Tag: Wipro

Appirio to be Wipro’s SaaS Weapon | Sherpas in Blue Shirts

October 21, 2016

Wipro’s acquisition of Indianapolis-based Appirio – which provides cloud consulting services and helps organizations move applications to the cloud – will help increase its portfolio in the SaaS market and highlights a change in Wipro’s strategy from traditional outsourcing provider to new age company, placing a long-term bet on digital transformation. It will also add further steam to the cloud race among top-tier IT service providers.

Appirio Fast Facts
Appirio was founded in 2006 and has received US$111.7 million in funding from investors including Fidelity Management, General Atlantic, GGV Capital, Salesforce, and Sequoia Capital. It has around 1,250 employees, offices in Dublin, Indianapolis, Jaipur, London, San Francisco, and Tokyo, and renowned logos as clients – Facebook, HomeDepot, Honeywell, NYSE, Sony Playstation, Starbucks, and Toyota, to name just a few.

What can Wipro aim to gain?
Strategic Partner for Salesforce Implementation – Salesforce implementation contributes the most revenue in Wipro’s SaaS implementation services, and Wipro is known for its complex transformation-led projects in the CRM space. The Appirio acquisition will further strengthen its position as a leading Salesforce consultant.

Cloud Transformation Expertise – Wipro will be able to consolidate its existing Salesforce and Workday cloud application practices to launch a new practice with a comprehensive suite of cloud services under the Appirio brand. The new brand, if marketed well, can bring an uptick in Wipro’s CRM market share.

Enhanced Customer Experience – Appirio has established its name in the market by delivering an exceptional customer experience to its clients. Wipro’s global delivery capabilities combined with Appirio’s customer focus can help cross-sell CRM services to its existing client base.

Improved Market Outlook – The acquisition will help Wipro marginally move towards its highly aspirational target to exceed US$15 billion in revenue by 2020. Wipro forecasted a muted outlook for the July-September 2016 quarter, and a posted 2.6 percent rise in revenue in the previous quarter. Appirio has been a strong competitor to the likes of Accenture and Deloitte, which have gained considerable share in the cloud market, and joining forces with
Wipro will help it achieve its vision.

Acquisition Strategy – Including the Appirio acquisition, Wipro has spent US$1.13 billion in the last year on buying companies. It acquired Denmark-based design firm DesignIT for US$95 million, German technology company Cellent for US $78 million, and U.S.-based technology firm HealthPlan Services for US$460 million. Wipro’s strategy to enhance its portfolio of services by acquiring niche startups, a clear departure from its previous strategy of fewer acquisitions, will get a boost from the Appirio purchase.

What should Wipro be careful about?

Topcoder Marketplace Integration – Appirio in 2013 bought Topcoder, a leading crowdsourcing marketplace it combined with CloudSpokes to create a community of 1,000,000 designers, developers, and data analytics experts. It will be interesting to see how Wipro is able to integrate Topcoder and align to the interests of those in the community who are usually averse to working with an IT service provider.

Reaping long-term synergies – As exhibited by many unsuccessful acquisitions in the industry, it is not easy to reap benefits and synergies from a strategy acquisition. It will be worth watching how Wipro is able to expand its digital transformation capabilities with the integration of Appirio into its cloud transformation practice.

Race for Cloud Consulting Acquisitions
While acquisitions in the CRM space have not been as profound as in the digital space, providers are increasingly acquiring their cloud companies and partners to promote their cloud first agenda:

  • In September 2015, Accenture bought Cloud Sherpas, a leader in cloud advisory and technology services specializing in Google, Salesforce, and ServiceNow
  • In April 2016, IBM bought Bluewolf, one of Salesforce’s top partners and a global leader in cloud consulting and implementation services
  • In March 2016, IBM acquired Optevia, a U.K.-based SaaS system integrator that specializes in delivering solutions, specifically Microsoft Dynamics, to government entities
  • In January 2016, Accenture acquired Netherlands-based CRMWaypoint , a company that specializes in Salesforce cloud solutions for sales, service, and marketing
  • In January 2016, Capgemini acquired Oinio, a leading European Salesforce partner, to augment its capabilities in Salesforce solutions and platform across Europe and Asia
  • In January 2016, Cognizant acquired KBACE Technologies, a global technology company specializing in cloud strategy and implementation, and a leading Oracle Cloud partner
  • In September 2015, Microsoft purchased the key product and technology assets of its Dynamic CRM partner ADxstudio.

With the completion of this acquisition, what will the future hold for independent cloud consulting firms – and Appirio competitors – such as Acumen Solutions and Celigo? Will top IT service providers continue to quickly expand their capabilities through acquisitions, or instead make long term investments in reskilling their existing workforce? Only time will tell, but we’ll be sure to keep our eyes on this space.

Wipro’s HPS Acquisition: What’s for Sure … And Not So Sure | Market Insights™

February 16, 2016

Wipro Acq of HPS

Click image to enlarge

Wipro’s February 2016 acquisition of HealthPlan Services (HPS), an IT and Business-Process-as-a- Service (BPaaS) provider to U.S. payers and managed care organizations, is its fourth in less than a year, and the largest since 2007. The acquisition is part of Wipro’s effort to access non-linear revenue models as the global services landscape experiences ongoing churn.

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HCL vs. Wipro Soccer Matchup & the Digital Services Hullabaloo | Sherpas in Blue Shirts

September 11, 2015

In the last 10 days, analysts tracking digital services across the world woke up to highly savvy India-heritage service providers lapping up marquee digital deals in the world of sports. These new partnerships include HCL and Manchester United (soccer), Wipro and Chelsea (also soccer), and Infosys and the ATP World Tour (this one in tennis.)

These deals are prized because of the impact they create.

  • Strong digital services pedigree for these service providers: Because of their brand association with offshoring, labor arbitrage, and pure-play services focus, the India-heritage providers have traditionally been frowned upon when they entered the discourse on digital and technology products and platforms. Such deals will go a long way in changing this pedigree and association
  • Brand recall and stakeholder connect: Digital services are a different ball game. As you are not necessarily selling to the CIO, you need to reach stakeholders unreachable through the traditional sales route. These deals are excellent in that regard. For instance, Manchester United has 659 million followers across the world, second only to Facebook. Imagine the kind of global reach and exposure the deal creates for the HCL brand!

Sponsorship deals under the garb of services?

As an industry analyst, I am used to analyzing deals for their profitability and total contract value, i.e., the impact they create on the books in upcoming quarters. Looking at the above deals through this lens, I immediately saw that these are not traditional services deals. In fact, something tells me they will not figure similarly on the accounts as other services deals do. Indeed, Infosys candidly called out that it will be a “Global Technology Services Partner and Platinum Sponsor” of the ATP World Tour. Hence, it does not take a Sherlock Holmes to deduce that these three deals are essentially sponsorship arrangements (with an inbuilt services component) that the service providers have entered into under the garb of a services construct. A very easy way to decipher this is to compare the positioning of HCL’s and Wipro’s logos on the Manchester United and Chelsea websites, respectively. It makes it very clear which provider “spent” more on their “sponsorship.”

Take a look at the Manchester United website and you’ll see HCL’s logo is at the top of the page, right on top of ManU’s.

Manchester United

But when you check Chelsea’s website, you have to scroll all the way down to discover Wipro’s logo sitting in a corner sulking with Singha Beer for company.

Chelsea FC

So what?

Am I contemptuous of this sponsorship-deals-under-the-garb-of-services construct? Not at all! In fact, I am pleasantly surprised by the gumption shown by HCL, Infosys, and Wipro in taking this leap of faith to build a strong brand connect and pedigree. It shows they are willing to challenge the traditional constructs and meet the digital market head on. In a highly consumer-oriented world, new business will not come by just being efficient nerds. India-heritage companies are up against the likes of VC-funded start-ups, reforming technology majors (Google, IBM, Microsoft) and niche enterprise software firms (NetSuite, Workday, etc.,) all of which have stronger credentials in digital constructs. Given the buzz these deals have created, there is enough market validation for the tactical approach taken by these service providers. What is even better is that these are not typical paid sponsorship deals – these service providers will actually be providing services that will be touch and feel for millions of fans of these sporting giants. If they successfully manage it, this will create an exponentially stronger brand recall compared to what they have achieved in decades – being efficient service providers to enterprises, working in black boxes.

Hence, do not be surprised if TCS, which sponsors the New York Marathon (and many other races), turns around tomorrow and says that it is sponsoring managing all IoT (health sensors, speed sensors), platforms, and analytics of the race.

Keep watching this space for more on these developments!

Photo credit: Flickr

Wipro Commits to Service Delivery Automation | Sherpas in Blue Shirts

June 18, 2015

I recently spent a very productive day with Wipro as they showed examples of their commitment to service delivery automation – a commitment I observed as more than in any other service provider. HOLMES, their recently unveiled artificial intelligence platform is just the beginning of this serious commitment. Here are three very important aspects of this commitment.

Step one: IP and funding

Some time ago Wipro recognized that the service industry is changing very profoundly, and a significant secular driver of the change is new automation technologies that allow customers to automate a dramatically higher number of services than has been automated in the past. They took concrete steps to address this change.

They recognized not only the customer impact of implement automation in their workflow but also the impact to the service provider. Over time, the value will be captured by the automation owner, not by the service provider. Therefore, Wipro decided to invest in owning its automation IP – and that involves not just funding the initial build but also ongoing investments.

That’s not to say that when Wipro deploys automation in their accounts they will employ exclusively their own IP, but they recognize the need for a significant portion being their own IP.

Step two: stepping up the pace

Wipro allocated a large, dedicated team into building its automation platform, which they named HOLMES. But unlike some other providers, they extensively used open source software to get a head start and then layered in their own development on top of the open source component. This allowed them to move quickly in bringing compelling functionality to the marketplace.

Step three: executive preparation for internal disruption 

The third aspect of Wipro’s automation strategy is their commitment from CEO TK Kurien on down through the leadership ranks to bring this to the marketplace. TK and senior leadership are committed to take this service delivery capability into their existing client base as well as use the automation platform as a challenger to gain new share in the market.

I believe bringing automation into their existing client base will be the most challenging endeavor, and they acknowledge that it will be disruptive and may be cannibalistic to their revenue flows.

We await to see how they handle such disruption. The details revealed to me were somewhat vague as to how they will realign their incentives to allow their account teams to do this. But certainly the executive commitment is such that it’s possible they will take the necessary steps to make incentive changes.

They are preparing for the inevitable disruption that will accompany the drive to become a leader in automated service delivery.

Perspective on Wipro’s Cost Reduction | Sherpas in Blue Shirts

April 30, 2015

Wipro is reportedly looking at headcount and cost-reduction exercise in the realm of $300+ million. Why are they doing this? Is it a good idea? Of a few possible interpretations for wringing out costs, here’s my opinion – starting with my belief that this undertaking was inevitable. The more important question is how will they do it?

Wipro’s action comes on the back of similar news about TCS and IBM and is predicated by the pricing pressures hitting leading service providers. As I blogged recently, pricing pressure has become acute with existing clients looking for significant cost reductions.

In addition, the market is changing and clients are more insistent about requiring onshore resources; this raises operational costs for the Indian firms, which need to invest in a richer set of capabilities on shore. These resources located close to the customer are substantially more expensive for Wipro and other providers than their India-based resources.

It’s a case of when push comes to shove; if Wipro and other providers are to maintain reasonable margins or be competitive, something has to give. That “something” is the necessity to take out costs to allow them to meet the pricing pressures and allow them to hire the onshore resources that clients increasingly insist upon.

How will they achieve the cost reduction? 

I think Wipro and others will move further into the industrialized factory model, which relies on an ever-widening pyramid that pushes work down to lower-cost resources and eliminates middle-management roles.

However, I think the strategy of moving deeper into the pyramid model raises the risk of further commoditizing the space and increasing churn. And clients are more and more intolerant of churn. The likely result is that it will open the door for firms like EPAM and others that differentiate around persistent teams of experienced engineers.

Wipro Takes on New Challenges in Driving Transformation | Sherpas in Blue Shirts

March 17, 2015

Wipro just hired Abid Ali Neemuchwala as COO and group president. Clearly the provider is setting up a succession plan for him to take over Wipro from current CEO, TK Kurien, who has been driving the firm’s transformation. This is an intriguing move as Wipro appears to be succeeding in the turnaround. So it makes sense that the industry is questioning the move. If the turnaround is, indeed, happening at Wipro, why bring in an outsider?

Abid comes to Wipro from TCS with a pedigree of having run the TCS BPO business. This is a big step up for him, from running a $2 billion business to a $9 billion business. The good news is Wipro is giving him at least a year to learn the ropes.

It’s interesting to reflect on why Wipro did this. I don’t believe the firm is stepping away from the transformation that TK Kurien has been driving. Nor do I think Wipro looks to capture some of the TCS magic and execution capability. I believe the firm is reinforcing its need to continue changing and is bringing in an outside perspective to drive change. This move follows in the footsteps of Infosys, which similarly brought in outside leadership.

Wipro gave TK formidable power, and five years, to drive significant change and transformation. Like any transformational plan, it has been painful and has taken time. But as I blogged before, the transformation is starting to show promise with Wipro wins picking up in the marketplace just as TK’s five years comes to a close.

So why bring in an outsider? I believe the answer is that the journey has just begun. The services industry is at an inflection point. It is clear that with changing technologies, client expectations and business models, leadership in the existing space does not guarantee leadership in the future. I think Wipro understands this and is looks to challenge its organization with fresh perspectives.

Running faster with the old model will not allow for leadership in the future. Fresh perspectives and augmenting existing talent is necessary to give Wipro the best chance at being a leader as the market evolves.

The challenges Abid will need to take on will shape and continue to drive Wipro to change how it delivers services, takes advantage of new technologies such as the digital and analytics space, and how it deals with changing client expectations demanding value beyond labor arbitrage. And Abid will bring new perspectives on how to successfully guide Wipro through the transition into the new business models of SaaS, BPaaS, platforms and consumption-based IT and business processes.

I think it’s a good move.

Photo credit: Wipro

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