Laxman Badiga, CIO, Wipro Technologies

With an annual turnover of Rs. 15,000 crores, Wipro is second to none when it

comes to implementing huge IT projects. We talked to their CIO, Laxman Badiga,

and sought his views on the state of IT implementations in India.

What are the major concerns in IT projects that one should be aware of?



Fundamental to the success of a project are the people involved in it.

Unless you have the right people at the right place, you can't expect the

desired results. You need to understand client expectations thoroughly, need to

leverage the expertise of the team and top it up with good project management.

Note that even though you can fix the technology component and process component

but the chief concern remains getting the right people.

Laxman Badiga, CIO, Wipro Technologies

What are the major issues that Indian companies face while dealing with

their clients?



The development team should first understand client expectations. For eg, I

could be servicing clients from sectors as diverse as retail, banking or

security. This would entail that I clearly understand their diverse technical

needs. Secondly, you need to understand the cultural background of your client.

The way you interact with a Japanese should be different from how you deal with

an American or an Indian client. A successful communication involves 53%

listening and the remaining 47% is a mix of body language and written stuff.

Most of the people don't listen enough. Remember, it is easy to solve process or

technology problems but cultural change requires some effort to understand.

How does your usage of IT change with size as you scale up to a

multi-billion dollar company?



The biggest challenge in this transition is project management. Smaller

projects can be easily managed but handling huge teams becomes an enormous task.

So, modularizing is important. You need to ensure proper and effective

communication amongst the people involved. You need to ensure that all your

modules work effectively. Smaller projects with a contained team are easy to

manage. But you miss this element as you scale up.

What's your advice for mid-sized companies that are growing rapidly but

are struggling with their IT, especially when the major technology companies

don't seem to be focusing on them?



I would advise them to focus on areas that they really need rather than

copying what larger organizations are doing. They should look at what makes

sense to them and use due diligence while implementing projects. But don't let

availability or non-availability of resources act as a delimiter in terms of

adopting technology. You have enough guidance available. Wipro has a separate

focus for SMBs. Similarly, most of the big companies have teams to reach out to

SMBs.