How Wipro Develops Future IT Talent

At Wipro, one of the biggest challenges is keeping up with digital transformation and new disruptive technologies. Wipro is an IT services organization with operations across 57 countries and over 180,000 employees across the globe. I sat down with Anurag Seth, VP & Head of Talent Transformation at Wipro, to learn more about how Wipro approaches technical training across the globe. Anurag frequently asks the question, “How do I continuously help the organization learn?” In this article, we’ll share some of the ways Wipro’s Talent Transformation team is addressing this question.

Wipro’s learning challenge: Staying ahead of the fast pace of technology change

Wipro is an IT services organization, providing IT support across business units such as banking/finance, retail, consumer goods, transportation, and more. In this industry, it’s imperative that all employees be up to date with the latest technical knowledge. Digital technologies are changing every month, so the challenge is to continuously develop new technical competencies in their workforce to better serve their customers. Whether the individual is fresh from college or more experienced, Wipro strives to create a culture of learning where people keep acquiring new technology skill sets at their own will. 

Keeping employees up to date on technical skills

In the past, when you learned a new technology, it would take several years before you had to learn something new. Now we are living in a world where technology is evolving at a rapid rate. And in the IT industry specifically, automation is changing and redefining IT as we know it. Wipro feels the need to keep up with the pace of change. Part of this challenge is to stimulate employees’ enthusiasm and engagement for continuous learning. Wipro aims to create a pull factor where employees learn through gamification and engaging digital learning platforms like Udemy for Business that keep the excitement high.

Wipro uses Udemy for Business to provide a learning resource for employees to be able to learn anytime, anywhere. This allows them to upgrade their skills whenever they feel the need, particularly in the case of technical skills. It might be a specific project they’re working on at their job or a long-term career aspiration. Whatever the reason, they can go to Udemy for Business to learn new technical skills. For example, employees using a legacy technology can use Udemy for Business to upgrade their skills with the latest technology.

Udemy for Business is extremely popular with employees at Wipro. They love the user-friendly interface. Each program is a 5- to 7-minute bite-sized lesson taught by leading global experts. The instructors are able to explain complex technical concepts in a manner that’s extremely accessible to our employees. And since Udemy for Business is available anytime, anywhere, on any device, Wipro employees love learning while on the road. For example, when they’re taking an Uber home from the office, they can take a few online lessons. Find out how Udemy for Business can help you upskill your employees on the latest technologies.

Wipro’s 3-tiered digital transformation program

Wipro has a 3-tiered digital transformation program. The main technology areas they focus on include cloud, data science, workplace & IT automation, and cybersecurity. For example, cloud skills like Amazon Web Services (AWS) are one of the most popular courses for Wipro employees as part of their digital transformation program. Many employees go on to get certified after taking AWS courses on Udemy for Business. Data science skills like Hadoop, R, and Python, as well as cybersecurity and workplace automation tools like Citrix and ServiceNow are also a key part of Wipro’s digital transformation training program. This program integrates online courses on Udemy for Business with hands-on learning created by Wipro’s subject matter experts to create a blended learning experience for employees.

Level 1: Awareness. The first level is awareness. Wipro wants the entire organization to speak about digital skills in the same language. They should have an appreciation of the digital skills that are mainstream in business today as well as the new skills that will become mainstream one or two years down the road. Wipro wants employees to keep learning about these new technologies at their own pace and Udemy for Business offers a way for them to keep up to speed.

Level 2: Knowledge. The next “knowledge” level focuses on attaining a deeper understanding of digital technologies. At this level, Wipro has programs where it’s a mix of online Udemy courses as well as content curated by internal subject matter experts. Through learning capsules, Wipro employees gain a deeper knowledge of these technical skills, enabling them to add real value when working with customers.

Level 3: Deep expertise. For the final step, the level 3 deep expertise program focuses on creating hands-on experience and labs, so employees go beyond theoretical knowledge. Internal subject matter experts create capstone projects, learning assignments, case studies, and virtual labs to help employees gain practical real-world experience using these new technical skills. Level 3 learning usually takes several months to master.

Throughout the journey of moving from awareness to knowledge to deep expertise, Udemy plays a critical role in providing support in the first two levels of Wipro’s blended learning program. The online learning courses offered by Udemy in level 1 and 2 creates a strong foundation in new technical concepts. Wipro then reinforces this new knowledge with real-life, hands-on experience on the job and in the classroom to prepare employees for actual customer engagements.

Udemy speaks Wipro’s language

Wipro has a presence across 57 countries and hires local employees in many of these countries. In some global offices, 90% of the workforce is local. The teaching style of Udemy instructors is extremely popular among this global workforce. The bite-sized videos are delivered in a concise and straightforward language that’s easily understood by employees across the world. Udemy’s additional features like transcripts and subtitles are especially helpful for employees who aren’t native English speakers. For example, in Continental Europe and Latin America, Wipro relies on Udemy’s subtitles and transcripts. In some cases, they’ve also used Udemy courses delivered in their native language. 

For Wipro, Udemy for Business has a unique value proposition that makes it stand out over other partners. Udemy for Business presents material in an accessible and engaging way, so there’s a significant pull factor from employees. The platform teaches the latest in-depth technical knowledge in an easily digestible format for learners. Whenever Wipro’s learning team tries proposing courses by their own subject matter experts, employees say again and again they prefer to take it on Udemy!

Find out how Udemy for Business can help you upskill your employees on the latest technologies.