HFS Highlight: Wipro signed a large contract with Metro AG to help the client organization on digital-led growth through innovation

Large information technology (IT) services rebadging deals come with both opportunities and challenges for the service providers. Wipro landed such a deal recently wherein it will have 1,300 employees moving from METRO-NOM GMBH in Germany and METRO Systems Romania S.R.L. Service providers are very cautious about acquiring employees from client organizations right now, and Wipro won this deal to drive transformation in Metro AG. The deal includes setting up a joint transformation office and innovation council to guide the businesses through the transformation and ensure collaborative innovation throughout the partnership.

Metro AG looks for the right mix of domain knowledge and technical skills to serve future customer needs

Digital fluency is going to be the heart of functional systems in businesses. Digital fluency brings the right level of interplay between the business and technology to drive competitive advantage. According to our research on the impact of COVID-19, organizations will require massive flexibility and adaptation across business models, technology architecture, and execution in the post-pandemic era. To achieve this, employees must engage the business with a lean start-up mentality, where change has always been a known constant. When people feel protected and connected in the “new normal,” they can move flexibly between resilience and innovation, link processes in new ways, cut redundant connections, and write new playbooks to attack opportunities. To survive the current climate and plan for growth, businesses need to work with the right IT service providers to achieve seamless interplay between business and IT and create hybrid roles and digital talent. Working with Wipro will provide a sweet spot for Metro AG to build a strong digital infrastructure that drives growth.

Wipro packages the “power of AND” with a collaborative innovation model to drive digital transformation

As part of the deal, Wipro plans to pack a punch with its cloud, data centre services, workplace and network services, and application development and operations, which will provide a flexible and robust digital infrastructure to drive Metro’s transformation agenda. Leveraging its client base in Europe, Wipro plans to launch a Digital Innovation Hub. This hub will help organizations in Europe cross-skill and up-skill and support talent development in local communities. Though the cross-skilling and up-skilling of employees and the talent development in local communities are positive aspects, Wipro needs to ensure that the new employees are culturally aligned and have the right mindset to cross-skill and up-skill themselves as business requirements dictate.

The Bottom Line: Wipro should effectively integrate the workforce to drive the partnership’s success.

A digital-led transformation will help drive growth from this deal for both Metro AG and Wipro. Given Wipro’s focus on retail and digital services, its strategy to set up a digital hub looks like a move to strengthen its business relationships in Europe. It will be interesting to watch how Wipro integrates the rebadged workforce in an agile manner and help Metro AG gain a competitive advantage from this partnership.