Wipro pulls cloud services under FullStride banner and pledges $1bn investment

To say cloud investment has spiked in recent years is an inexcusable understatement. The market is growing aggressively - and set to keep growing - as enterprises plot out a course to embed technology into the heart of their business. Reaping the associated benefits such as increased business agility, IT scalability and reliability.

For many service providers, simply meeting this demand has proved challenging - and many have reorganised cloud portfolios to make the most of existing resources while pledging billions to pull in new talent and capability. Wipro is the latest to announce similar plans. After several years of consistent growth in the space, supported by solid investment, Wipro announced this week that it has launched Wipro FullStride Cloud Services, a comprehensive portfolio of cloud services that sits across the firm's Global Business Lines.

The move is a smart one. As the cloud has evolved, many firms of Wipro's size and heritage have amassed considerable experience, assets, and capabilities dotted across a variety of business lines. Separate industry verticals, for example, each have highly focused IP that, when pulled into a larger organization, have transferable value elsewhere. The move will also help magnify the delivery capabilities of the organisation - with the whole becoming much more than the sum of its parts through shared best practices and accelerators. And for clients, the prospect of engaging with one shop window that can build best-in-breed cloud environments, rather than bartering with separate business units is undeniably attractive - particularly for those who are yet to make their mind up about approach and partner selection.

There's also the small topic of a $1bn investment pot set aside by Wipro to help build out technology and capability; with some set aside to boost talent pools, strengthen partnerships, and hunt down targets for acquisition. Wipro's talent pool is already considerable, but in a high-demand and hard-fought labour market, setting aside resources to maintain hiring momentum is critical. Similarly, the firm already has solid partnerships with the leading cloud firms, but setting aside budget to build up certifications and spearhead solution development in collaboration with hyperscalers is vital to staying at the top table. And in a market increasingly oriented to industry-specific capability - R&D resources and budget set aside to push the innovation envelope will help Wipro to stay at the top of its cloud game. A position that has seen the firm pull in large cloud deals with the likes of Telefónica Germany/O2, Verifone and E.ON, alongside a major win with METRO AG which in itself could become a deal worth $1bn.

The next two years will be critical for Wipro and many of its peers, as enterprises emerge from the pandemic with new and ambitious transformation roadmaps - with cloud playing a pivotal role. This announcement will see Wipro ramp up capabilities in line with this insatiable enterprise appetite for the technology and with the resources necessary to do it justice in the ongoing war for talent.