Innovation to differentiate us in marketplace: Wipro

The company will significantly increase its rate of patent filing over the next three years

Wipro, India's third-largest IT services company, plans to harness opportunities in the technology space with a series of initiatives. In a letter to the shareholders in the company's annual report for 2014-15, Wipro Chief Executive Officer T K Kurien said the company would tap these opportunities backed by its twin themes - 'Run', which is about turbocharging the existing business, and 'Change', which focuses on preparing for the future. "We believe the twin themes will allow us to support our customer needs better and create a sustainable growth engine for ourselves," he said.

Wipro ended FY15 with a consolidated revenue of Rs 47,318 crore, growth of 8.7 per cent over the previous year, while the net profit touched Rs 8,653 crore, showing a rise of 11 per cent. On Run, Kurien said the company is investing heavily in developing automation and artificial intelligence capabilities through which it plans to "achieve a step-jump in productivity, quality and reduction in cycle times". Kurien has also assured the stakeholders that innovation is the key theme, which will help the company differentiate in the commoditised marketplace. "We will significantly increase our rate of patent filing over the next three years."

He said the company is making the organisation leaner and empowering managers to make quicker decisions to. "We have launched organisation-wide skill development programmes both in new technology domains and also in building capability for handling new business constructs and execution models. I am very happy with the way the organisation has risen to the challenge and feel quite enthused with the positive energy that I see in all my interactions with associates across geographies and age groups."

Wipro also plans to partner with the number of players within ecosystem to enhance its technology capability. It has already launched a $100-million corporate venture capital fund that will invest in start-ups with cutting-edge capability. "This fund will operate in concert with our existing M&A (mergers and acquisitions) programme that aims to fill in any gaps in market or technology presence," said Kurien.

Wipro chairman Azim Premji in his address to stakeholders said during the past 70 years of its existence, the company has continuously strived to enhance stakeholder value by operating in a sustainable and ethical manner. "Economic value is sustainable only if created on a foundation of ethics and responsibility."