APPLYING THOUGHTS...

Business tycoons in a way rule the world. Most of the richest persons happen to be from the corporate world. Many business tycoons from India are now emerging in the map of world's richest people. Indian entrepreneurs are making waves all across the world. Indian business firms are making acquisitions abroad and spreading their tentacles in various corners of the world. Indian Entrepreneurs have proved all doomsday prophecies wrong and on the contrary have flourished under globalization. Knowing about their life, how did they achieve success and what all they contributed to the world, is quite inspiring as well as stimulating. There are many business tycoons in India as well as in the world who started their life as ordinary men and their biographies are the rags to riches stories.

One of them is Azim Hashim Premji, Chairman of Wipro Technologies based in Bangalore. He is an icon among Indian businessmen and his success story is a source of inspiration to a number of budding entrepreneurs. Born on July 24, 1945, Azim Hashim Premji was studying Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, USA when due to the sudden demise of his father, he was called upon to handle the family business.

A few of us know this but when Azim Premji occupied the hot seat, Wipro dealt in hydrogenated cooking fats and later diversified to bakery fats, ethnic ingredient based toiletries, hair care soaps, baby toiletries, lighting products and hydraulic cylinders. Thereafter Premji made a focused shift from soaps to software. In the 1980s Wipro entered the IT field, taking advantage of the expulsion of IBM from the Indian market in 1975. Under his leadership, a Rs.70 million company in hydrogenated cooking fats has grown to a $500 million diversified, integrated Corporation in Services, Technology Products and Consumer Products with leadership positions in the businesses it is in.

Talking about Premji's contribution in technological aspect, the very first thing that comes to mind is its Next Generation "Global Command Centre" (GCC), the remote managed services Hub, provides Wipro customers a technology agnostic, secure managed services environment. Its advanced feature like 'Password Vault' that provides one time access to restrict password sharing, "sick-system only access" that ensures that systems that do not have a problem cannot be touched, multi-location service delivery for robust risk mitigation and "business impact reporting" that enables clients to see the live business impact of IT services on a 24x7 basis make the GCC one of the most robust and secure remote managed services platforms in the world today.

Also its 'w-SaaS', a platform for rapid software-as-a-service (SaaS) enablement of business applications using Oracle Grid Computing and Oracle application grid middleware for Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) will help ISVs enable their existing business applications to operate in SaaS model in a non-intrusive manner with minimal re-implementation, and enable the traditional single tenant application to operate in an efficient multi-tenant mode.

Its joint venture with Motorola to form a company, WMNetServ, that will deliver public and private network customers with managed services focused to provide 24/7 network monitoring capabilities to customers using Global Network Operation Center(GNOC) platform, shows tenacious attitude of Premji for success even at this age.

Premji has also dished out "NewLogic" which is a leading Semiconductor Design Services Provider and Supplier of Intellectual Property (IP) cores for complex wireless and wireline applications. The services span over Digital, Analog, Mixed-Signal, RF based SoC (System-on-chip) Design. Wipro-NewLogic is the world leader in the sale of IEEE1394, WLAN, Wireless USB and Bluetooth IPs. It's wireless LAN IP space that is being used today for mobile phones, PDAs, digital cameras and performance-oriented applications such as DSL/Cable modems, help in demonstrating how to apply the verification techniques needed when designing a complex wireless SoC.

Premji's efforts make Wipro Infotech to be rated as the No. 1 green brand in India and among the top 5 global green brands in the world. It's energy efficiency and structured programme for effective e-waste management along with Wipro EcoEnergy provides Clean and Sustainable Energy Solutions for all kinds of spaces from Factories to Institutions and from Office to Home. It has recently entered water treatment business and provides Ultra pure water treatment systems and solutions for various industries. The company is pro-actively providing information to individual customers on recycling collected e-waste rather than mere disposal. It has also restricted the use of hazardous substances in the manufacturing aspects of the business.

Over the years, Azim Premji has been privileged with many honors and accolades. He was chosen as the Business India’s ‘Businessman of the Year 2000’. He was named by Fortune as one of the 25 most powerful business leaders outside the US again Forbes in March 2003, listed him as one of ten people globally. The Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee and the Manipal Academy of Higher Education have both conferred honorary doctorates on him. He is also a member of the Prime Minister’s Advisory Committee for Information Technology in India. No doubt one finds Premji in the Forbes Billionaire List 2000, placed in 41st position with a wealth of $ 6.4 billion. And in the year 2001, he established Azim Premji Foundation, a not-for-profit organization with a vision of influencing the lives of millions of children in India by facilitating the universalization of elementary education. Premji contributes the financial resources for the foundation.

Being an absolute workaholic he believes work to be the only way to survive in a competetive environment. Premji’s story of success and prominence clearly shows how determination and perseverance, when coupled with knowledge, clear vision and proper planning, enable one to reach the peak of success and leadership. He truly stands by his words...APPLYING THOUGHTS!!!

                                                                                                   -Navdeep Kaur