The first three quarters of the year 2020 have been marked by the continuous struggle of businesses to grapple with means to address the unprecedented disruption posed by the pandemic.

The new normal calls for a change in mindset to enable employee-centric models that ensure optimal outcomes for customers and business success.

Wipro has designed a Talent Engineering framework in response to these challenges. The framework has enablers in the roles of Talent Engineering Head (TEH) and Skill Family Heads (SFHs).

Virtual and Software Defined Networks Virtualization means delivering on many of IT’s promises – more automation, separating hardware from the software, increased agility, simplified design, policy-based management, network management bonded to broader IT workflow systems, etc.

Growing population and rapid urbanisation is causing governments to rethink management of cities and the available resources. It is expected that by 2025, 60 percent of the total world population

Safety is the biggest concern that modern cities face today owing to a wide range of threats from terrorism to rising crime rates, civil unrests, shootings, natural disasters and other emergencies

There is huge demand on the technology infrastructure as businesses today are subjected to multiple pressures from different quarters. Faster responses at reduced costs, and scalable and agile operations, are some of the expected outcomes from IT infrastructure leading to increased demands on the network.

The New Age CIO and System Integrators Today’s CIO is no longer just refining the technology capabilities of an organization. The role today is much stronger, strategic and is crucial from a business transformation perspective.

Gartner predicts that almost half of large enterprises will be engaged in a combined, public/private cloud operation, often described as "hybrid" cloud computing, four years from now. Enterprises are increasingly looking to private clouds to keep some of their core assets under their control while still moving to a cloud environment. According to the Cisco and Wipro commissioned Forrester Consulting study, hybrid cloud is becoming the new normal.

The role of IT is evolving from that of a traditional cost center to a strategic organizational asset, able to facilitate transformation, drive competitive differentiation, and boost organizational agility in today’s business environment. IT organizations across Asia Pacific are actively seeking strategies for standardizing core infrastructure and improving the efficiency and responsiveness of IT operations. While benefits are significant, the path from infrastructure consolidation to virtualization and then to private/hybrid cloud deployment is not without risks. The business pressure for increased IT efficiency, improved agility and flexible service delivery will only increase with time. To effectively support changing business needs, successful IT organizations must move quickly to embrace private/hybrid cloud models alongside traditional data center strategies.

Major cities and towns around the globe are increasingly becoming targets for a wide range of threats, ranging from terrorism, violent crime to natural disasters and other emergencies. In fact, the number of worldwide terrorist attacks has more than quadrupled in the decade since 9/11 (2001), according to a newly-released study. In addition, with rising GDP comes an increase in urbanization, leading to a further growth in threat level. Which brings us to the question – how can city authorities protect their citizens and ensure quick and effective responses to potential threats and criminal acts?

Since 9/11, the global airport market faces intense scrutiny, with terrorist threats targeting both aircraft and airports. Figures released in 2011 by the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) showed there had been over 25,000 breaches of security since 2001.Moreover, the continuously growing sophistication of threats is forcing airports to become highly vigilant, dictating the need for smarter security solutions. These factors are driving investments to the tune of hundreds of million dollars in explosives detection systems, passenger screening technologies, and air cargo security for airports across the United States. In fact according to Global Industry Analysts, Inc., the worldwide airport security equipment market is expected to reach USD 288.7 billion by 2015.

Disasters are unpredictable by nature and ignore them is at one’s own peril. Hurricane Sandy showed us just this as it ripped through the US East Coast leaving major parts of Manhattan district reeling in the dark and causing massive issues for a number of businesses. It even paralysed the U.S financial markets that remained closed for two days, the first unplanned such closure due to weather in more than a century! Closer home, Cyclone Neelam wreaked havoc along the Tamil Nadu and Andhra coasts forcing thousands of people to evacuate their homes and shut down businesses.

Making a business case for IT has become essential to the success of enterprises today. Decades ago, when technology was new to corporate settings, IT was viewed as a mysterious force that dazzled business leaders into spending heavily with few questions asked. IT systems that could crunch sales figures or provide customer insights were a marked improvement over manual processes, and so corporations invested in technology products based on their raw capabilities without necessarily connecting IT investments to business performance. The business case was self-evident.

The world officially ‘ran out’ of IPv4 internet addresses in February 2011, pushing us willy-nilly into the brave new world of IPv6. Taking the place of the old protocol, IPv6 offers various advantages over its predecessor. The expanded addressing capacity of IPv6 will provide about 340 trillion, trillion, trillion unique addresses in contrast to that of IPv4 – a mere 4 billion. The apparent inexhaustibility of the number of IPv6 addresses can be inferred from the quote by Steven Leibson, "we could assign an IPv6 address to EVERY ATOM ON THE SURFACE OF THE EARTH, and still have enough addresses left to do another 100+ earths!"

In early 2012, Wipro conducted a survey of 268 Senior Executives to find out, among other things, why CIOs find it difficult to demonstrate the business value of IT.