Domestic company Foreign Command
Wipro CEO Thierry Delaporte
In the era of liberalization, various changes are being seen in the industry. One of these changes is that Indian companies are also now having foreign CEOs. Indian industry has achieved only one success as Wipro's overseas CEO. If this cycle of success continues, then the Indian industry will be transformed in the coming years.
When French national Thierry Delaporte took over as CEO of Indian IT services company Wipro Limited, the winds were not in favor of the company. For the first time in its history in FY19, it moved to the fourth position in terms of revenue among IT companies in India. It used to be the second largest company in terms of revenue in the early days of India's IT era from 1984 to 1998 and then moved to the third position after Tata Consultancy Services Ltd and Infosys Ltd. But after that the Noida headquartered HCL Technologies Limited moved up to the third position. Speed matters a lot in the technology services and consulting business, which includes Wipro. Business grows with business. Satisfied customers go ahead and connect customers, vendors and others to the company. Wipro was clearly losing momentum in this matter. Delaport's predecessor CEO Abid Ali Neemuchwala, who took over in 2016. He then declared a mission to turn the company into a $15 billion enterprise by 2020. But when he resigned in early 2020, the company's revenue had reached just over $8 billion. The competition was tougher than ever. TCS and . Big rivals such as Infosys held their ground, while many smaller IT companies started venturing into niche areas and competencies. Global majors such as Accenture, IBM and Capgemini had large growth centers in India and were partially outnumbered by the competition.
Customer needs were increasingly moving towards new areas such as digital, cloud, analytics, machine learning, internet of things and artificial intelligence. Furthermore, Wipro's organizational structure was also not particularly agile. On top of all this, when the CEO took over the charge of the company based in Paris, on 6 July 2020, the world came under the grip of the Kovid-19 pandemic. It was uncertain whether the new CEO would be able to visit his company's Bengaluru headquarters. Well, it's been a year since he was in the job and he hasn't moved to Bengaluru yet.
A remote success,
The CEO of Wipro today has a nascent story of an incredible transformation to tell. Today's time also has a role in this. Today, due to the pandemic, digitization has accelerated across the world and IT companies have seen a boom in their business. The CEO of the company has to keep his ship in the same direction as the direction of the wind. Investors are applauding Delaport's moves. The company's shares have more than doubled in value since he joined the company. Sensex is up 47 per cent. Wipro on 23 April reclaimed its position as the third largest Indian IT company by market cap from HCL Technologies after a gap of 18 months. Changes in the company's structure have been aggressive. The new CEO has implemented a five-point strategy. Accelerating growth through prioritizing regions and markets This includes strengthening relationships with strategic customers and partners, growing the company's portfolio of business solutions, building talent, and simplifying operating models. The new CEO said in an interview that our simplified operating model has been designed with customers at the center. Our new operating model will drive tailored agility and empowerment for customers. A major step in the new CEO's tenure so far has been the acquisition of London-based Capco in March this year, the largest acquisition in Wipro's history for $1.45 billion. The deal is expected to boost Wipro's presence in the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sectors, which contribute about 30 per cent of the total revenue. However, analysts are a bit cautious about the Capco acquisition. Capco's revenue stability is a matter of concern, as it could put another strain on Wipro's already low growth. The new CEO aims to complement CAPCO's business model, while also adopting a flexible and open approach, so that the two companies can jointly provide solutions to customers. He says that in the next few quarters, Wipro will develop a unified operating model to make the most of its capabilities. The strong brand presence and recognition of CAPCO in the US and UK markets will continue to sustain the CAPCO brand. Wipro has an aggressive stance on mergers and acquisitions, as these are an integral part of their business strategy.
This will strengthen the company's position in the market and services sector. Wipro has also struck other acquisition deals in the recent past, including Australian cyber security company Empion, IncorTheme
, as well as IT services providers for the financial services, retail and manufacturing sectors in Europe, the Middle East and Brazil. Senior Director Analyst DD Mishra says that Wipro is going through a lot of changes and is revamping its operating model. This strategy (race for acquisition) is a necessary initiative. It may take some time to see the results. Chairman Rishad Premji, who considers Delaport as his choice, feels he has made the right choice. He says he has made bold changes keeping in mind the customer centricity and growth of the organization, driven by a culture of high performance and strong values.
Generation after generation:-
Rishad is the third generation leader of the Premji family, who is in charge of Wipro. Wipro inherited it from his father, Azim H. Premji. Rishad's grandfather, Mohammad Hashim Premji, formed the company in 1945 under the name Western India Vegetable Products. Wipro entered the IT industry in 1981. Ashok Narasimhan became its founding CEO. Premji did away with the joint CEO model in 2011 and appointed TK Kurien, the company's stalwart. But in 2013, Wipro had to shut down its hardware business. Kurien was replaced by Abid Ali Neemuchwala in 2016, but he failed to meet his ambitious target of turning Wipro into a $15 billion company.
Right and Necessary Investments:-
The new CEO's investment plans span a wide spectrum from sales to partnerships, capabilities, intellectual property, culture and talent. The company is working on the ground plan for recruitment of experts. These experts will be special talent, technology savvy and right minded people.
This is a big area of investment. Delaporte also believes that earlier Wipro did not have a high-performance culture. Perhaps we were too friendly before. Our earlier delivery structure was too complex with different delivery units, too many repetitions and slow decision making. With massive Covid vaccination and government incentives, he expects the economy to bounce back strongly. The IT sector will definitely grow well. The new CEO has a lot of work to do. Wipro employees are looking forward to meeting their 54-year-old CEO and their CEO says planning to visit soon.