Wipro to be more customer-centric after restructuring
08 Feb 2011
India's third-largest software and services exporter, the Bangalore-headquartered Wipro, has gone in for a major organisational restructuring, barely a fortnight after chairman Azim Premji scrapped the joint-CEO structure and appointed a CEO.
The $6 billion behemoth has been under-performing its peers over the last three quarters, widening the gap with the country's top two IT players, TCS Ltd and Infosys Technologies. Simultaneously, mid-sized IT companies including HCL Technologies, Cognizant and Tech Mahindra, have been narrowing the lead that Wipro has enjoyed.
The company has vertically split its IT services business into six strategic business units (SBUs), based on industry domains. Each SBU is expected to operate as an independent profit centre.
''With the change in environment, there is a need for a bolder, simpler and more agile organisational structure,'' said T K Kurien, who was appointed CEO, IT business, and executive director of Wipro, last month by Premji. ''The model that we have created now is centred on the customer and designed for swift, impeccable execution and single point accountability. Bottom-line, customers can expect a nimbler and more proactive Wipro to deliver value-driven business outcomes to them.''
According to Kurien, the announcement reflects the company's intention to have a simplified, customer-centric structure. The changes will be effective 1 April.
The new verticals include energy and utilities, finance solutions, media and telecom, pharmaceutical, healthcare and life-sciences, manufacturing and hi-tech and retail consumer goods, transportation and government. Rishad Premji, the chairman's son, will head the strategy and mergers and acquisitions function.
The restructuring sees the appointment of two new heads: Sangita Singh for the healthcare vertical and N.S. Bala, the combined manufacturing and hi-tech business vertical. Soumitro Ghosh will continue to head finance, Anand Padmanabhan continues in energy and utilities, Mark Fleming in media and Bhanumurthy in retail.
The restructuring has also not affected the BPO, product engineering services, technology infrastructure services and consulting services.