Wipro CEO Thierry Delaporte writes mail to employees, highlights organisational changes -- full text

“Effective January 1, 2021, we will replace the current structure of seven Strategic Business Units, Service Lines and nine geographies with four Strategic Market Units (SMUs) and two Global Business Lines (GBLs).”

Bhanumurthy and Anand Padmanabhan will retire over the next few quarters, said Wipro CEO, adding, “We will soon have a Chief Technology Officer to chart the technical vision and innovation strategy for the company.”

Dear Wiproites,

I hope you are safe and healthy.

I’m always amazed by the remarkable commitment and resolve all of you have continued to demonstrate in these trying times. Thank you!

Last month, I detailed a set of priorities that will ensure our organisation is front and centre with our clients, and help build a fast-growing, innovative company that doesn’t shy away from reinventing itself.

Over the past four months, I have met with nearly 150 clients and partners, and talked to about 1000 employees in small groups across the globe. These conversations have reinforced my conviction that Wipro can draw on its deep reservoir of cultural strengths and core capabilities to take the leap forward. It is imperative that we change and improve how we are organised and how we operate so as to realise our ambitions.

For long now, our growth has been largely dependent on the US market. It is important that we broad base our growth. The new model seeks to achieve just this.

Besides ensuring adequate sector and domain focus in our go-to-market and execution, the new operating model will help drive growth in non-US markets.

The current complex delivery structure with multiple delivery units will be replaced by a simple delivery model that will yield economies of scale. Also, this model will provide a fillip to our goal of becoming an employer of choice, laying out well-defined career paths and creating an environment to attract, nurture and retain talent.

I have no doubt that an operating model marked by fewer layers, empowered P&L owners, and clearly defined ownership of performance metrics, underpinned by a simpler and more customer-focused delivery model will help us meet our desired outcomes. I expect the new structure to bring the best of Wipro closer to customers.

Effective January 1, 2021, we will replace the current structure of seven Strategic Business Units, Service Lines and nine geographies with four Strategic Market Units (SMUs) and two Global Business Lines (GBLs).

The four Strategic Market Units are Americas 1, Americas 2, Europe and Asia Pacific Middle East Africa (APMEA). While Americas 1 and Americas 2 are organised by sectors, Europe and APMEA are structured by countries.

Americas 1 will include the following sectors - Healthcare & Medical Devices, Consumer Goods & Lifesciences, Retail, Transportation & Services, Comm, Media & Info services, Tech Products & Platforms and LATAM. Americas 2 will include Banking, Citibank, Securities, IB & Insurance, Manufacturing, Hi-tech, Energy & Utilities and Canada. Europe will consist of the following 6 countries/regions – UK and Ireland, Switzerland, Germany, Benelux, Nordics and Southern Europe. APMEA will include 6 countries / regions as well - ANZ, India, Middle East, South East Asia, Japan and Africa. The SMUs in Europe and APMEA will be responsible for all industry sectors in these regions.

The two Global Business Lines: iDEAS (Integrated Digital, Engineering & Application Services) will include the following Service Lines - Domain and Consulting, Applications & Data, Engineering and R&D and Wipro Digital; the second GBL iCORE (Cloud Infrastructure, Digital Operations, Risk & Enterprise Cyber Security Services) will include CIS, DOP and CRS Service Lines.

The SMUs are organised by markets and GBLs by capabilities. While the SMUs will own the P&Ls, delivery and practices will be aligned with GBLs. The four SMUs together will form the P&L for Wipro.

I am pleased to announce that Srini Pallia will lead Americas 1, Angan Guha Americas 2, and N S Bala APMEA. The leader for Europe will be appointed in the coming weeks. I am also delighted to announce that Rajan Kohli will lead iDEAS and Nagendra Bandaru, iCORE. These leaders will share their organisation structures in due course.

I am pleased to announce that Srini Pallia will lead Americas 1, Angan Guha Americas 2, and N S Bala APMEA. The leader for Europe will be appointed in the coming weeks. I am also delighted to announce that Rajan Kohli will lead iDEAS and Nagendra Bandaru, iCORE. These leaders will share their organisation structures in due course.

They will be supported by a newly-created role of Chief Growth Officer, who will be announced soon. The Chief Growth Officer will play a key role in driving large deals and strengthening relationships with hyper-growth partners, besides overseeing marketing, advisor/analyst relationships, sales excellence and sales enablement.

Jatin Dalal will continue to head Finance, Saurabh Govil Human Resources, Deepak Acharya Legal, and Ajay Bhaskar Strategy and Transformation. Sanjeev Singh will transition to run Operations which will include the Chief Information Office, Quality, Talent Transformation, Talent Acquisition, and Global Immigration Management Services. In addition, we will soon have a Chief Technology Officer to chart the technical vision and innovation strategy for the company.

The SMU and GBL leaders, along with Functional Heads, will report to me.

Over the next few months, some of our tallest leaders will transition from the organisation. Bhanumurthy and Anand Padmanabhan (AP) will retire over the next few quarters. Over the past three decades, Bhanu and AP have played a seminal role in shaping Wipro to what it is today. A special thank you to them and their families for their immense contributions over the years. I also want to thank Milan Rao and Bill Stith for their valuable contributions over the past couple of years. Milan and Bill will transition from the organisation on December 31 2020.

Your collective will and effort have helped us lift our performance despite the dark shadows cast by the pandemic. I encourage you to continue to double down on your task at hand, retain a relentless focus on clients, and work towards producing an improved third quarter. This is a defining period for Wipro, and the industry. The structural changes I outline today are critical to accelerate our growth and reclaim our leadership position in the pantheon of global IT services companies.

There is no limit to what we can achieve together. Let us ignite a culture change to build a bolder tomorrow. Thank you again for your relentless hard work and commitment.