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Wipro’s mantra is Faster, Better, Speedier: Vivek Paul

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CIOL Bureau
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Vivek Paul, the 41 year old President and CEO of Wipro

Infotech Software and Services Group has taken over the reigns from the 57 year old Ashok

Soota.

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The contrast in Mr Paul to Mr Soota’s and Mr Azim

Premji’s quiet and soft spoken ways can’t be more telling. This is the first big

change that has come in the wake of the restructuring of the company in April this year.

In fact, it was a change that was waiting to happen. For

one, there were not many in the industry who were willing to bet on Mr Soota remaining in

Wipro after the business was split into two. As for the choice of a rank outsider, well,

that is also in keeping with the management style of Mr Premji, who has often brought in

outsiders in key positions. But, what the move also clearly underlines is the

chairman’s ambitions in software. A well recognized name locally, nearly 50 percent

of Wipro Limited’s Rs 1,443 crore came from software exports. His goal, as declared

last year, is to become the largest software exporter by 2003 by getting to a billion

dollar in revenue.

It is anybody’s guess from where that growth would

come from. Says Mr Premji, "The first ingredient to building a global business as

opposed to having an international one, is being close to your customers both in proximity

and by proactively understanding their requirements. And to realise our vision of being a

global leader in software services, it was clear that we at Wipro have to move our centre

of gravity closer to our customers overseas." And so, in a dramatic departure from

past ways of working, the CEO will be located in Wipro’s Santa Clara office in

California in the US.

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It will be the first time that any Indian company CEO will

be based in the US while the operations itself are carried out from India. While the

person in question sees more advantages than disadvantages, there are many who question

the wisdom of having a long distance CEO. According to Mr Paul, "I can get a lot

closer to the market and consequently drive the organization in ways that a salesperson

sitting in the US cannot." While they don’t fully disagree on the logic of the

argument--after all, getting orders is more important than the delivery part of the

business--they are not sure of its feasibility, especially when it comes to providing

leadership to human resources and finance. Ironically, it is for the same reason that Mr

Paul prefers to be a remote CEO. Says he, "As CEO, I can concentrate on larger issues

instead of getting bogged down by transactional issues."

In his opinion, there are enough people in Team

Wipro, as

he calls them, to focus on the domestic affairs. He is not one bit worried. Between

travelling 6-8 times a year to India and Team Wipro, he is certain that operations will be

seamless. Interestingly enough, that’s one area where he intends to focus a large

part of his energies. In fact, of the three broad areas that he has identified for

immediate overhaul, getting rid of the `turbulence’ in the processes and making it

more global to enable seamless operation across the world is one of them. Says he,

"It’s the `how’ of what we do. When we improve this, we can do everything

faster." The other two areas are: getting close to customers to build services around

that need; and invest in replicable services built on IP (Intellectual Property) services.

All of the above would indicate definite changes in the

structure. But there are no evidence of it yet. Mainly because Wipro has just had a

restructuring in April and Mr Paul is "loathe" to bring about any changes

immediately. However, some changes can be expected around October-November when he has the

time to take it all in and arrive at a clear stated objective for the company. For sure,

some senior managers will be relocated to the US. Whether, we will see realignment of

business responsibilities is a debatable point at this juncture.

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It is early days yet to to talk of Wipro’s Software

and Services group’s strategy in the global markets, as very little of that is out

for public consumption. Currently Paul is in the "listening mode"--he would

rather listen to everyone concerned and formulate the business strategy--so that

"once the consensus on the strategy is gathered, we agree on the direction and then

just do it." Since the entire process is spread over 3 weeks of extensive

interaction, one can look forward to the strategy towards the end of August or early

September. But one thing is for sure. There will be an increased focus on the domestic

market with the intention of steeply increasing the learning curve and deploying the

learning in the global markets.

Just a fortnight old in the organization at the time of

meeting, Mr Paul brings with him a formidable reputation: a tough manager with a

no-nonsense attitude on one hand and on the other, a highly ethical and sensitive person

with the ability to empower and take people along with him. Wipro-ites have had a feel of

him earlier when he worked with the joint venture Wipro-GE Medical Systems Ltd in 1990. In

less than three years, he went on to become the CEO and President--a post he held

until1996--with the additional responsibility as Chairman of the Sales and Marketing

Council of Wipro Corporation.

Executive Vice President of Siemens Medical Engineering

Division Ltd C.R. Sahu swears by Mr Paul. Then with Wipro GE, Mr Sahu describes his

five-year professional association with Mr Paul in one word: fantastic. Says he, "He

brought channel business and key account concepts and achieved a milestone of Rs100 crore,

doubling business." Wipro GE, the joint venture company that started operations in

1990, became a major threat to Siemens which had been operating in the South Asia market

for over 30 years. The domestic market share of Wipro GE grew to 25 per cent and exports

in software and ultrasound systems from Wipro GE grew aggressively.

Can Mr Paul do it again? Mr Sahu is willing to bet

everything on Mr Paul’s "dynamism and foresight" to do it again. As for the

man himself, this is what he has to say to the challenge ahead of him. "Faster,

better, speedier is what Wipro wants to be and will be. As for reaching the top, I have

four more years to make it to the number one slot." Will it be the case of the famous

last words? Hope not but, in all sincerity, there are many in the past who have had to

live up to Chairman Premji’s expanding expectations and fallen short. One thing for

sure is that Mr Paul will be among the most watched and marked men!

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