How Wipro Enterprises modernises IT on Oracle Cloud

Wipro Enterprises – distinct from the IT behemoth Wipro Limited - comprising two divisions, Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting and Wipro Infrastructure Engineering, is continuously advancing its operational backbone to keep pace with the demands of a fast-changing digital environment.

In an exclusive interview with TechCircle, Ravi Anantharamiah, Vice President and Group Controller of Wipro Enterprises, shared insights into the company's digital transformation journey, particularly highlighting the implementation of Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) to modernise its IT operations, ensuring agility, data-driven strategies, and competitiveness within the enterprise.

It needs to be mentioned that Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting operates within the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector, providing a range of products in personal care (with brands like Santoor, Yardley, and Chandrika), lighting, switches, seating, and the food business. Meanwhile, Wipro Infrastructure Engineering is a multifaceted engineering enterprise that specialises in Hydraulics, Automation Solutions, and Aerospace.

At the heart of its digital transformation is the adoption of cloud-native platforms that integrate planning, reporting, and execution across various business functions. Through Oracle Fusion Cloud EPM, the company has improved its enterprise-wide agility, visibility, and performance, establishing a robust foundation for resilient, data-driven decision-making at scale.

Anantharamiah said that Wipro Enterprises utilises Artificial Intelligence (AI), cloud computing, and innovative applications to drive growth, concentrating on the five V's of big data: volume, velocity, variety, veracity, and value. The company’s internal AI applications encompass Linecraft.AI, which facilitates transitions to Industry 4.0 through the use of robotics and sensors, as well as AI-enhanced sales performance management within the consumer care sector.

“We have made significant investments in AI-driven operational automation and financial technologies, including the shift to an AI-based optical character recognition (OCR) engine that has increased accuracy from 60-70% to nearly 100% and expedited accounts payable automation,” he stated.

The AI engine also has better language reading capabilities and requires significantly less training time, making it faster to deploy. This has helped the company roll out accounts payable automation much faster across multiple countries.

The shift was also seen on the factory floor, where earlier supervisors would determine machine issues by listening to the sound to know if a shaft or component needed changing. Today, that judgment is made by sensors. “We’ve deployed AI-based monitoring on our shop floors, reducing downtime by 90%, improving product quality, and increasing tool efficiency,” he said.

“Furthermore, in the sales and consumer units, AI is assisting us with demand planning, stock management, and predictive analytics. We have even bigger plans to implement AI, predictive tools, and cloud computing throughout the organisation,” he said.

The company’s partnership with Oracle, particularly through the use of Oracle EPM (which includes financial consolidation and close service or FCCS and narrative reporting), has further optimised its financial operations.

Anantharamiah explained the key benefits of migrating to Oracle Cloud include eliminating technology obsolescence and reducing reliance on internal IT. Oracle Cloud handles upgrades and maintenance, a significant improvement over the resource-intensive three-year upgrade cycle of on-prem systems. Furthermore, our IT team no longer needs to manage server availability and network security during close processes, as Oracle manages these in the cloud.

Also, adopting Oracle Narrative Reporting allowed us to generate financial statements with a click, streamlining audits and report generation for our numerous legal entities and eliminating Excel-based processes.

"We're also leveraging our routing template for effective tax rate computations and Pillar 2 compliance,” he said.

In terms of finance team structure, Wipro Enterprises emphasises digital quotient and agility in decision-making rather than traditional factors such as operational costs and employee career development.

The transition to a cloud-native platform with Oracle EPM has resolved issues associated with a multi-enterprise resource planning (ERP) environment, slow financial consolidation, IT reliance, and technological obsolescence. According to Anantharamiah, “The consolidation now occurs in minutes, IT dependency has been eradicated, and upgrades are conducted seamlessly.”

However, he cautioned those considering Oracle EPM to refrain from customisation. “Customisations can hinder future upgrades. That’s why we have established a policy at Wipro Enterprises to avoid excessive customisation, especially in EPM solutions,” Anantharamiah remarked.

"As the organisation progressed into the implementation phase, the primary challenge shifted to change management," he said. Although product evaluation represented a considerable initial task in 2018, Anantharamiah noted that employees were accustomed to the existing solutions, and transitioning to the cloud necessitated a complete shift in perspective.

Anantharamiah noted that many organisations, even with the assistance of implementation partners, encountered obstacles during the final 5-10% of the transition and ultimately abandoned the project. “We were on the verge of facing a similar outcome, with some team members advocating for a return to the previous system. However, being committed to the strategy and following through is essential,” he added.

According to Anantharamiah, effective change management during digital transformation requires strategies such as investing in and engaging the core team to foster organisational confidence and ensure comprehensive communication throughout the organisation. Additionally, providing hands-on training to employees mitigates apprehension and encourages adoption. "We communicated potential reporting delays to the leadership, and their support facilitated a successful transition to Oracle EPM."

He further asserts that digitisation is a journey. Considering Wipro's complexity as a multi-business, multi-geography entity with over 80 divisions, the company meticulously selects solutions that cater to its specific requirements.

On the company’s upcoming technology plans, Anantharamiah mentioned that the company is concentrating on optimising the finance close process by utilising tools such as FCCS, narrative reporting, and tax residency certificate (TRC). "We are partnering with Oracle Consulting to automate internal processes, to reduce manual tasks by at least 50%," he remarked.

The Bengaluru-based company is also harnessing AI and generative AI in accounts payable to enhance global shared services, addressing language barriers and quality challenges.

“In addition to finance, we are employing generative AI to automate sales processes across both B2C and B2B sectors, and reimagining customer relationships through improved CRM management – areas that are pivotal for investment in digital transformation,” he summed up.