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Wipro

Wipro – India’s One Of The Largest Multinational Conglomerates Founded During The British Period.

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Wipro, founded in 1945, is one of the largest employers in India. It is a multinational company that was featured in Forbes Global 2000 list as well as Fortune India 500 list. It has more than 230,000 employees and has customers around the globe. Only one year after establishing the company, it was taken public in 1946 and was listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange of India. Azim Premji, an Indian businessman, and engineer is the main brain behind the company. The current CEO of the company is Thierry Delaporte.

About Wipro

Wipro, though started out as a company for manufacturing vegetable and refined oil, has expanded to many other sectors in the last seven decades. It has launched health care, personal care, lightning products, etc, and offers services such as consulting and outsourcing. Wipro has also been a recipient of many prestigious awards and honors. In 2010, Wipro was given the Microsoft Country Partner of the Year Award for India. After a couple of years, it also ranked 2nd in the list of Global 500 Green companies by Newsweek. Subsidiaries of Wipro are Appirio, Topcoder, Capco, and Designit.

Wipro
Image source: www.financialexpress.com

Founding Days

Mohamed Premji incorporated Wipro in Alamner, India as Western Inia Products. Later, the company’s name was abbreviated to Wipro. The company initially became a manufacturer of various kinds of cooking and edible oil under the trade names of Kisan, Camel, and Sunflower. The company was slowly growing and it was in 1966 that Mohamed Premji passed away giving the reigns to his son, Azim Premji. He became the Chairman of the company only at the age of 21. It was under Azim Premji’s leadership and guidance that took Wipro into the IT industry, for what it is famous today. It was during the 1970s that Company gradually started finding opportunities in the IT and computing industry. So, in 1977 the company’s name was changed from Western India Vegetables Products Limited to Wipro Products Limited.

After the IT industry, Wipro also expanded its product line by introducing beauty products, hydraulic cylinders, and industrial cylinders. In 1989, the company started a partnership with General Electric for expanding into the healthcare sector by manufacturing diagnostic and imaging products. The company also launched its fluid power division and toiletries product line for babies. In 1995, the company also set up an overseas design center for international clients. By the end of the decade, the company acquired Wipro Acer and introduced new products like Wipro SuperGenius personal computers. The company also started offering internet services in India after starting a joint venture with a Dutch company. In 2000, Company got listed on New York Stock Exchange.

Expansion and Success

The next decade started with a huge success as Wipro became the first software company in India to be ISO 14001 certified. Wipro started a new product line of CFL under the brand name Wipro Smartlite. The company also partnered with Intel for i-Siksha. Wipro also started acquiring several companies starting with cMango Inc in 2006, Oki Techno Centre Singapore Pte Ltd (OTCS) in 2007, and establishing an R&D partnership with Nokia Siemens Network.

In 2008, the company entered into the clean energy business and acquired the global oil and gas division of SAIC. Some of the other companies that Wipro acquired in the following years are Promax Applications Group, Appirio, Rational Interaction, Capco, etc. Recently, Company has also partnered with IBM software systems to launch its 5G solutions. It also expanded its business to Bangladesh a few years ago and extensively invested in the European market.

About Azim Premji

Azim Premji is the founder chairman of Wipro who took responsibility for the business after his father passed away. He was born in a Gujarati Muslim family in Bombay. Azim Premji completed his graduation from Standford University and returned back to India immediately and started working for the company. In 2005, he received Padma Bhushan for his contribution to trade and commerce.

Lectra

Lectra, a leading fashion technology provider in both CAD and CAM.

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Lectra is a French technology company founded in 1973 by two engineers Jean and Bernard Etcheparre. The company’s headquarters is based in Paris, France and it is a publicly-traded company. Lectra is known for bringing digitalized transformation into the world of fashion and apparel and more than that. And, what place could have been better than starting the business in Paris and entering the fashion market. Lectra mainly specializes in CAD software and CAM cutting-room systems. It offers software, hardware, as well as consulting services.

About Lectra

Lectra, with its technology, empowers the companies in the fashion and apparel industry, companies that design car interiors, furniture, etc. The products and services of the company assist in a digital transformation of multiple steps from designing to production. Recently, Company has acquired USA-based Gerber Technology, a competitor in the market.

Currently, Company has 34 subsidiaries and operates across 34 countries with 1,650 employees. It also has three international advanced technology and conference centers. Initially, Lectra used the CAD software to assist the fashion manufacturing industry because their technology was compatible with those using soft materials like leather but it has evolved in the last three decades.

Lectra
Image source: wikimedia.org

History of Lectra

The history of Lectra started in 1973 when the two engineers founded the company. Their initial target was to enter the fashion and apparel industry and boost their designing process with the help of technology. In 1976, the company was successfully able to develop the first CAD software for apparel making. Soon the two founders met the venture capitalist, André Harari, and he helped in raising the capital Lectra needed to implement a proper business development plan.

In the next decade, i.e., the 1980s, Company expanded to international markets. Lectra’s first foreign subsidiary was established in Germany followed by the UK, Italy, Spain, and finally in the US. Till now the company only used CAD for its software products but in 1985 it expanded into computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) in the fashion industry. In the same year, Company was recognized as the topmost company across the globe in fashion CAD.

After becoming a leading fashion technology provider in both CAD and CAM, the company decided to go public and filed its first IPO in 1987. Unfortunately, the company faced some financial troubles during the early 1990s, and it was recapitalized by Daniel and André Harari. After its recapitalization, Lectra extensively invested in R&D for its every product range and in 1995 rolled out its first product data management (PDM). Between 1996-1998, Lectra made a breakthrough in pattern making and grading, and also pattern fabric matching cut management (Mosaic).

Lectra in 21st century

Lectra entered into the 21st century as the famous global leader in fashion CAD and CAM. It launched many new products and services in the next ten years like Lectra Fashion PLM, 3D prototyping, and IoT-based preventive maintenance services. Eventually, Company entered the automotive industry and topped the list in automotive CAM. It also made several changes in its core software and 2012 added predictive maintenance in its software.

In 2014, Lectra established a partnership with ESCP Europe to establish a chair in Fashion and Technology for its luxury innovation research. And, after a few years, Lectra joined hands with a few other companies to launch the Biarritz Active Lifestyle Integral (BALI) Chair. With Lectra being a company with a unique perspective in the 1970s, it is still a global provider in its sector. The company has been the recipient of several awards and recognitions that include winning the Showcase for the Industry of Future Alliance from the Industry of Future Alliance. The company has recently acquired Kubix Lab, an Italian company in 2018, and Gerber Technology, an American company in 2021.

Daniel Harari – CEO of Lectra

Daniel Harari became the CEO and Chairman of Lectra in 1991. Before that, he has served in various companies in executive positions and also as the CEO. He started his career by joining an asset management company as its Vice President. Daniel also served as the CEO of Compagnie Financière du Scribe, a venture capital firm based in Paris.

DATEV

DATEV – A Data Center That Emerged As A Successful German Registered Cooperative Society.

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DATEV is a German-based registered cooperative society. The primary role of DATEV is in the IT industry as it provides technical information services to the accountants, attorneys, and members of the tax department. Founded in February 1996, DATEV was originally a data center that is now famous in the IT industry. Currently, DATEV is known for developing and delivering software directly to end-users. The company is also known for providing consulting services for these occupations. Though DATEV is a leading technology provider in Germany, its main interest lies in the tax market.

About The Company

DATEV mainly provides software for accounting, tax computation, personnel management, business consulting, and company organization. It was founded in 1966 and currently has more than 400,000 customers. The headquarters of DATEV is based in Nuremberg and apart from that, it has 23 other subsidiaries in Germany. More than 8,000 people work for the company in their main office and subsidiaries.

DATEV is a very popular company in Germany such that around 2 million enterprises in the nation use their software to perform financial accounting. More than 11 million payslips are generated every month using the DATEV software. The company also has a data center that is used by both the members of the company and its clients. Data security is the prime focus of every employee of the company.

DATEV
image source: www.datev.com

History of DATEV

On 14th February 1966, 65 tax consultants from Nuremberg founded DATEV. It was founded as a cooperative self-help organization whose main focus was to facilitate bookkeeping tasks. The main five founding members of the company are Edmund Rudolph, Horst Preißner, Joachim Mattheus, Heinz Sebiger, and Klaus Hartmann. The company initially founded a data center where the accounting data of the members were processed. This was a step up from the primitive punch tape. The DATEV center was opened after the number of members in this organization started increasing rapidly and was finally inaugurated in 1969.

In 1974, Company introduced remote data transmission. First, the data was recorded on magnetic tapes, and then from the employee side, it was transmitted to the DATEV data center via the telephone lines. After a couple of years, the company established its first personal network for transmitting electronic data between tax consultant offices and the DATEV data center. But, the company dismantled the career network in 2002 because by then it was no more an economically viable choice.

Business Growth

In 1972, DATEV formed a joint allegiance with the Japanese company TKC and it was after ten years both the companies document the alliance. TKC is also a data processing service company and the joint partnership aimed to support more tax consultants with electronic data processing. Even today both the companies are tied up through business exchange programs. In the 1990s, Company started establishing its first Information Center starting in Dresden followed by Schwerin, Leipzig, Magdeburg, and Erfurt.

In 1996, one of the founders of DATEV, Dr. Heinz Sebiger retired from the company after 30 years of successfully monitoring the administration. By this time, the company started generated revenue in billions and employed more than 4,000 people. For the next two years, employers and clients in DATEV witnessed the transformation from the DOS system to 32 bit Windows OS.

The 21st century brought several opportunities for DATEV to explore and establish itself in the European market. The company established itself in the Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, Spain, Italy, and many more. In 2003, the company expanded to Poland as it started a joint venture with Poland-based software manufacturer Matrix. pl S.A. In 2011, the company expanded its data center and included new trending services like cloud computing and data security. In 2021, a new management team was formed at DATEV with Dr. Peter Krug as the new CMO and Prof. Dr. Christian Bär as the new CTO of the company. Dr. Robert Mayr is the present CEO of the company.

Robert Mayr – CEO of Company

Robert Mayr joined DATEV in 2011 as a member of the board of directors as well as head of finances, purchasing, production, and internal data processing. Robert Mayr became the CEO of the company in 2016. Before joining the company, he was the managing partner at Solidaris Revisions GmbH. He also has seven years of working experience at Deloitte, one of the Big Four companies.

Deloitte

Deloitte – A 176-years Old Multinational Conglomerate Successfully Running A Professional Services Network.

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William Welch Deloitte founded the company back in 1845 in London, England. The full name of the company is Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited. It is a private company that operates a network of professional services in over 150 countries. It is the largest company in the world in the sector of professional services in terms of revenue generated and employees working for the company. Currently, there are more than 334,000 professionals offering services like consulting, financial advisory, legal, etc. in the company. Sharon Thorne is the present Chairperson of Deloitte Global and Punit Renjen is the CEO of the same.

About Deloitte

Deloitte, originally established in London, expanded to the United States in the late 1800s. In 1989, the company merged with Touche Ross and after a few years, the company rebranded to Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. But, the company’s name was again abbreviated to Deloitte later. the company provides a wide range of professional services like financial advisory, tax, legal, audit, risk advisory, and consulting. The company is not just the largest brand in the professional service sector it is also the third-largest privately owned company in the US.

Deloitte
Image source: www.consultancy.eu

The Early History of the Company

Hiring professionals to solve complex business problems is the root idea behind the establishment of Company. The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a company in England that generated revenue by selling equity to the public. In 1849, William Welch Deloitte was given the responsibility to audit the company. When the boom in joint-stock companies took place, eventually the demand for people with professional skills surged. So, George A. Touche established an accounting company in 1898 to meet this demand and started expanding the territory of Touche, Niven & Company.

The stock market crash of 1929 brought before all the fact that some bankruptcies were prevented due to proper accounting. When this matter was brought before the US Senate Committee on Banking and Currency, hiring independent audits was made compulsory for public corporations. So, the demand for accountants increased once again and many women accountants found jobs. On the other hand, William by then opened several offices after his journey started with GWR. In 1972, the company merged with Haskins & Sells, and the new company became Deloitte Haskins & Sells. In 1989, the company again merged with Touche Ross but many important people disagreed with the merger and the lead kept changing constantly.

Company in the Modern Era

A lot of discrepancies took place regarding the name of Deloitte and Touche. So, in 1993, the company was given the name Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited. In 1995, Deloitte Consulting was formed, and eventually, the company started expanding, acquiring, and opening new services. At the beginning of the 2000s, the company acquired Eclipse, Beijing Pan-China CPA, and the North American Public Service of BearingPoint. the company opened a new branch called Deloitte Intelligence and started hiring ex-employees of the Central Intelligence Agency created a very strong team of professionals. The companies acquired by them were very diverse ranging from the real estate sector to mobile advertising agencies. This helped company expand its services and also generate more revenue.

One of the most successful units of the company is Deloitte Digital which acquired 11 digital marketing agencies in the span of 5 years. In 2016, Deloitte and Apple went into a joint partnership to increase the sales of Apple’s mobile phones and engagement of Deloitte consultants for Apple’s products and services. The services offered by the company as well as its geographical market keep on expanding. As of last year, the company generated annual revenue of more than $45 billion.

About William Welch Deloitte

William Welch Deloitte, born in 1818, started his professional career very early. Only at the age of 15, he started working as an assistant for the Official Assignee at the Bankruptcy Court in London. While working as an assistant, he learned about business and eventually became an accountant. When he was 25 he opened his own office but his life took a huge turn when he became the first even independent auditor appointed. Eventually, he started establishing multiple offices of Deloitte and when he retired from the company, it existed as Deloitte, Plender, Griffiths & Co.

Booz Allen Hamilton

Booz Allen Hamilton – The Pioneers of Consulting and Management Services

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Booz Allen Hamilton is an American consulting agency, which provides management and IT consulting services to its clients. The company headquarters is based in McLean, Virginia, U.S., and was founded in 1914, by Edwin G. Booz, James L. Allen, and Carl L. Hamilton. The company name is after the surnames of three founders. Booz Allen is one of the leading consulting firms in America and has also over 80 offices in different parts of the world, including clients from private-public as well as non-profits sectors.

Booz Allen Hamilton has two divisions that provide IT and management services, i.e., Worldwide Commercial Business and Worldwide Technology Business. The former is for providing management services, and the other is to provide technology consulting and system development services to both private as well as government organizations. Booz Allen & Hamilton Health Care Inc and Booz Allen & Hamilton Acquisition Services are the main subsidiary companies of Booz Allen Hamilton.

The Establishment of Booz Allen Hamilton

The company history dates back to over 100 years ago, in 1914, when a company, named Business Research Service, was founded by Edwin G. Booz to provide consulting services to other companies. Booz wanted to build a business model where companies could hire experts for unbiased advice for their businesses, such that to help them grow even better. The business was recognized as one of its kind. Two years later, two other partners, James L. Allen and Carl L. Hamilton joined the company.

Even at the beginning of the company, it was able to grab clients like Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company and Canadian Pacific Railway. For the first thirty years of Business Research Service, it was juggling with a lot of name changes, like Edwin G. Booz, Business Engineering Service, and Business Surveys. George Fry joined the company as the first full-time assistant in 1925 and later, became a partner. In 1936, the company headquarters was moved to Field Building in Chicago. The same year, the company was named Booz, Fry, Allen & Hamilton, but as in 1942, Fry left the company, it became Booz Allen Hamilton.

Booz Allen Hamilton
Image Source: monster.com

In 1940, Booz Allen Hamilton bagged a contract from the U.S. Navy such that the company was to assess the preparedness of the Navy for the second world war in terms of the condition of the Navy’s shipyards, telephone systems, and intelligence operations, etc. By the end of the war, the company had established three offices in the major cities like Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles, with around 400 clients on board. Though the war was over, the company continued to offer its services to the US military.

In 1955 Booz Allen Hamilton established the Booz Allen Applied Research, Inc. (BAARINC). The company got recognized as ‘the world’s largest, most prestigious management consulting firm’ by Time magazine in 1959. By this time, IBM, Abbott Labs, and the US Department of the Interior had also become its clients, and the company was making annual revenues worth $55 million.

Booz Allen Hamilton went public in January 1970. In the early 70s, NASA hired the company to evaluate a $100 million satellite to orbit the earth for one year. During the same time, the company also started to work in the telecom and IT field. 1980, the recorded annual revenue for the company was $180 million. To get a hold on the technology market, the company entered the commercial systems integration field in 1989.

By the mid-90s, the company’s operations were restructured and divided into two divisions, i.e., technology services & systems development and commercial management consulting. In 2008, with a spin-off, the commercial arm of Booz Allen Hamilton was separated to form Booz & Company, which later was acquired by PwC. The company had another round of IPO in 2010. By 2020, the company also became the SEC’s major cybersecurity services provider.

International Expansion and Acquisitions

In 1953, the company went international after Booz Allen Hamilton bagged a contract from the Philippines and the Egyptian government. During the same time, the company also opened its office in Italy. The company made some acquisitions like Designers for Industry (renamed Design & Development) and Foster D. Snell Laboratory in the early 60s.

By the end of the 60s, the company had also started to work with several European industries, including the British heavy industry and consumer goods manufacturers and West German and Scandinavian steel producers. During the same time, the company was also actively working with the governments of Brazil, Argentina, Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia as well as Venezuela.

In 1972, Booz Allen Hamilton entered the Japanese industry. The company acquired Advanced Decision Systems Inc in 1991, and in 2012, it acquired the Defense Systems Engineering & Support division of ARINC, followed by the acquisition of Epidemico in 2014, S.C. technology firm SPARC in 2015, and eGov Holding in 2017.

The Founder: Edwin George Booz

Edwin George Booz is recognized as the founder of Booz Allen Hamilton as he was the first one to start the company. He was born on 2 September 1887 in Reading, Pennsylvania. He completed a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s degree in psychology from Kellogg School at Northwestern University. As soon he completed his education, he started Business Research Service in 1914.