- It's lunch time, and this is Brad Anderson's Lunch Break.
(chipper music)
Here in Redmond, we're visited by some of the smartest
people on the planet, pretty much every day.
Every chance I get, I meet up with them for lunch.
(chipper music)
This week I'm talking with Raja Ukil,
the Senior Vice President and CIO
of the massive Indian IT company Wipro.
(piano lounge music)
Wipro, you guys are massive, 175,000 employees.
I don't think there's very many companies in the world
that have been in IT for that long.
- [Raja] We started off in the vegetable aisles
and then there were market opportunities.
We diversified, and in the 70s, we took that opportunity,
went into hardware and just grew from there.
I think the industry was coming into shape and,
you know, those are good old days.
I would like to look at security more comprehensively
around identity, around data protection, and privacy.
We are all getting ready for the GDPR,
which is coming in May in Europe.
So your strategy is very comprehensive, right?
And if you look at some of the things
which are happening of late, it's essentially somebody
falling prey to identity theft.
It starts from there, right? - That's where it starts.
And then, just by protecting identity will not be enough.
You have to have a comprehensive protection strategy,
but which doesn't kill user experience,
and that is where I think your strategy is what I love.
You're protecting all of this,
but not killing the user experience.
We had pieces of this, not comprehensively,
in traditionalized research solutions and they were
infringing into user experience into privacy.
- In college, you played cricket for your university.
- Yes sir.
- As Americans, we kind of struggle to grasp
the rules and the concepts of cricket.
So, we're gonna play a little game here
where I'm gonna give you some cricket terms,
- Yeah, okay.
- and have you explain it for those of us
who don't understand. - Okay.
- The slog sweep.
- Oh, the slog sweep, yes.
So the slog sweep, there is a reverse sweep
and a slog sweep.
- Of course.
- When you can't figure out what the bowler is going to do
and you're desperate, you just bend down on your knees
and just sweep it.
- Among all the possible sweeps, is that the best one?
- Yeah, I have seen many batsmen close their eyes
and just play it in my day. - OMG, close your eyes?
- The silly mid off.
- The mid off is a position, how do I explain it?
It's like, you know, when you are batting?
It is like at an angle of, maybe 30 degrees.
- That makes sense to me.
How about the golden snitch?
- Golden snitch, I think is a golden duck.
(laughter)
- I played a trick on you.
That's a Harry Potter game.
(laughter)
- You need to ask my daughter.
- Oh, OK. Alright.
The dibbly-dobbly.
- Well...
(laughter)
I need to get back to you. - Gotcha, okay.
- The Duckworth-Lewis.
- The Duckworth-Lewis, this one I can do.
It is one of the most illogical things to happen in cricket.
When you have a disruption in a game, the team
batting second actually gets a limited number of overs.
And, for some strange reason, gets a target which is
steeper than the original target.
So, this is a thing which is prevalent now.
Nobody wants it, but they have never been able to find out
a better alternative.
- OK.
The pace of innovation that we are delivering for you,
are we meeting your expectations with Microsoft 365?
- Yeah, absolutely.
Every time, Brad, I come here, I just come here to learn.
It's a different Microsoft.
You are incredibly fast today.
You think of it, and it is there.
I know we have spoken for so many years.
You have explained your strategy and what you are
trying to do in a few days.
I can't believe that the product is ready with millions and
millions of customers today around the world.
It's just incredible.
Coming from the days where you used to have releases once
every year.
- Yeah.
- So, this is fascinating.
Another thing I must compliment you and your colleagues,
is that you are listening to customers.
Obviously, there are different use cases all of us will
have, and you are focusing on creating those use cases
for all of us part of a common platform,
and that is fascinating.
- Wow. That just makes, that just makes my day.
You're one of the largest Windows 10 customers in the world.
You know, with 170,000+ employees, you're one of the largest
Office 365 customers in the world.
Help me understand, as you think about, as you embrace these
new technologies, even if you just talk about
Microsoft early on.
What are the benefits that your community, your
employees see, and what is the benefit that IT sees?
- Employees simply love it. Right?
It's ... today's world, if you look at the employees'
average age, we have a lot of millennials, right?
These employees don't engage in the way, possibly, I engage.
And so,
- They're digital natives.
You and I are a little bit older.
- I wasn't going to say that specifically.
(laughter)
So, what happens is you need new tool sets, you need
applications which are intuitive, re-imagined, simple,
and essentially, you know, you empower every front line
employee so that they don't waste time,
and they can do things very simply.
Now, to do all of this, it was not possible previously.
The experience was broken because of the technology
was not there.
Today, thanks to Microsoft, you have a complete
end-to-end story.
It was the right strategic direction.
And mobility - 50,000 of our people are not in any
Wipro office.
So, erstwhile, deployment architectures
are a thing of the past.
You can't manage such explosion with that kind of a thing.
I'm happy Microsoft has focused and brought it
to a shape where
it's a real
blessing.
(light music)
- Next time, on Brad Anderson's Lunch Break
- I'm proud to say that every dollar we earn,
40 cents goes back to charity.
- Wow!
- Yes
- I did not know that.
- Is it explaining cricket someone in the US,
or trying to teach a dog Calculus?
(laughter)
(chipper music)