Managing Innovation & Change

Navin Kumar
6010091005085
FOSTERING INNOVATION: WIPRO TECHNOLOGIES
INNOVATION FRAMEWORK
12 (a) Wipro created a culture of creativity and innovation in the company through some
important initiatives. The process of innovation development was ingrained in its
corporate culture; The Company encouraged employees to coke up with innovative ideas
and rewarded them for their contributions to the company. For exceptional performance,
Wipro awarded its employees and carved their name in the Wipro Hall of Fame. The
employees who came up with innovative ideas were awarded Mastermind awards. The
employees generating the ideas and the innovation team were given some % of the
revenues received by the company in the initial 18 months of the acceptance of the idea.
The innovation initiative at Wipro started in 2000. These initiatives were base
on an in-depth study of methods for fostering innovation in companies such as Nike Inc,
Home Depot etc that were known for their innovation principles and practices. This year
Wipro defined the organizational structure responsible for carrying out the innovation
initiative and the projects that were to be carried out were identified. An idea was
considered as a good innovation only when the company could get benefits out of it at
Wipro. Wipros goal was to create components with Intellectual Properties (IP) that
would generate revenues over a period of time rather than one-time revenue from
projects.
For innovation initiative, the company set up two programs to foster a culture of
creativity in the organization. The first approach aimed at soliciting ideas from the
employees. The ideas could be posted on the company website of sent by e-mail to the
innovation Council (IC) and it was headed by a Chief ecology Officer (CTO) and other
members included senior business managers of every theme and representatives from
finance, sales and marketing departments of the company. The Innovation Council in
conjunction with the tip management reviewed the proposed ideas and analyzed how they
would help the company accelerate growth and increase the quality of its new products
and in order to this Council was also responsible for funding the idea, monitoring where
it was delivering the desired results and setting up teams for implementing the new idea.
The Second approach involved executives of several industry vertical business units
identifying new technologies that would be of importance to their clients in the near
future. The executives then charted out strategies in conjunction with the CTO and
established centers of Excellence in the identified areas and it worked toward meeting
future technological challenges. The objective was to have expertise in the new
technologies and come up with the products and productive services that could be
patented by Wipro.
Wipro also set up and innovation center in 2001 at Bangalore to encourage business ideas
and entrepreneurial skills among employees. Any employee who said, I have a great
idea was encouraged to explain his/her proposed idea and after approving it, the
company would fund the project for a period of 3 years and with this initiative Wipro
succeeded in extracting innovative ideas from its employees. Wipro also constituted an

advisory board with the Chairman Vice Chairman as its permanent members and several
top academicians, consultant, and experts from the industry both in India and abroad to
guide its innovation initiatives.
The top management developed a frame work for innovation and tried to foster
innovation within it. The frame work provided guidelines right form the idea generation
stage to the commercialization of the idea. The innovation process at Wipro was
represented through the Innovation Clock. The innovation Clock consisted of 12 steps.
The initial step was the creation of and innovation frame work. This was followed by
identification of the themes to be worked on. Another step involved generating ideas from
employees followed by a customer validation process for the ideas. The rewards and
recognition were given to employees base on their competence and the response form
the market.
The companys initial projects were successfully implemented and
Wipro reaped the benefits in 2001 and by 2006, Wipros innovation initiatives contributed
to around 5% of the companys revenues and by 2008, Wipro was able to achieve 10% of
its revenues from its innovation initiatives because of its constant focus on developing
innovative solutions and efforts to nurture a corporate culture which fostered innovation.
The company gave a lot of importance to innovation and creativity and made a conscious
effort to create and maintain a culture which focused on a diverse range of innovative
solutions and the benefits that accrued from it. Wipros open and supportive culture gave
employees the opportunity to develop their skulls and as a result, contribute more to the
organization.

(b) Wipros applied innovation was a 360 degree approach to business that focused on
four domains- Business, Process, Technology and Delivery. These domains helped Wipro
work collaboratively with its clients to reduce the cost of a project, speed up the process
of delivery and identify new opportunities for business.
As part of its process innovation, Wipro applied the principles of lean
manufacturing and Six Sigma to its process of software design and development. This
helped it increase its productivity by 10% since it reused tools and components. The lean
principles of value stream were mapped to make improvements in the execution cycle of
a process. By 2006, Wipro had applied the lean principles of engineering to over 700
projects which resulting a savings of 20-30% for the company.
Wipros delivery innovations included the Software Factory Model and the
Global Delivery Model. The Factory model integrated several IT functions into a
centralized supply chain that worked similar to and automobile assembly line where
common areas of work were grouped for better quality and delivery of the product. The
Factory model was used by organizations that standardized their IT solutions across all
business units and geographies worldwide. It helped Wipro reduce its cycle time by 1015% from the stage of demand to the delivery of the product.
Wipros technological innovations involved its focus on creating IPs that enabled
its customers to reduce the time in the product life cycle and helped them improve the
success rate of their products. The company developed a plug n play patent and IP that
helped the company reduce the products time to market by 20-25% and Wipro was the
largest bank of patents in the world increase such as Bluetooth, Wireless LAN and IEEE.
As part of its business innovations, Wipro provided methodologies and frameworks
that delivered industry specific solutions. Wipros business innovations included Data
Privacy and Master Data Management, Clinical Data Management, Integrated Publishing
Platform, Vendor Managed inventory Retail pharmacy etc.
Yes, I think it helped Wipro create innovative solutions to resolve business
challenges because its increased its productivity, increase delivery of the product and
also reduced the time.
Wipro also succeeded in increasing the use of technology in its products. Wipros
innovative products not only enhanced the companys image in the global IT market but
also had the potential of bringing in revenue for the company. For the yr 2006, Wipros
revenues from innovative products were almost US$ 100 million and this innovation
initiative helped the company attract prospective employees and filled around 29% of the
vacancies in 2006. The company also received a lot of recognition for its innovation
initiatives.
The innovation process enabled the company to come up with a strong product portfolio
that assured the company of good revenue streams and for the FY 2007-08, Wipro
achieved its target of earning 10% of revenues from its innovation initiatives.