, overall operating margins will rise to 18% in four years’ time. Wipro’s own target is a 60% growth in software by next year. Securities analysts say that Wipro should withdraw from unprofitable businesses such as lighting and financial services. In lighting, Wipro is up against foreign companies such as Philips and General Electric.
In financial services, bad deals forced it to take a US$14 million write-off this year. But Premji has no intention of selling laggards, such as the lighting division. “Every business goes up and down, “he says. One that’s going up is health care equipment. Premji takes pride in Wipro’s joint venture with GE Medical Systems to manufacture medical hardware like CAT scanners and X-ray and ultrasound machines. Wipro-GE Medical Systems is a truly high-tech operation. It builds and designs portable ultrasound machines for export and writes software for GE’s U. S. -made CAT scan and MRI equipment. Operating margins in health care systems are 10%.
Although Premji is a billionaire, he doesn’t flaunt his wealth. In India, he travels by economy class and stays in value-for-money hotels. “Azim is extremely ambitious, committed and hardworking,” says Harsh Mariwala, managing director of Marico Industries, a maker of cooking oils. “Best of all he runs an ethical organization. ” Premji’s reputation for always playing it straight enables him to stand out in a notoriously corrupt country. Wipro’s code of conduct for employees: Don’t do anything that you’re unwilling to have published in tomorrow’s newspaper with your photograph next to it. “Azim’s integrity is unshakable; it’s a mission with him, “says V. S. Mahesh, usiness professor at the University of Buckingham in the U. K. and Wipro’s former head of human resources. This is one reason, says Mahesh, why Wipro has been able to hire the brightest graduates in India. “Rather than work with dubious organizations at higher salaries, they join Wipro,” says Mahesh. No family members work at the group, and Premji has made it clear that his sons, Tariq and Rishad, both students, will have to earn a place in the company. It’s standards such as this that make Wipro a model for other Indian firms to follow. India can count itself lucky that Premji returned home rather than building his career in Silicon Valley.
And lastly to rebuild your memory the mcap of Wipro had crossed the 2,04,200 crore ($46. 8bn) mark for a Rs 2 paid up share and today Azim Premji is the World’s third richest man with a maddening networth of $35. 25bn. An Employee Who Shares this experience WORKING in WIPRO… Many may have heard of the corporate stories of Wipro ,Azim Premji, but let me give you the inside story of Wipro ,as how I percieve and not bore you with stats ,share market and figures of company’s achievement. This was the first company I joined after I passed out from my graduation as a campus recruit and that is the best thing that could have ever happened to my career.
As a fresh novice out of the college ,it indeed takes a lot to be moulded as a professional software engineer. I am not boasting of myself, but when I look myself 2 years ago and the quality of job I delivered initially, I just cant help but wonder how ignorant or the wide gap that exists between the theoritical knowledge in college to the actual scenario in industry. This is where my experience with Wipro initally helped me into getting into changing my attitude and style of work and bring in that methodical approach in delievering the goods. Wipro is into almost all segments of IT ,and you name any top comapny in the world they are in the client list of Wipro one time or the other.
This is one of the big advantages that even though you are associated with one company you get to work with all top clients across the globe and enrich your experience. I have worked with Hewlett Packard, Boeing , Intel and you never feel as though you are in one company for such a long time. Coming for the work atmosphere ,it just cant get casual than here . I still feel I am in college . (Hope my HR/manager is not reading this). Friendly jovial work enironment,wonderful collegues ,fantastic infrastructure all makes it even more enjoyable to work here . Imagine a manager sitting on your head bossing around ,thats the last thing I can ever bear and think of in this company. The work timing is so flexible that nobody bothers you ,of course unless you have completed your job.
But the experience varies depending on which project or group you are in. In a comapny with a strength of nearly 10,000+ and so many locations ,the opinions and experience can be quite diverse and some of my fellow collegues may not agree with me . Anyway,different strokes for different folks. There are some projects wherein if you are stuck you can be stuck for life. Eventhough again it is left to the individual who can always volunteer to move out to differnt project if one is not intersted in it. This open culture is one positive aspect in ths organisation ,you can always walk into your managers room without any hesitation and can always chalk out your career plans .
Another drawback of working for any particluar MNC is you will be engaged with a particular client the whole time and will miss out on the varied experience of working for different clients Wipro is known for its world class top management. Check the credentials of any manager heading any senior position in any software company in Inida he is sure to have some association with Wipro in his past career. There are so many companies that have spinned of from the parent comapny ,(the most famous being Mindtree consulting, Alopa networks etc ) but the giant is least intimidated by it and has stood out as a colossus. It has always remained the breeding ground for quality professionals.
If u check out the database of Wipro for ppl having 5-10 years of experience,you can find hundreds of them ,which is a big asset which no company can boast of in this relatively young upcoming software market. Wondering why, when I am praising the company to the skies? There are a few drawbacks…. no doubt that the pay/perks are less compared to MNC’s and it was too hard to resist the offer from them . Then asking why the heck did I chose to stay back? Let me tell you I was tempted with hunderds of offers with rosy figures when the market was at its peak a year back. But one should have analysed the fact that the situation was not realistic and it had to settle down to some level of sanity, and how true I was when I look at the market now.
The quality of work which most MNC’s dump for offshore work is rather not worthy(with exceptions) to enhance your resume and after some period the marketability of your skill set may pose a big question mark . SO I think for the sake of your career in the beginning atleast, it is necessary to concentrate on quality of your work . But again I believe, you have to be at right place and right time to have a good projects. Oh god this is looking more like a career counselling,so let me cut short. As for other drawbacks, moving up the hierarchy may really be a big challenege and difficult and one genuine reason why some good people may have left the company in pursuing for more greener pastures. I believe there is a level of saturation for your role after a certain level.
As for the present situation in times of recession, no doubt there are many pink slips(Official notice that you have been fired from your job) issued ,but comapred to the percentage of those who are laid off in other big MNC’s ,it is quite negligible here. Indian companies with strong buisness models like Infosys and Wipro infact has fared pretty decently in these hard times . Infosys is another worthy company which I feel has almost identical (but a bit hyped up ) buisness model and work culture compared to Wipro and there is very little to differentiate between the two. These are the two comapnies that India can truley be proud of for its global outlook and setting high standards through their constant innovativeness.
Even the founders of these companies like Narayn Murthy and Premji have set different ethical values for other business tycoons to ponder upon. Human Resources & Leadership WCCLG believes in the creative talent of its employees. Our people policies and systems radiate this principle. At WCCLG we have, therefore, created a ‘culture’, which is distinctive in the FMCG industry. Our stress on Empowerment helps Employees gain a level of freedom, which provides security, satisfaction, and, most importantly, a sense of professional fulfilment. At WCCLG, learning is a continuous process. Our Human Resources Development Department offers training programmes for employees right through their career.
We attach high significance to Career planning and Succession planning both of which are linked to our Training Interventions to provide our employees with a good blend of skill development, behavioural and core programmes provide stimulus for growth and career development. Training interventions are customized to keep employees in touch with the latest trends in management. Emphasis is laid on creativity, innovation, achievement orientation for excellence, empowerment, augmenting communication and interpersonal skills and developing initiative and leadership. The compensation package offered by WCCLG compares favourably with respective industries in which we operate. The Divisions accelerated growth plans opens up an array of employment opportunities for professionals at various levels. We seek achievers with an excellent track record.
EPS (Employee Performance Survey) Results WCCLG scores were the highest among the BU’s for the following parameters as perceived by it’s employees in a recent survey: |[pic|Contact between Top mgmt and employees | |] | | |[pic|Challenging work assignments | |] | | |[pic|Grooming for Higher responsibilities | |] | |[pic|Quality for supervisor feedback | |] | | |[pic|Importance given to appraisals | |] | | Careers with WCCLG offer an opportunity to hone your skills in distribution as well as stretch your marketing acumen. Cross-functional exposure, an open work culture and highest standards of integrity are some of the things we pride ourselves on.
We believe that growth is limited only by vision and this applies to companies as well as individuals. Women Employees The Wipro power pack Anjali Prayag |The glass ceiling has been conquered here. Neither an inch given nor taken away because you’re a woman. And, an equal opportunity to work your| |way right to the top. A look at some of the Wipro family’s top women. | [pic] Mythily Ramesh JAYASHREE Joglekar, Nagamani Murthy, Mythily Ramesh and Veena Padmanabhan. Wipro has put its deserving women where they belong. Right at the top. Nagamani Murthy, Vice-President, Carrier Networks Unit, Wipro Technologies, quickly corrects this statement, “We have worked our way up,” says the telecom division head.
She points to another simple home truth: “All of us are happily married, we have managed children and work with no major problems on the family front. ” What makes Wipro one of the few companies (IT or non-IT) to have at least four women heading its various divisions? Was it the company that attracted these talented women or did the latter choose the Indian software giant to prop up their corporate ladders and make their way right up to the top? Says Jayashree Joglekar, Vice-President, Government Solutions, and Head of Wipro Technologies’ Pune facility, “I’m not an old-timer like the others. When I returned from the US after stints with Bell Labs and AT&T, I was debating which company to join. Then I heard about Wipro having a high-integrity and high-value system.
And the choice was made. ” Her responsibility includes the Pune centre that has 500 employees and now she’s been awarded the additional responsibility of `Government Solutions’. [pic] Nagamani Murthy Unlike Jayashree, Nagamani has been with the company for over a decade now. “After graduating in engineering, I joined Texas Instruments where I worked in the IC area. But then I realised that though the MNC gave me excellent exposure to the industry, there were some people issues that I was not comfortable with. For instance, in any MNC you cannot voice your thoughts. But at Wipro, people are willing to listen which was a pleasant surprise when I moved here in 1991. One reason why Veena Padmanabhan, Manager, Talent Engagement and Development, Wipro Technologies, chose the company after graduating from XLRI was because the company never beat the drums about its women-friendly practices. “It was part of the system, nothing to shout about from the rooftops. ” Another influencing factor was that Wipro was not an individual-driven company. “No one personality rules here which is refreshing,” she comments wryly. Talking about women-friendly practices, Veena says even during her initial days in Delhi, her peers in the sales and support function never remonstrated about any bias. “Not one inch was given or taken away because of the gender factor. “Discrimination, either positive or negative, does not exist in the company’s HR dictionary.
But, of course, Veena points out, some concessions are made, like travel rescheduling, tie-up with a creche or extended maternity leave, wherever required. Jayashree deliberates on the macro issues of the subject, “There are challenges for a woman at this level in the industry which is true across the world. Wipro or India is not an exception. Not that life’s easier here. But I must say I get a lot of support from the senior management at Wipro which makes all the difference. ” Flexibility in work culture is what all these women vouch for. Do they attribute this climb to the fact that they were in a growing industry, that too a knowledge industry where the rules are different, or was it something to do with Wipro’s people policies?
A culture of performance Mythily Ramesh, Vice-President and Business Head, 01markets, a division of Wipro Infotech, who was a founding member of the 01markets team and has been a Wiproiite for the last 14 years, says it’s been pure performance that has got her to the top. She ascribes her success to the culture prevailing in the company. While it’s true that any service industry has more women than a traditional manufacturing set-up, Mythily feels in her case it’s more to do with the culture of Wipro. “At Wipro, the rule is you deliver and you succeed, nothing else matters. ” Nagamani feels it’s a combination of both. “It depends on how you measure success.
Some of my contemporaries at TI have quit to become entrepreneurs and are fairly successful. If I had continued there, would I have followed suit is a million-dollar question. ” She pinned on the Wipro badge when the company was at a growth stage while TI was at a start-up stage. “Maybe that also made a difference,” she smiles. [pic] Veena Padmanabhan Veena agrees that the industry does have some advantages. But she’s wary about the `woman factor’ at Wipro. “Frankly, it has never occurred to me that I have either an advantage or a disadvantage because I’m a woman. ” Does this neutral attitude help during recruitment? Or do women need assurances that the company has no gender bias either way?
Says Veena, “When I go for selection, it’s very clear that when two people are in the fray, they have an equal opportunity of getting selected, irrespective of the sex. ” Nagamani, who handles 700 people in her division, says Wipro has become a way of life for her. She admits to having become more vocal, but thinks through before taking any action. “I realise that in any job unless you communicate there’s no way you can grow. ” She points out to some ways in which Wipro has changed her personally, “I’m more focused, more quality-conscious and more process-oriented. This is because my job demands that I be all this. ” Even at home, Nagamani confesses, she subconsciously puts these management practices at work.
Mythily too acknowledges that as a Wiproiite she is constantly organising herself. “I have action plans and to-do lists for everything,” she laughs, recalling that when her son “had problems with his school grades, I found myself advising him on how to focus on the process of studying and suggested maybe he should change that. ” Wiproiites, especially women, are always on the planning mode, which is a great advantage, she says. What about the glass ceiling? Is it just a popular coffee table term or a hard reality? Jayashree is emphatic. “There’s definitely what is called the Old Boys’ Network. We cannot get into that or it just does not work for women. Nagamani’s comment is more advisory: “Instead of griping about it, I think young girls should be more focused and set a fixed goal and work towards it. But not many of them are doing this, and it bothers me. ” Mythily remembers that long ago Wipro Mumbai’s sales team had a large number of women and it was producing one of the best sales results in the country. Playing fair With 20 per cent women in its people set-up, Wipro goes beyond women-friendly practices, says a proud Joydeep Bose, General Manager, HR, Wipro Corporation. He says this figure is a fair representation of the talent that is available for employment. “Generally, companies and people have a mental block about women in top positions.
This could be either in reporting to them or working with them as team members. And it’s also perceived that women need a higher degree of support in their work-life balance. At Wipro, none of these factors have become issues either while recruiting or during succession planning. That’s why I think some of the key roles here are played by women,” he says. Referring to another crucial aspect, Bose adds, “This fair representation of women is helpful when our international clients inquire about diversity and other related issues. Also, when we go for campus recruitment, we make sure there’s one woman on the cell to give a subtle hint that we are an equal opportunity company. ” [pic][pic]