CIOIN

Laxman Badiga, CIO

Wipro Technologies

“We needed a communication enabled business process and software development model that would co-ordinate between teams.”

Executive summary

CIO 100 Winner: Badiga set up a communication model that converged voice, video, web and data for collaboration and enabled smooth communication through instant messaging, chats, etcetera.  The new model would facilitate VoIP over the Internet and integrate with other business processes.

In the business of providing integrated technology and process solutions on a global delivery platform, Wipro Technologies is a frontrunner. And when you are a global leader, it is imperative that multi-location operations within and outside your organization are collaborating well with instant communication and integrated information.

Laxman Badiga, CIO, Wipro Technologies, realized that the heterogeneous environment within and outside Wipro inhibited smooth co-ordination. He had an interesting proposition in mind: to integrate appropriate communication technologies into various business processes (like the recruitment process or the knowledge acquisition process) to increase agility and reduce cost.

"Integrating communication technologies into business processes, would improve co-ordination between teams spread across geographies, working on interdependent tasks," says Badiga.

Badiga zeroed in on a communication model that converged voice, video, web and data for collaboration and enabled smooth communication through instant messaging, chats, etcetera.  The new model would facilitate VoIP over the Internet and integrate with other business processes.

"We created multiple user profiles based on their need for communication and technologies. We piloted the same within these profiles," says Badiga.

Audio and videoconferencing were also included in the project. Alongside, they set up a federation of IMs with IM systems in their companies in other parts of the world as well as public IM's like Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail.

But to work the new technologies had to be interrelated with the business process and the distributed delivery model. "Because of the unique nature of the project, we had to put special focus on adaptation campaigns and organize internal training on web conference service," says Badiga.

The project has realized cost savings to the tune of Rs 12.5 crore. Wipro have the largest minutes on usage in the Asia Pacific region. Thanks to the project, Wipro is in instant and constant touch with their customers through Wipro's IM client. With more than 10,000 users on its network, the company has created a controlled and secure environment for instant efficient communication that is well ahead of its time.