Future Foresight

How Wipro is realizing technology-led growth ambitions in Saudi Arabia

By Khaled Al-Ofaysan

Saudi Arabia is making significant strides toward achieving the Saudi Vision 2030 across all three pillars: a Vibrant Society, a Thriving Economy, and an Ambitious Nation. With a sharp focus on technology-led advancements to drive innovation and economic growth, Saudi Arabia has become a global economic development leader.

Over the last 20+ years, Wipro has partnered with both private and government sector enterprises in Saudi Arabia on several strategic technology- led engagements of national, economic, and socio-economic significance. Wipro continues investing in Saudi Arabia to drive technology-led innovation, create a thriving localized talent pool and deliver impactful sustainability outcomes. In addition to Wipro’s core businesses, the company seeks to foster new businesses that will increase the long-term reliability and competitiveness of the company’s ecosystem, and contribute to the Kingdom’s economic development.

Today, Wipro is one of the world’s largest, most trusted, purpose-driven technology companies, and is taking forward the rich legacy of its impact in Saudi Arabia, thus contributing to the Saudi Vision 2030.

INVESTMENTS AIMED TO DRIVE EXPONENTIAL GROWTH

 Wipro is helping clients in Saudi Arabia reshape their business models and leverage disruptive and cutting-edge technologies to increase productivity and drive innovation. The company targets six strategic domains- cloud computing, data and artificial intelligence (AI), sustainability, cybersecurity, engineering solutions, and nurturing local talent development. These complement Wipro’s transformational approach to generating business value to support companies and partners and contribute to the KSA economy. Within this context, Wipro remains steadfast in its purpose to create value for its clients, people, shareholders, partners, and communities.

WIPRO FULLSTRIDE CLOUD (FSC)

Wipro FSC is critical in assisting enterprises with their digital and cloud transformation efforts, particularly in the ever-evolving Saudi Arabian business context. This region prioritizes banking, utilities, and telecommunications, and it is undergoing significant technological changes with varied levels of digital maturity. Wipro’s primary goal is to assist enterprises in harnessing the power of clouds by converting promises into real solutions. FSC focuses on rejuvenating existing systems rather than simply relocating them. It works with prominent brands in financial services, communications, mobility, logistics, and the public sector, and employs specialist teams that have significant industry and domain knowledge.

By investing in hyperscalers who embrace software engineering, cloud migration, and AI or machine learning (ML) technologies, FSC ensures end-to-end value delivery. FSC’s offerings include core business transformation, a cloudagnostic platform, and stakeholder partnerships, all with the goal of accelerating customers’ cloud-native enterprises. Wipro aims to accelerate customers’ cloud-native enterprises, and establish its cloud global business line (GBL) as a trusted partner in Saudi Arabia’s digital growth.

WIPRO AI360

Building on our decade-long investments in AI, we have launched our artificial intelligence- first innovation ecosystem, Wipro ai360, with investments worth US$1 billion. Wipro has built AI Centers of Excellence throughout the region to demonstrate their commitment to adopting AI-driven solutions across many industries. Wipro’s ai360 is fueling the next wave of AI-driven innovation by infusing AI across its ecosystem- every tool, platform, business function, process, and practice.

Wipro has pioneered its responsible AI framework, which is now part of how it delivers client work, and underlies its rigorous, responsible AI compliance program. In the year ahead, AI is expected to have a significant impact on businesses, particularly in the retail, consumer goods, healthcare, and technology industries. Here are the top three impacts AI will have on the industries that we serve: increased efficiency and productivity, improved customer experience, and innovation and growth. AI can also contribute to the rise of the metaverse, creating interconnected virtual experiences. Wipro is working with many clients on generative AI projects in Saudi Arabia, with AI systems that protect personal and company data.

WIPRO IMPACT

As a services portfolio, Wipro Impact strives to help clients with digital transformation and leadership in sustainability. It is committed to four core values: being an Exemplar, an Enabler, a Responsible Supplier, and as a co-founding member of Transform to Net Zero, an Influencer. The Innovation Center, Lab45, serves as a hub for collaborative sustainable innovation through strategic partnerships and state-of-the-art facilities. Wipro’s sustainability practice has gained popularity in industries such as banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI), energy, aviation, and consumer goods, where it provides a wide range of integrated solutions. These solutions range from assessment and roadmap development to Impact intelligence, zero transition management, responsible finance, and sustainable technology services.

Wipro also remains a committed supporter of the Saudi Green Initiative (SGI)- a massive reforestation program and clean energy deployment in Saudi Arabia. We advocate the Kingdom’s aim to reach net-zero emissions by 2060 through the circular carbon economy approach, which is supported by our ambition to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across the value chain by 2040. Wipro is proud to partner with clients in the Kingdom to transform business models, decarbonize value chains, and embark on a sustainable future

FUTURE-READY TALENT POOL

Wipro recognizes the need to prepare its workforce for the future, thereby ensuring the company’s capabilities match the requirements of its strategy. The company’s growth ambitions in KSA are to advance technical and professional skills, develop commercial and leadership competencies, and support the progress of localization. Wipro signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the National IT Academy (NITA) to equip Saudi youth with the requisite information and communications technology (ICT) skills through advanced and accelerated training and certification programs to accelerate job-readiness and create a thriving talent pool with future-ready skills.

Women’s Business Park (WBP) in Riyadh, a state-of-the-art business center, is the result of a joint venture between Princess Nourah University (PNU), the largest women’s university in the world and Wipro. The WBP is the first all-women business and technology park in Saudi Arabia and aims to provide knowledge-based employment for women. Through state-of-the-art training programs and a supportive learning environment, the WBP is working towards creating a more diverse, high-performing workforce to drive forward Saudi Vision 2030, while also serving as a showcase for women’s empowerment throughout the region and the world. 

TOPCODER

Wipro’s crowdsourcing platform Topcoder is the world’s largest ondemand digital tech gig platform with over 1.7 million developers, designers, data scientists, testers, and more. Topcoder platform highlights include native graphics processing unit (GPU) support and the ability to develop advanced analytic solutions with any tool, library or cloud application service. Topcoder platform empowers companies with unprecedented ways to process and secure data, increase analytics speed, and avoid costly recruitment and retention challenges associated with staffing in the information technology (IT) sector.

WIPRO ENGINEERING EDGE (WEE)

Wipro Engineering Edge provides a full stack of engineering services from chip to cloud, supporting next-generation products and services that enable organizations to take full advantage of growth opportunities using the latest technology. By working with Wipro, clients worldwide have quickly pivoted their businesses, built competitive edges, and become future-ready.

“Integrated Services from Chip to Cloud” and “Engineering DNA” reside their core capabilities in industry 4.0, 5G engineering, cloud products engineering, data and AI engineering, embedded software development, very large-scale integration (VLSI) and hardware chip design. With a strong presence in automotive, hi-tech semiconductor and software and internet, manufacturing, energy, and natural resources and communications, the service range includes from strategy to execution around end-end product development.

Wipro Engineering Edge has a dedicated team of professionals for Saudi Arabia, supported by engineers spread across various global development centers and nearshore centers. WEE sees immense potential in Saudi Arabia, especially in industry sectors like manufacturing, communications, and healthcare. In addition, the Wipro Women Business Park (WBP) at Riyadh and Khobar nurtures local female talent, and delivers new-gen technology services to its client base. WEE is devoted to delivering end-to-end solutions, while leveraging its worldwide skills to satisfy the specific needs of Middle Eastern clients. WEE further aims to enhance its strategic partnerships with regional clients, to enrich local skills through global experience, and to grow their footprint into new areas.

Wipro empowers business at the intersection of strategy, design, and technology. Centered around the customer journey, we deliver continual enterprise transformation at speed and at scale. Together with Designit, we are an innovation-led, enterprise transformation partner built for today’s digital challenges.

At Wipro, we believe ambition has the power to unite us, inspire us, and move us forward. By bringing together consulting, design, engineering, implementation, and operations, we make our clients’ ambitions a reality, orchestrating a holistic portfolio capabilities that enable digital transformation.

AUTHOR BIO

Khaled Al-Ofaysan is the Country Head and General Manager for the KSA at Wipro. wipro.com