Wasteful Power to Powerful Waste - Wipro Leading by example

February 2011, Mangalore City Corporation will become the first urban local body in Karnataka to have a biogas generating plant running on the `Nisargaruna' technology of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC). Work on the 2-tonne capacity plant at Urwa market started on December 28 and is scheduled for completion in 60-days. The plant would start generating 200 units of power each day shortly thereafter.



Executing the biogas project for MCC is Wipro Eco Energy arm of IT giants Wipro Limited. Wipro Eco Energy has already built such plants at its Sarjapur campus, at the Taj Kovalam, Thiruvananthapuram, and one each at Sriperambadur and Noida. Wipro Eco Energy as per the contractual agreement will also maintain this plant and the power-generating unit for the next two years before it hands over the same to the civic body.

Biggest philanthropist venture by an Indian. Azim Premji dontates Rs 88,460,000,000 /-

Azim Premji has transferred 213 million equity shares (of Wipro Ltd.) which is valued currently at Rs. 8846 crores which is equal to Rs. 88.4 billion.

The transfer will be utilized for various not for profit activities and India will see the change in course of the next few years. This is a landmark decision in the history of India.

Since Azim Premji believes that Education can bring about a better society and since good education is not easily available for the under privileged, a major chunk of this donation will go into activities that will directly be responsible for this.

The Karnataka Government has recently approved the formation of the Azim Premji University
under a special legislative act. The University has three key objectives:

1. To create education and development professionals of high caliber, with a deep commitment to
social causes and a desire to work in disadvantaged communities
2. To build capacity of existing functionaries in the education sector – both Government and private -
through continuing education programs; and
3. To create deep knowledge in education and development through high quality research that is
relevant to India.

The University will be located in Bangalore and aims to be operational in 2011. The University will offer programs and conduct research in the field of Education and other closely related fields of Development. The University will be multidisciplinary in its approach, & Management, Education Technology, Education Research and Development Studies.

Shutting down laptop with the lid closed, laptop folded/closed

Wouldn't it be nice if you give a shutdown command to your laptop and be able to close the laptop screen & pack-it up right away? Most laptops come with a built-in feature of having the laptop get into the sleep mode while you fold the laptop screen. Therefore, when you hit the shutdown option and fold the laptop screen, the sleep mode feature gets kicked-in interruping the shutting down. But don't worry, this setting can be tweaked.


1. Start > Settings > Control Panel
2. Performance and Maintenance > Power Options
3. Advanced > "When I close the lid of my portable computer", select 'Do Nothing'

That's it.

Now, when you give a shut down request, you can confidently close the lid/fold your laptop and set it aside into your laptop bag while it silently shuts down.

Enjoy!

The 2010 Global Outsourcing 100

The big 3 have once again featured themselves in the top 10 outsourcing companies in the world for the year 2010 - analysis by IAOP. Infosys in the 2nd position, Wipro in the 4th & TATA in the 7th spot.

IBM, Accenture and Convergys also are in the top 10 with Accenture bagging the top slot again this year. Good to see Indian MNCs at par with the rest of the players.

To check the complete list along with the companies key strengths, click here.

IAOP® is the global, standard-setting organization and advocate for the outsourcing profession. With a global community of more than 110,000 members and affiliates worldwide, IAOP is the leading professional association for organizations and individuals involved in transforming the world of business through outsourcing, off-shoring, and shared services.  

SaaS in BPO

Software as a Service was never associated with the BPO world but with changing expectations, where meeting SLAs and process improvements are the norm, SaaS is the new thing that can add a new dimension to the BPO world.

Everest Research Institute has come-up with this interesting research work.

The research work identifies the role of SaaS in key BPO functions like HRO (Human Resources Outsourcing, PO (Procurement Outsourcing) and FAO (Finance and Account Outsourcing).

Healthy Life = Productive Work Atmosphere

In a corporate set-up, we pay a lot of attention to things like induction program, signing a KRA document, effective training, all of which are important. But one crucial aspect is having a healthy body and that can be attained only through certain kind of self discipline.

One must eat healthy and feel good about themselves and the food. And then, a little bit of physical exercise in the form a good brisk walk every day for 20 minutes and some stretching exercises are very helpful to maintain a healthy body and mind.

A healthy body keeps you alert and a healthy mind keeps your thought process uncluttered and thereby delivering more and delivering effectively.

To work extra or not...

Will working late/working extra hours help? Ask this question and most are likely to give the 'editorial' answer, "working late is not an indication of hard work and is not the way to climb the ladder."

But trust me, if you want to move up and move up fast, you have to work late. And mind it, working late does not mean over stressing. Working stressed and working late are two different things. Sometimes, both come-up together and you will have a hard time but that's ok as long as it is sometimes.

Imagine Einstein who refuses to think about possibilities outside the lab hours.

Putting in extra hours, when required is a necessary part of learning and growing. Extra hours are not necessarily in the form of physical presence in the office. It could be all about getting the work done. This is especially true if you are connected to the IT world where most of the work happens online or through emails. Or if you are a creative guy in an advertising firm. You never know which idea can strike you at what time.

Being available for the company for most part of the day is a necessary 'skill' to grow. The word skill is probably not right but I use it because this 'quality' is a rare find. You still find people who want to work from 9 to 5 and yearn for growth, all at the same time.


If you carefully notice the work hours now, they are not as they used to be. You are constantly taking calls from family, sometimes banking online, booking tickets, etc. Nothing wrong with that as long as you are not using the productive time. At the same time, even work, these days, don't come looking at the time. We are in a global village, handling customers from all over India, Asia and the world. Therefore, it makes sense for us to be available for work as you take time off work while in office. If you are taking good care of your health, spending ample time with family, and have a decent leisure life, it makes sense to make yourself 'available' across the day for your office. You have the comfort to send an approval from home or answer a few questions your sales team in US needs urgently.

Take care of these things and of course, can't miss out on the following qualities: > being accountable
> committed
> have the ability to execute your plans
> exercising an extraordinary sense of judgment
> having a good sense of timing
> being proactive
> being willing to take calculated risks
> thinking for the larger good of the company

If you have these qualities and you take care of work irrespective of the time, then you ARE climbing the ladder, up.

why Customer Service fails?

Million dollar company > Visionary CEO > Intelligent Top Management > Smart Executives <> But Unhappy Customers. Not many companies would deny this and yet, they continue to focus the same way. The vicious circle remains. This has to change. It is more important to retain a customer rather than acquiring a new one.

Until sometime ago, a dissatisfied customer would still stick to the same service because s/he did not have many options to choose.

The reason why most companies have many unhappy customers is not because of a bad product but because of customer care representatives who are not as passionate as the CEO. While the CEO thinks about the next big win in the corporate world, his/her customer care officers are more focused on their immediate personal goals. This mismatch is causing havoc to small and medium based businesses who cannot afford to lose customers. How often have you been disappointed over a poorly handled call/email or chat? According to one survey, customers are more concerned about the way they are treated than the actual solution that they were expecting to their situation. A good customer care representative thinks like the CEO of the company. Such representatives drive the value through them and deliver quality service. Care should be taken by the HR and management team to identify and groom them well.

It is very easy to find customer care representatives who will do the basic job well but that alone will not help you survive. The grass root level interaction is what makes the difference. If a representative was not good, the customer would feel that the company wasn't good. Intellect and customer focus always pays rich dividends, especially if they are available at the grass root level.