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CHENNAI HEROES

True Stories of Grit & Perseverance

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Table of Contents

Preface

THE TORCH BEARER

The valiant Wiproites @ work – Abidali Z Neemuchwala 3The protective arm! – Saurabh Govil 7

CHAMPIONS OF WIPRO

Leading during crisis – G Srinivasan 13The business value of resilience – Raghunandan C B 17

HAIL WIPROITES!

Women of Wipro: The tough ones – Amita Maheshwari 23Chennai deluge and the human spirit – Nagesh Doraiswamy 25“Hallelujah” to the spirit of teamwork – Rajeshwari Rajan 29

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Our tryst with ‘The Chennai Cascade 2015’ –

Ganesamoorthy Muthusamy 33An incredible effort – Anuradha Muthuswamy 37A resolve to reckon with – Srinivasan Sundaram 39

BUSINESS UNINTERRUPTED!

Employees on the move – Hemalatha Sura 43Going beyond the call of duty! – AMS Team 45A story about managing priorities! – Sudarshan K C 49Leaders inspire business continuity – Ramesh Balasubramaniam 51

ROAD TO RECOVERY

The journey: From devastation to restoration –

Ajjiranda Uthappa Kushalappa 55

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY 60

SPECIAL THANKS 61

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PREFACE

The Chennai Wipro Campus

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The brave battalion of Wipro Most of you have seen the iconic movie Gladiator. Do you recall the

opening scene when Maximus rallies his soldiers towards the

battleground with the words, “What we do in life echoes in eternity”? The

same goes for an organization that rallies its people and gives them the

strength and courage to brave a crisis.

A true test of fortitude and grit came before Wipro as an organization,

when one of its key locations, Chennai, fell prey to God’s fury in

November 2015. Incessant rains brought the entire city to a halt

impacting a cross-section of people in Chennai. Not just residential

quarters, but business operations in especially the IT sector was badly

hit. Wipro’s entire campus was �ooded impacting business continuity

and threatening employee safety and wellness, including assets.

In such challenging situations, the need was unprecedented leadership

fueled by the spirit of accountability and commitment that ensured

employees’ well being, and also a diligent business continuity plan that

minimized disruption to the business and customers.

A crisis tends to assess the real character of an organization and puts to

test the resilience and perseverance of its people. This incident also

brought to the limelight actions of employees who demonstrated the true

spirit of Wipro and worked relentlessly towards ensuring uninterrupted

service delivery and continuity.

This booklet captures the heroic contributions of Wiproites during

the Chennai �oods and spells the organization’s brave attempt to

manage the situation. It celebrates individual efforts as much as it

applauds team efforts.

Well done Chennai Heroes!!! We salute you!

The brave battalion of Wipro Most of you have seen the iconic movie Gladiator. Do you recall the

opening scene when Maximus rallies his soldiers towards the

battleground with the words, “What we do in life echoes in eternity”? The

same goes for an organization that rallies its people and gives them the

strength and courage to brave a crisis.

A true test of fortitude and grit came before Wipro as an organization,

when one of its key locations, Chennai, fell prey to God’s fury in

November 2015. Incessant rains brought the entire city to a halt

impacting a cross-section of people in Chennai. Not just residential

quarters, but business operations in especially the IT sector was badly

hit. Wipro’s entire campus was �ooded impacting business continuity

and threatening employee safety and wellness, including assets.

In such challenging situations, the need was unprecedented leadership

fueled by the spirit of accountability and commitment that ensured

employees’ well being, and also a diligent business continuity plan that

minimized disruption to the business and customers.

A crisis tends to assess the real character of an organization and puts to

test the resilience and perseverance of its people. This incident also

brought to the limelight actions of employees who demonstrated the true

spirit of Wipro and worked relentlessly towards ensuring uninterrupted

service delivery and continuity.

This booklet captures the heroic contributions of Wiproites during

the Chennai �oods and spells the organization’s brave attempt to

manage the situation. It celebrates individual efforts as much as it

applauds team efforts.

Well done Chennai Heroes!!! We salute you!

PREFACE

The Chennai Wipro Campus

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THE TORCHBEARER

THE TORCHBEARER

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THE TORCHBEARER

THE TORCHBEARER

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The valiantWiproites @ workAbidali Z NeemuchwalaChief Executive Of�cer, Wipro Limited

Today, as I write this piece, life is slowly regaining

normalcy in Chennai. I feel this is an opportune time

to celebrate the courage and fortitude displayed by

Wiproites during the Chennai �oods – the ability to

stand tall against all challenges and braving every bit

of it like Heroes.

My memories of the harrowing Chennai �oods still

remain fresh, as I recall vividly the images of agony

and pain of hundreds of Chennaites, including

our employees. Our Sholinganallur campus was

�ooded, with more than �ve feet of water

everywhere, which even forced us to shut operations

for a couple of days. Safety of people, assets and

materials was at risk. However, the resilience,

commitment and strength displayed by Wiproites

during the crisis brought out their true character.

The valiantWiproites @ workAbidali Z NeemuchwalaChief Executive Of�cer, Wipro Limited

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of it like Heroes.
















of it like Heroes.











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BCP preparedness gives an edge

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The valiant Wiproites @ work – Abidali Z Neemuchwala 6

arrangements with transport and airlines, etc., every

quarter. To ensure we are prepared for any such natural

calamity in future, it is pivotal that we test our BCP like �re

drills from time to time, at least once in six months.

Additionally, I recommend that we switch connectivity to

back-up locations, con�gure �rewalls, security, to be in

sync with client/third party procedures, personnel and lead

times. This should be practiced regularly for it to work

during a crisis.

Committed to the spirit of Wipro, we will continue to work

relentlessly to make the organization an even safer and

secure place for employees and clients. We already

have a few action plans in place and will ensure better

preparedness and better control over such situations in

future. Certain things may be unavoidable in life, but being

prepared helps!

Able leadership and teamwork entwined with some

advance planning, thinking on the feet and an amazing

degree of resourcefulness have helped us sail through this

crisis. G Srinivasan (GSan) has demonstrated tremendous

leadership during this situation along with critical corporate

function heads. CIO Raja Ukil, FMG Head Hari Hegde and

Raghu in Chennai, GDE, Travel, Legal, HR, Finance,

Communications and Risk Function Heads, all have

supported the business teams 24/7 to tide over this crisis.

Wiproites in Chennai readily agreed to work at odd hours,

slept away from home in dorms or hotels, and traveled to

different locations to ensure that business commitments

were met. In spite of long power cuts and lack of basic

amenities, employees stayed committed to their client

deliverables. In fact, some of the Crisis Management

Leaders (CMLs), IT Management Group (IMG) and

Facilities Management Group (FMG) team members �ew

to Chennai to be on ground when others were �ying out of

trouble. Some Wiproites even attended to clients while

their homes were �ooding. Such was the intensity to

ensure business continuity and meet customer

obligations. To extend support, Wiproites from across the

globe picked up extra load to help their colleagues and

ensure business continuity. I salute the spirit of Wiproites

for their commitment, persistence and courage in tackling

the situation.

We have emerged stronger and valiant, but it is time to

recapitulate our learnings from the situation and work

towards ensuring that we are better prepared in future to

manage similar situations. Some of the key learnings that

need our attention include having a named CML at all

levels in all units/accounts/functions. There should be

real-time client communications at various levels and the

impact and the actions should be proactive. A formal

Business Continuity Plan (BCP) documentation should

be drafted, which should be updated with current

communication matrix, latest �ight and train routes,

THE TORCH BEARER

We have emerged

stronger and valiant, but

it is time to recapitulate

our learnings from the

situation and work

towards ensuring that

we are better prepared

in future to manage

similar situations.

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Saurabh GovilChief Human Resource Of�cer, Wipro Limited

The protective arm!Saurabh GovilChief Human Resource Of�cer, Wipro Limited

The protective arm!

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The HR function has a key role

to play not only in protecting

the welfare and safety of

affected employees but also

in supporting organizational

sustainability during crisis.

Prepare, plan, do dry runs.

There is no other substitute.

Anticipate all unlikely events

and plan.

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Ferrying people to safety

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Establishing communication with employees scattered

in different areas did become a challenge which

propelled us to bring Employee Assistance Programs in

place. With this in mind, a helpline was set up to ensure

communication reached out to employees in a timely

manner. This helpline number was circulated across

which helped transfer messages between individuals

and crisis management teams. Beyond this a lot of

other activities were carried out based on feedback and

requests from employees. We rolled out quick changes

in policy to suit immediate requirements of people, be it

allowances, loans, travel rules or leaves to ensure that

the HR policies are in tune with employee requests and

not guided by Business As Usual (BAU) scenario.

Since we never expected the rains to take such a

catastrophic turn, we never really had the opportunity to

encourage team work in a formal way. However, every

individual displayed tremendous teamwork and spirit in

overcoming challenges. I have come across several

heartwarming stories of employees helping those who

were ill, in the family way, required medication; support

in reaching home despite personal challenges.

We are by now aware that crisis can occur at any

time and leave deep impact on an organization’s

business pro�tability and even sustainability. Therefore,

I believe that we have to improve our business

continuity planning processes to better manage such

occurrences. Preparedness will have to sharpen and

resources have to be kept ready and tested for such

sudden events.

Prepare, plan, do dry runs. There is no other substitute.

Anticipate all unlikely events and plan.

If I have to look back at 2015, one incident that would

be etched in memory for a long time, it will undoubtedly

be the Chennai �oods. While many of us watched

the disaster unfold on television and our smartphones,

businesses and individuals fought the onslaught with

grit and courage on the ground. As we all know, Wipro’s

Chennai facility had to bear the brunt of unprecedented

rains, however, our preparedness to a great extent

helped us get back on to the recovery mode much

sooner than expected.

The Chennai facilities house about 18,000 employees

and it was of paramount importance that the Human

Resources team takes the lead in protecting the

affected employees and their families. Human

Resources at Wipro played an integral role in the crisis

management and planning process. HR being for the

people and by the people, had to look deeper into the

human side of the crisis. During the �oods, the HR team

played a key role in prioritizing the relief and rescue

operations across facilities.

Apart from its involvement in rescue operations, some of

the team members were on the ground in extreme

conditions directing relief operations and helping

employees stay safe. They had to ascertain that the

employees have been taken care of while implementing

the crisis management and business continuity plans.

Since crisis comes unannounced, there is Business

Continuity Plan (BCP) to deal with such contingencies

and HR used that to relocate employees at short notice

to ensure no break in critical customer operations

across. Customers came back with extremely positive

feedback when they realized that our employees, in

spite of dif�culties at home ensured continuity of

operations. This reposes faith in commitment and

displays our resilience.

The protective arm! – Saurabh Govil 10CHAMPIONS OF WIPRO

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CHAMPIONSOF WIPRO

CHAMPIONSOF WIPRO

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CHAMPIONSOF WIPRO

CHAMPIONSOF WIPRO

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Leading duringcrisis G Srinivasan Vice President & Delivery Head

Leading duringcrisis G Srinivasan Vice President & Delivery Head

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G Srinivasan or GSan as

he is popularly addressed,

has displayed exemplary

leadership during the Chennai

�oods, setting an example of

how to hold the fort when

mounted with chaos and

rising expectations. Here is an

extract of the conversation

with him.

G Srinivasan or GSan as

he is popularly addressed,

has displayed exemplary

leadership during the Chennai

�oods, setting an example of

how to hold the fort when

mounted with chaos and

rising expectations. Here is an

extract of the conversation

with him.

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The restoration begins…

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employees to stay put where they were. It helped us

logistically manage things ef�ciently. Many of the crisis

team members lead from the front to form smaller

groups and moved people out. We had announced a

helpline number for people to reach out; everyone in the

crisis team took calls and calmed people down.

In fact, once the calamity struck, our priority shifted

from business continuity plan to employee safety. After

all, we had more than 1000 employees including

expectant mothers who were stranded in the of�ce.

However, it is not that we let go of the business

continuity plan. Once employee safety was ensured,

we started executing the plan. As we were already

prepared to a large extent, teams could continue

without waiting for instructions. For example, several

teams had moved to other locations; work from home

with laptop and data cards were enabled for hundreds

of employees, apart from other support.

It is said, “Before asking others to sacri�ce, �rst

volunteer yourself.” What initiatives did you take

that set precedence?

GSan: Simply, it is being on the ground with the teams

going through the same experience. You know it is

inbuilt in most Wiproites. There is always a sense of

ownership during critical times. In many places people

would have shied away from taking up responsibilities

especially when you have a similar situation back home.

Frankly, it’s easier said than done. I have worked around

two decades at Wipro and have inculcated the same

passion like many other Wiproites.

What are your learnings from the entire episode?

GSan: There are several learnings. As a leader, it was

a practical exercise to remain calm while in a crisis

situation. It was a test of instant decision-making in

areas of very limited experience on many occasions.

And I learnt several things from Kushal and team about

sel�ess service. From the business perspective, we

should look at business continuity plan end to end, not

just at project or account level. And as a human being,

this was a very humbling experience.

You were named the leader for Wipro crisis

management during the Chennai �oods. From

what I have gathered, you had shown exemplary

leadership traits, however, what kind of challenges

did you face in managing the situation?

GSan: The success of our crisis handling is attributed to

our heroes – Facilities Management Group (FMG) and IT

Management Group (IMG) teams supported by SPOCs

from each Business Unit (BU) and transport team.

The challenges were far too many. The very �rst task

after I was nominated to lead crisis management was to

unite all the business units and functions under one

leadership. This was easily overcome by true Wipro

spirit. Preparing �awless plans for hundreds of projects

with diverse needs, many of them 24/7, in a few days

was a daunting task. Logistics associated in executing

such a plan was unimaginably complex – that

spanned across arranging IT infrastructure, network

infrastructure, transport, accommodation, food, etc.

The sheer size of the location which has 12 towers and

other common facilities spread across such a vast

area, servicing so many customers 24/7 was another

big challenge. With no background on facilities

management, it was dif�cult for me to make a perfect

plan. However, we had excellent support extended even

from other locations to handle the enormity of the task.

While the initial challenges were in preparation, the

challenges were different when the calamity stuck.

Ensuring employee safety became the top priority. We

had to take care of people inside the of�ce as well as

track those on the way home. This was the toughest

part when the entire city was �ooded and

communication channels were disrupted.

Crisis situations tend to create more commotion

than calm; how did you manage to safeguard

employees and at the same time, guarantee

business continuity?

GSan: Ensuring business continuity was certainly a

priority but at the same time reassuring our people of

their safety was also high on agenda. We requested all

CHAMPIONS OF WIPRO 16Leading during crisis – G Srinivasan

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The businessvalue of resilienceRaghunandan C BVice President – Operations - Facilities Management Group

Challenges and surprises are intrinsic

to business. Displaying �exibility,

capability, determination, willingness

and resourcefulness to deal with a

crisis situation conveys an

organization’s competitive advantage

and showcases its true character. As

displayed by the teams at Wipro

during the recent Chennai �oods…

The businessvalue of resilienceRaghunandan C BVice President – Operations - Facilities Management Group

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When things got really challenging, many Wiproites were forced to either

move into hotels or move to different cities to ensure services to

customers remain uninterrupted. How were employees motivated during

this phase?

Raghunandan: When the rains came, the whole city was marooned. We had

people who were stuck in of�ces without power, food and water. All they had

was hope for a bright sunny morning. But as we all know, the rains lingered on

weeks. There were critical processes where business continuity was imperative.

Being mature professionals, they were aware of the criticality of their function

and their job roles and responded to it accordingly.

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decision to switch off the power to avoid permanent

damage, despite the fact that the towers still

accommodated approximately 1,600 employees who

were unable to move out. We believed that certain

measures were needed to mitigate further damage. So

most of the critical servers were moved to safer places.

If you ask me, it was a catch-22 situation again. The

decision to switch off the power would not only plunge

the campus in to darkness, it also risked the continuity

of service delivery, knowing that the UPS would only

give back-up for a couple of hours. However, looking at

the water levels and damage, it was essential to avoid or

prevent untoward incidents wherever possible.

What are some of the key learnings for you from

this crisis?

Raghunandan: Although we were quite prepared for

any such situation, it’s essential to revisit areas where

we could have been better prepared. For instance, a

Chennai like situation can occur anywhere, anytime.

Since most of our electrical equipment, panels, servers,

generators were installed on the ground �oor, one

corrective measure would be to move all them to at a

height of six to eight feet to avoid any damage in case of

similar situations. This includes our data centers in the

ground level, they too have to be moved to higher and

safer levels in the buildings.

Moreover, we need to question ourselves: Are we really

prepared? In the past, we never really experienced a

crisis of this level and we never really had a chance to

test our preparedness. When the crisis occurred this

time, we were initially jolted. None of us really expected

the city to go down. It’s a lesson learnt.

It is time to have a clear plan in place, which is updated

on regular intervals and most importantly we need to

test the effectiveness of the plan regularly.

Therefore, to begin with, we need to invest, without

expecting returns from Business Continuity Plan (BCP).

Strengthening BCP will ensure the organization is on the

recovery path much sooner during tough times.

This is an extract of a conversation with Raghunandan

C B on Chennai �oods.

Many a time, customer satisfaction and employee

safety seemed a daunting task; however, the spirit of the

Wiproites, their can-do-it attitude came out a clear

winner every time. There were instances when facilities

management group and security had to work in

knee-deep water to support people with basic

amenities. In fact, many of them didn’t leave their

workplace for a week or more and worked through the

night. Such dedication and accountability needs no

external motivation. They are self-driven, oblivious to

their own personal challenges. The Delivery Heads

facilitated by FMG stood like a rock beside their team

members during the crisis, which in itself was a

motivation factor for many.

What efforts were made to relocate employees

for continuity, while ensuring their families were

not stranded?

Raghunandan: While the team worked unremittingly

to safeguard employees, business continuity was

predominant. To ensure that customer delivery

functioned with minimal impact, we moved critical

resources to different Wipro facilities such as Bangalore,

Hyderabad, Kochi and Delhi with the help of FMG

and other support functions. Approximately 3,000

people were temporarily relocated for uninterrupted

business continuity.

Wipro is a resilient organization focused on keeping

operations running without a noticeable break in

service. Hence, business continuity was a priority. Yet

we were sensitive to employees whose families needed

their support and no compulsion was made. So we

reached out to bachelors as well. What surfaced was

accountability and pro-activeness. Employees were

strong, reliable and dependable. At the end of the day, it

was team spirit and commitment on display.

Several employees were asked to work from home

after the ground �oor building was completely

�ooded. What measures were taken to ensure the

safety of the assets?

Raghunandan: Looking at volume and velocity of the

rains, we took a calculative risk. Before the water could

reach the electrical equipment, we took a consensual

The business value of resilience – Raghunandan C B 20CHAMPIONS OF WIPRO

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HAILWIPROITES!

HAILWIPROITES!

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21

HAILWIPROITES!

HAILWIPROITES!

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Women of Wipro:The tough onesAmita MaheshwariSenior Manager, HR & Location HR Head, Chennai

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house went an extra mile and took one of the expectant

mothers to her home, so that she was safe and taken

care of.

One employee, who despite being specially abled,

displayed great patience, understanding and courage.

Ajjiranda Uthappa Kushalappa, Chennai Facilities

Management Group (FMG) Head, displayed immense

accountability by taking the employees out of the

campus on his own and dropping the employees to the

closest safest junction. He even arranged the

transportation to ensure the employees faced no

problem while commuting.

We arranged for early transport on the 2nd of December

for the employees across various campuses in Chennai.

There were multiple busses which were released from

MWC campus; however, employees got stranded on the

roads at midnight due to major traf�c congestion and

�ood. Hence, we connected with the SRM University

and ensured all our employees were inside their campus

safely. We had supplied food and basic amenities to all

the employees who were marooned in the SRM facilities

till the 3rd of December. The FMG team has done a

marvelous job in managing the crisis so ef�ciently.

A big thank you to all the women employees who

stood strong, irrespective of tough times and supported

us in our endeavor. They held on to their serenity and

stayed committed to their deliverables. We salute their

strength and their ability to embrace hardship with élan.

The entire crisis management team had joined hands to ensure that all their women

counterparts were taken care of and treated with extreme sensitivity.

Wipro being an organization that has always enabled

and encouraged greater participation of women at all

levels, ensuring safety of its women employees was

treated with utmost care. A �rm believer in equal

opportunities, it has always invested in approaches that

ensures fairness for women and men in the organization.

When the crisis happened, the brunt was felt by men

as much as our women employees. In fact, there were

close to 300 women employees in the campus on the 1st

and 2nd of December. The entire crisis management

team had joined hands to ensure that all their women

counterparts were taken care of and treated with

extreme sensitivity.

All the arrangements that were being made while

running Business Continuity Plan (BCP) ensured that the

women employees were provided all the basic amenities

during the crisis situation. We have ensured that they are

taken out from the campus safely through water boats.

Women were dropped closest to destination points,

areas where either transportation back home was

available or help was at an arm’s length. There were

three women colleagues who were in the family way.

Keeping the sensitivity of their condition, we arranged

their stay in the guest house till the third of December.

Post that, we offered out support in taking them to

places from where they could reach their homes easily or

a friend’s place, whichever was closer and convenient to

them. Despite the tiring situation, all efforts were made to

provide all basic facilities to keep them comfortable and

safe. In fact, one of our woman colleagues in the guest

HAIL WIPROITES! 24Women of Wipro: The tough ones – Amita Maheshwari

29

Nagesh DoraiswamyGeneral Manager, Business Application Services

The Chennai situation made me realize

that it is the human spirit and not just

processes that make things happen.

Amid the calamity and the losses, the

willingness to help and go the extra

mile was demonstrated without asks.

Chennai delugeand the human spirit

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The Chennai situation made me realize

that it is the human spirit and not just

processes that make things happen.

Amid the calamity and the losses, the

willingness to help and go the extra

mile was demonstrated without asks.

Chennai delugeand the human spirit

31

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to work extended hours and several employees from

the Chennai of�ce moved to other locations to render

these services.

BCP processes can work effectively if it is for a short

period of time and is time bound. In our case, it was

long and extended and got worse. Employees who

relocated to other cities leaving behind their families

became nervous especially as all communication was

disrupted; backlogs increased and productivity was

impacted. However, thankfully, the rains showed

some mercy and the Sun God returned and after

several weeks we could see our own shadow! The

�ood waters had entered our of�ces, and there was

extensive damage. Our Facilities Management Group

(FMG) and Wipro IT Management Group (IMG) teams

worked dedicatedly to restore the place quickly and

were the heroes. In less than 48 hours after the �oods,

our of�ces were operational thanks to the support

groups that made it all possible.

When we reached of�ce later after some normalcy

was restored, I was shocked to know that majority of

our teammates and colleagues were directly impacted

by the �oods. Flood water had invaded many of our

homes and destroyed several household items. In fact,

on the �rst day of work, post the �oods, less than half

of our core team could manage to come by their own

vehicles, as for most of us, our vehicles were either

dysfunctional or they were still under water.

Amid all the hardships, the dark clouds came with a

silver lining - it witnessed the indomitable human

spirit; a colleague almost choked while narrating how

he along with a few others from our competition

neighborhood �rm were stranded in the waters and

When nature decided to dump over 100 centimeters

of rain in less than three weeks, Chennai was

unprepared to take on the deluge. Many of us in

Chennai were unaware of the magnitude of the

problem until after. As a long distance runner preparing

for The Wipro Chennai Marathon to be held in Chennai

on 13th December, 2015, I was more concerned if that

event would happen rather than anything else. Very

little did a Chennaite know what was going to come!

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that the

Chennai �ooding was the eighth-most expensive

natural disaster this year globally. This situation has

been a topic that has trended heavily on social media,

especially amongst the IT crowd. The WhatsApp

messages and pictures shared have been aplenty –

many true and possibly an equal share of repeats

and rumors.

We are in the business of IT services, leveraging a

global delivery model to serve clients globally. Our

services are critical (I will not say mission critical) and

have material impact on our clients’ businesses and

hence a framework of business continuity for our

clients is important. In this context, I will try and focus

on the �oods and the impact it had on the work and

the test it put to the Business Continuity Planning

(BCP) processes.

When the rains lashed Chennai even before the

�ooding situation, the BCP processes were triggered

in almost all our of�ces in the location. Focus teams

were formed for this purpose. Various steps included,

client communications, ‘client network connections’

extended to other locations so our teams could be

moved to other cities. Our onsite counterparts started

Chennai deluge and the human spirit - Nagesh Doraiswamy 27HAIL WIPROITES!

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Amid the calamity and

the losses, I got to know

more of my incredible

team and the many

amazing folks in the

CDC of�ces.

they all held tightly to each other as the fury of the

waters was strong and all wondered if they will ever

survive. After a few hours a rescue boat arrived, he

realized that there was no stampede to get onto the

small boat – they all let the ladies get on to the boat

�rst and then they took their turn.

There were several unsung heroes who helped us

during the BCP process and after – an alert Wipro bus

driver who anticipated a tree falling a few meters

ahead thus saving many of our employees, the

contract labor worker who was pumping out waters

that had invaded the of�ce building, oblivious to the

dangers of the reptiles in the waters and an elderly lady

scrubbing the canteen �oors with disinfectants

unmindful of the pungent smell.

I am a certi�ed systems auditor; I have reviewed and

audited several BCP processes and documents in my

career; but the Chennai situation made me realize that

it is the human spirit and not just processes that make

things happen. Amid the calamity and the losses, I got

to know more of my incredible team and the many

amazing folks in the CDC of�ces. The willingness to

help and go the extra mile was demonstrated

without asks. As I write this today, most of the Chennai

folks are working this holiday season to make up

for the backlogs and ensuring that their commitments

are met.

Now going to the point of the Wipro Chennai Marathon

– the event was canceled for reasons obvious; but the

spirit of the runner and Chennai enabled something

better – On race day, 13th December, runners turned

volunteers to help in the post �ood clean-up of

the ravaged city. Over 1,500 volunteers across 10

locations in Chennai joined hands with the city

agencies and helped in the clean-up of the garbage

and the countless material that the angry waters had

strewn all over. This was continued for several weeks

by these teams. I was glad to be associated with it

both as a Chennai Runner and a Wipro employee

sponsoring the event. I realized that that race was won

even before it began and every volunteer was a winner.

Today, as leaders haggle over climate agreements in

Paris and elsewhere, my home town Chennai has

seen more rain than ever before – precisely the kind of

extreme weather event that experts say will only

become more common in a warming world. As we

participate in relief efforts to rebuild the city, I am

convinced that if we don’t do our bit to a Green Planet

starting NOW, our immediate next generation may

experience the impacts! For some, this statement is

abstract; for me and my family, there is literally no

time to waste.

Chennai deluge and the human spirit – Nagesh Doraiswamy 28HAIL WIPROITES!

33

Rajeshwari RajanProject Manager for a large US Electronics Retailer

“Hallelujah” to thespirit of teamwork

Rajeshwari RajanProject Manager for a large US Electronics Retailer

“Hallelujah” to thespirit of teamwork

34

During any crisis, be fearless,

believe in yourself and do not

hesitate to take risks. The key is

to work as a team, adapt and

overcome challenges. Rajeshwari

shares a personal account.

35

30

The next day dawned same as the previous day, with

POWER week (Holiday season in the US) starting on

21st Novemeber, it barely left us with four more days.

We had tremendous responsibility on our shoulders

to support our customer during the POWER week, in

spite of the catastrophic situation. We knew that we

had to work on a war footing to get work done.

A team of six (Raghu / Rajeev / Karthik / Prashanth /

Surendran / Sabari) were chosen to �y to Kochi from

our e-commerce support team. Remarkably, each one

of them shared the management view point of

business continuity and supporting the customer from

different location without any hesitation.

The POWER week is usually critical in the retail industry

with huge volume of sales. The team realized that they

will not be able to contribute much sitting at home. As

they were ready to set sail, Prasanna Keenigi (PGM –

ASM / Dev e-commerce), Deepak Ravichandran (DM –

BBY Offshore) and Hima (DM – Support) helped them

get the accommodation and travel arranged.

Although the situation with support was resolved, the

crisis continued to loom large. By midnight, Deepak

Ravichandran was checking on the T&M projects too.

The question was how do we minimize the setback?

Deepak took a decision to move Dev/QA of

e-commerce team (both B2C and B2B), and I agreed.

Like true professionals, everyone agreed to travel

without complaints. Soon the team was booked in the

morning �ight and cab pooled people area-wise to

reach the airport on time. This time, a team of nine was

mobilized, which included Siva / Lakshmi Priya.

It rained ceaselessly on Sunday night (15th November).

Looking at the downpour, I was expecting people to

be delayed to work the next day. What I didn’t expect

was that the situation could worsen. We soon realized

that Chennai was hit by massive rains. Streets, houses,

of�ces were �ooded, including our of�ce campus.

Involved in critical processes, initially, we managed

our e-commerce support by connecting from home.

With limited resources, we continued the business

operations in spite of frequent power cuts by taking

turns, so that we don’t run out of power in all the

laptops. Personally, I had to switch off the data plan on

the mobile phone for the fear of running out of battery

in crucial times and switched it on to communicate to

the e-commerce support and development group on

need basis. We had to wait near the elevator at our

apartment to charge our cellphones with the one

available plug point during the night time, when the

generator was on and saving it for the next day.

On the other hand, on campus, one person (Karthik)

was supporting the night shift on Sunday, however, he

was stuck at of�ce as the cabs were limited. Around

8 AM, after multiple con�rmation with various sources,

Karthik decided to come out of campus and board a

bus. After waiting for an hour, he reached home around

12.30 PM.

By this time, I decided to cancel the night shift for lady

employees and took help from onsite team to cover for

our offshore employees. Onsite covered Offshore shift

hours and helped each other.

“Hallelujah” to the spirit of teamwork – Rajeshwari Rajan 31HAIL WIPROITES!

36

Remarkably, each one

of them shared the

management view point

of business continuity

and supporting the

customer from different

location without any

hesitation.

The situation at Chennai did not show any signs of

improvement, and it was an imperative to get them to

Kochi for business continuity. With efforts from our

Ticketing Team and social network and Air Watch

Agent, things worked to our favor!

As critical operations resumed, I felt that it was (and it

is) my moral responsibility to support them and be with

them. So I �ew to Kochi the same day. As the POWER

week was about to begin, more people from the

support team were needed at Kochi. My manager,

Prasanna Keenigi analyzed the impact and went an

extra mile to get approvals and enabled travel for

another �ve folks.

Although the situation improved, there was prediction

of more downpour. We decided to stay back as we

couldn’t afford to take risks. There are times, one has

to take decisions intuitively, and this proved right.

Eventually, teamwork paid off. We successfully

completed our POWER week without any site

outages. The business trended encouragingly pushing

huge sales in a large US electronics retail chain.

Soon it was time to bid adieu to Kochi and leave for

Chennai. However, we decided to continue to operate

from Kochi till the situation stabilized just to avoid any

contingencies. We are grateful to the team in Chennai

for helping us a void taking a hit on the deliverables /

customer satisfaction and the revenue.

As I introspect, I feel extremely proud of the team

which I nurtured, which stood by the values of

accountability and commitment during crisis.

Regardless of the fact that people were moved in

such short notices to an unfamiliar location, the

team adapted sans any complaint about food,

accommodation or travel.

I deeply appreciate the efforts made by my team and

honor them for their courage, grit and determination

during tough times.

“Hallelujah” to the spirit of teamwork - Rajeshwari Rajan 32HAIL WIPROITES!

37

Ganesamoorthy MuthusamyCluster Delivery Head for a large portfolioof US Retail Nurture Accounts

Our tryst with‘The ChennaiCascade 2015’

Ganesamoorthy MuthusamyCluster Delivery Head for a large portfolioof US Retail Nurture Accounts

Our tryst with‘The ChennaiCascade 2015’

38

There was a lot of love

in the air and the innate

human spirit of helping came

into being in the city as much

as in the organization. Other

Wipro centers readily came

forward to volunteer in relief

and business restoration

operations. That’s a testimony

of true Wipro sprit!

There was a lot of love

in the air and the innate

human spirit of helping came

into being in the city as much

as in the organization. Other

Wipro centers readily came

forward to volunteer in relief

and business restoration

operations. That’s a testimony

of true Wipro sprit!

39

34

Relentless efforts lead to recovery

40

35

This way the risk of business disruption during ‘Retail

Holiday Season’ and an extended business disruption

for general business was mitigated ef�ciently. Customer

appreciations poured in from many quarters, including

CXOs. That was made possible because of the following:

• Resolve and resilience – demonstrated by the

Chennai brave hearts

• Unity in thought and action with the power of

collective intelligence

• Focus on customer service and being mindful of the

holiday season

• Execution speed

• Out-of-the-box thinking and harnessing the power of

social media

My sincere gratitude to Wiproites in Chennai who had

put customer needs ahead of theirs, which calls for

lot of character and passion. Special thanks to the

tall leaders who were part of the DR core team

namely Balamurugan Jalakandan, Srinivasan Sundaram,

Haritha Indupuru, Deepak Ravichandran, Sachin

Chandra, Sandeep Narayan, Kathirvel Subramanium,

Sridhar Renga Ramanujam and Shoba Manoj. I’m proud

to be part of this team! Heartfelt thanks to G Srinivasan

from central crisis team, for tremendous leadership and

the crisis team for the immense help.

There was a lot of love in the air and the innate human

spirit of helping came into being in the city as much as

in the organization. Other Wipro centers readily came

forward to volunteer in relief and business restoration

operations. That’s a testimony of true Wipro sprit! I thank

all who have contributed to the success of this BCP,

directly and indirectly.

Sunshine has returned, and business is back and

moving. We have crystalized the learnings from this

crisis and are fortifying our preparedness for any such

eventuality in future.

We will keep winning!

The Chennai deluge was overwhelming. Personally, it was

one of the toughest moments that I have seen during my

career and life. Never did I imagine, that we will be hit with

a natural catastrophic event of this scale, unfolding in front

of my eyes, though I had read and heard of events of

similar scale. From a business perspective, the timing

could not have been worse – right during the holiday

season, which is critical for the Retail industry.

I was part of the Disaster Recovery (DR) team, constituted

by key leaders in RCTG BU (Now, Consumer BU)

that demonstrated tremendous leadership in a really

dif�cult situation like this – very dependable hands that

instill con�dence instantly. The Account leadership team

worked closely with the DR team. BU leadership

supported the DR team at every moment. And, the

bird-�ock of leaders was on the �ight in the journey to

restore the business services making their customers win

yet another time. This time round when the crisis stuck

mercilessly during the peak holidays season, we decided

to �ght it out together. And here is how we did it...

• Initial rains made us sit up and take stock! We did

plan elaborately and invoked Business Continuity Plan

(BCP) across accounts.

• Spent midnight oil on the grueling planning of

logistics.

• Employees were sent through surface and air

transport to other cities for business continuity of

critical applications / processes.

• Employees were enlisted for logging in remotely

where possible.

• Shared executive communication to account

leadership on regular basis along with dashboards

highlighting business recovery status including people

movement.

• Synergized our recovery operations with BPS

colleagues as well – testifying Wipro’s ‘One-Team’

culture and customer focus as always.

• December deluge forecast and the onset made us run

BCP on an extended basis, protecting our customer

interests during the holiday season.

HAIL WIPROITES! 36Our tryst with ‘The Chennai Cascade 2015’ – Ganesamoorthy Muthusamy

41

An incredibleeffortAnuradha MuthuswamySenior Practice Manager, Product Engineering Services

42

though he himself had to move out of his home), worked

on business continuity plans for all the accounts, leaders

were on the ground, coordinating with their respective

teams, ensuring team safety �rst and in parallel working

on moving teams to other locations to address the


It was a huge coordination between all departments, a

team effort without which it wouldn’t have been possible

to return to normalcy in a few weeks time.

For me personally, I was really moved to see how our

FMG team worked in ensuring the hygiene factor,

cleaning up the entire facility even though their homes

and family needed them at the hour of crisis. The IMG

team did a fantastic job in connectivity, issuing desktops,

laptops, datacards in huge numbers and supporting the

team with a smile. Above all, our team members who

readily agreed to move to other locations leaving behind

their families, which is not an easy thing to do. The Travel

& Hospitality team worked round the clock to ensure

mobility of critical resources.

Thanks to all of them to make this happen, Kudos to the

Chennai leadership team under the guidance of GSan!

Chennai was completely taken off gear during the �rst

set of rains and as a team we were also not geared

up to handle the situation. Nobody in Chennai anticipated

so much rain and the belief that we had on the Chennai

meteorological department and predictions. Post the �rst

rains and work being affected for couple of days, I think

our entire management came together under the

leadership of GSan and respective SPOCs from business

units and service lines.

The next few days was well managed and different

groups including Business Units (BUs), SPOCs, Facilities

Management Group (FMG), IT Management Group

(IMG), transportation, hospitality, etc., did a fabulous job

and put together a plan to handle the next set of

anticipated rains. A WhatsApp group was formed and all

of them were kept informed on the happenings on

ground.

Finally, the day came as a real nightmare, and all the

planning done, to an extent, went for a toss. That is when

it was understood that nothing can stand against nature.

But that didn’t stop us, we all got together again, GSan

took the complete responsibility on a war footing (even

Leaders were on the ground, coordinating with their respective teams, ensuring team

safety �rst and in parallel working on moving teams to other locations to address the


HAIL WIPROITES! An incredible effort – Anuradha Muthuswamy 38

43

A resolve toreckon withSrinivasan SundaramDelivery Manager for a large US Discount Retailer

44

HAIL WIPROITES! 40A resolve to reckon with – Srinivasan Sundaram

logistics. With the help of the central crisis management

team, restoration of the PoS lab facility was also put on

a fast-track. A separate power source was arranged

by the team to operationalize the lab and few other

customer critical facilities.

Multiple innovative solutions were worked out rapidly

in organizing business continuity as well as business

restoration. Account delivery teams also participated in

testing out restorations of the ODCs and the lab.

I am proud of my team that stood up to the occasion

and put customers’ interests before theirs – proving yet

again that we are focused on customer service

relentlessly! My sincere gratitude to them.

I will like to record my hearty thanks to Ganesamoorthy

Muthusamy, Balamurugan Jalakandan, Haritha

Indupuru, Sachin Chandra and Sandeep Narayan. My

sincere thanks to GSan for his leadership during the

crisis and the central crisis team for supporting us

during this crisis.

We house the largest offshore based Point of Sale

(PoS) lab as part of a large ODC for a large discount

retailer in the US, a customer for 10 years, in delivering

development and quality assurance services. During the

Chennai �oods, the ODC and lab were inaccessible as

they were housed in CDC2, which was worst impacted.

This act of God that happened during the critical peak

holiday season, was met with by an amazing resolve of

our team to protect our customers’ business.

As part of the contingency plan, a portion of the

team was shifted to customers’ facilities in Bangalore,

which helped the execution speed and allowed to

make up for the time that was lost. We also identi�ed

alternative work locations in Chennai with necessary

IT infrastructure, which helped employees login

remotely and work. In spite of being one of the worst hit

accounts, the team started functioning at the same

pace in a short span of time.

The Retail disaster recovery team helped us immensely

in planning and organizing all kinds of support including

Putting customers’ interests ahead of one’s own during a natural calamity is nothing less

of a feat. Such commitment from the team yet again proves Wipro’s undaunted focus on

customer service.

45

BUSINESSUNINTERRUPTED!


46

41



47

42

Employeeson the moveHemalatha SuraSenior Manager, Travel & Hospitality Management

TRAVEL & HOSPITALITY

48

Employees on the move – Hemalatha Sura 44BUSINESS UNINTERRUPTED! BRAVING THE WAY

When Mother Nature isn’t on her best behavior, we have to keep the business and its

people moving. Travel & Hospitality plays a key role in mobilizing critical talent to safer

locations for business continuity. Here is a story…

cancel every ticket issued and employees had to

extend their hotel stay. Unfortunately, during that time, an

employee’s father passed away late in the night and he

had to be rushed to Chennai from Hyderabad. There were

no direct �ights the next morning. We had to route him via

Mumbai along with another colleague. To his misfortune,

the connecting Mumbai-Chennai �ight was delayed for

�ve hours! We tried all possible options, but nothing

worked. Finally, he managed to reach Chennai in the

evening.

One key challenge that we faced was the fact most of

them were engineers and rookies, and �rst time travelers.

They had to be guided and reassured at different intervals

of our support at all times.

From 16th November till date, we have issued more than

9,000 air tickets and 2,000 odd bus/train tickets and

arranged equal number of accommodations. Ravi Shetty

and Azhar Khan have worked untiringly for weeks, taking

turns, working on Saturday and Sunday despite personal

hardships. During this time, Jenson Vattolly guided the

team and even liaised with the PMs and DMs.

As an outcome, I am happy to share that the entire

BCP ticketing operation was handled smoothly without a

single escalation. Post the crisis, we were �ooded with

‘Thank you’ mails and personal messages appreciating

our commitment and motivating us to go beyond

our expectations.

This is the �rst time we have handled such huge volume

of BCP ticketing and hats-off to the team, it’s been a

wonderful learning experience. Handling this emergency

situation not just tested our preparedness but also made

us stronger. We are now geared up to handle even more!

It all began on the fateful 6th November, early morning,

when our phones started ringing constantly. The calls

asked for immediate movement of teams from Chennai

to various cities. By 9 AM, we were �ooded with more

calls from Project Managers (PMs) and Delivery Managers

(DMs). The situation was such that teams had to be

immediately mobilized to safer locations for uninterrupted

business operations.

To expedite the requests, we deployed two dedicated

team members Ravi and Azhar for Business Continuity

Plan (BCP) ticketing. The pressure mounted as calls

continued through the night up till the next morning. We

moved employees to Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai,

Pune, Delhi and Coimbatore, by air and surface. Apart

from this, we also had to guide the PMs/Coordinators

initially and connect with respective teams for

accommodation and travel in advance.

As the �oods continued to wreak havoc and mobility

became a major challenge; availability of �ight tickets

grew scarce. Moreover, reaching the Chennai airport was

getting increasingly tougher as the roads were �ooded

and it immobilized traf�c. This led many to miss their

�ights which meant rebooking them on to the next

onward �ight. I recall an incident when an employee’s

mother was seriously ill and she had to travel from

Hyderabad. All the �ights were full, however we still

managed to arrange tickets for her immediate travel. The

employee was elated at our efforts.

However, the real test was when rains revisited Chennai

after two weeks, this was when the situation got worse.

All �ights from/to Chennai were canceled consecutively

for days due to water logging in the airport. We had to

49

BFS

Going beyondthe call of duty!Application Management Services (AMS) Team

50

SPOCs and travelling team were innovative enough to

quickly create a communication group using a technology

platform which facilitated easy communication between

BCP teams and the BCP SPOCs.

There were numerous incidents of Chennai team

members courageously facing the dif�cult situations

during the BCP days showcasing an exemplary dedication

and commitment towards their responsibilities. Many of

our fellow team members who had put ‘customer �rst’

continued with their work and attended to their client

deliverables from Chennai center without caring about the

rains. Few walked through chest deep waters carrying

their laptops on the head and some even swam to reach

pick-up spots. Some walked several hours to reach home

from of�ce occasionally helped by boat rides. Many had

their houses completely �ooded. Not only their household

items but also their original certi�cates, passports got

totally drenched. In spite of it, they still managed to travel

to Bangalore for the call of duty. Some had to spend the

night in the CDC cafeteria due to the �oods and survived

on biscuits.

As the negotiators and dignitaries from the international

community were haggling over the details of a climate

agreement in Paris in 2015, Chennai was already

witnessing what was called the “Rains of the Century”.

Chennai had witnessed some signi�cant rains during

16th - 18th November and things were slowly coming to

normal. 1st December started as a nice day. But not a lot

of people knew what was coming. What started as a

short spell of rain, continued for hours throughout the day

and then throughout the night. The city had come to a

grinding halt when it dawned.

The irony is when such a tragedy strikes, all we see are

numbers.

The tragedy hit most of the organizations across sectors

based out of Chennai and Wipro was no exception to

that. Most of the key BFSI clients which are serviced by

teams based out of Chennai were impacted primarily due

to resource immobilization, system outage, infrastructure

outage and network downtime. As transportation into

various parts of the city was now cut off, where would

they go? How did the team manage to survive and still

enable the clients to keep their business operations

running smoothly? This is a story about those heroes.

While this team has witnessed 100+ Business Continuity

Plans (BCPs) till now but this was one of the worst

experiences in the account history, both in magnitude

and timeline. Despite that, the team was highly proactive

to monitor the weather conditions closely and reacted

early to BCP by planning travel of many team members

from Chennai to Bangalore at a short notice on 17th

November. Around 140+ employees from Support,

Development and Testing teams were relocated from

Chennai to Bangalore center. The Chennai team braved

�ooding situations and managed to reach the pick-up

spot with whatever means they could. The Chennai BCP

There were numerous incidents

of Chennai team members

courageously facing the dif�cult

situations during the BCP days

showcasing an exemplary

dedication and commitment

towards their responsibilities.

Going beyond the call of duty! – AMS 46BUSINESS UNINTERRUPTED! BRAVING THE WAY

51

Hygiene and cleanliness a top priority

52

47

help from Wipro Central Team, FS BCP team and HR

regarding travel and accommodation. Bangalore SPOC

also ensured that logistics, desktops, laptops, seats on

rotation shifts were available for the Chennai BCP team.

The recovery operations post the incident was

undertaken at a rapid pace. The ODC link was restored

before the scheduled timeline, even before the facility was

ready to be operational. The infrastructure was restored

and workplace was sanitized well to avoid post incident

health issues.

Even though we were successful to provide seamless

support to business during this incident without any

downtime and escalations, we believe that every incident

provides a learning ground where we should try to grasp

and integrate the learnings to make our processes more

robust. We learnt that no matter to what extent we plan,

at times, even the basic assumptions that we consider

for BCP plans do not hold good. Thus, it is always

preferable to start early rather than reacting to a situation.

We can be better prepared for network scalability with

short turnaround time. Other support areas like

accommodation can be better planned by having dorms

built up or having tie-ups with more third parties for quick

arrangement of accommodation. Infrastructure could be

designed such that they are up and running even in case

of such natural disasters. For example, data centers could

be built on higher �oors.

Finally, despite all successes and learnings during the

crisis, one thing which has etched a mark and would

always stand out and deserves an applause is the

undying spirit of the team. We do have heroes among us

and the leadership team recognizes the effort put by each

team, each individual to the core!

Some of them fell sick during the travel but without

worrying about their health, they were more willing to help

others. Some even traveled to other places like their

home town, nearby cities, friend’s place and even a shop

just to get Internet connectivity and worked extra

hours to continue supporting the applications. Few even

supported the entire process through a phone while they

were entrapped in their houses with the ground �oor

completely submerged. Despite such hardships, multiple

travels, switching between modes of commute and

hopping cities, the team reached Bangalore at their

earliest without any concerns.

With Bangalore accommodations getting full, many of

the Business Continuity Plan (BCP) folks managed

and adjusted to share their accommodations in triple

sharing mode and still ensured that 24/7 Application

Management Services (AMS) support was not impacted.

As hotels were running out of rooms, some of our team

members were warmly received in their colleagues’

homes till they could �nd a hotel. There were occasions

where the hotel management had asked the teams to �nd

alternative arrangements as they had prior booking for

VIPs on some of those days. Undeterred by these

changes, our teams kept moving to the next

accommodation and still working out of Bangalore

locations and kept the business operations going

smoothly. On the other hand, BCP members, as well as

the Bangalore, GNDC and Boston members covered up

for the thin resource availability due to BCP situation, often

going an extra mile to support their applications in

continuous or extended shifts.

Very importantly, Chennai team displayed great courage

and ensured they were able to help their colleagues as

and where possible. The Account team received good

The article has been complied with inputs from Saibal, Sairam Yadalla, Shishir, Priyadarshan M, Srihari, Samanth, Jeetendra, Selva Kumar,

Brindha V, Vijay Krishnamoorthy, Priyadharshini K, Karthick Kumar, and Pranav Krishna.

Going beyond the call of duty! – AMS 48BUSINESS UNINTERRUPTED! BRAVING THE WAY

53

A story aboutmanaging prioritiesSudarshan K CCenter Delivery Head, Shared Infra Services

GIS

54

On 1st December, we encountered the worst situation in

Chennai but operationally we were safe as our Bangalore

team was still operational. We had people level

challenges in Bangalore (as the �rst batch employees

had traveled in just two hours notice and without much

preparation on personal front). We shuf�ed employees

and added more hands in Bangalore to support

peak-business. We offered maximum �exibility and

comfort to employees by moving dependent families of

people to Bangalore. Around 2nd December, we had

around 55-60 employees working from Bangalore EC4

round the clock. The customers were awe-struck and

appreciated our seamless support.

On both the occasions (when CDC2/5 were shut

down due to �oods), we had many challenges with

respect to DTR creation, budget allocation, employee

travel advance, accomodation (bed/food/stay in CDC5)

for people staying in CDC5. We coordinated with

travel desk, Wividus operations, FMG-Chennai, BFMs,

Hospitality teams every day and ensured that the

employees’ stay in Bangalore was hassle-free.

A heartfelt sincere “thank you” to all the team members

and their families who helped us ensure that our 24/7

operations were not impacted. A special note of thanks

to our Shared Services team in Bangalore (CDH &

Operations managers, IMG engineers) who helped us

with space/desks to operate. Also FMG-Chennai,

Wividus, Travel Desk & Hospitality teams who supported

us unconditionally during our month-long BCP period.

Wipro ServiceNXT Infra Operations (shared infra

services), Chennai serves seven GIobal Infrastructure

Services (GIS) customers. One single team of people,

managing and serving seven different customer

expectations is by itself a great challenge owing to

multiple priorities spanning various time zones.

On 15th November (Sunday), there was a heavy

downpour since early morning. We were in a critical

situation to not miss any of the customer requests (as

our retail clients were preparing for their peak business

support) come what may. We enabled the Sunday noon

shift people to continue work over the night in CDC5

and decided to move a batch of 15-20 team members

to Bangalore-EC4 of�ce early in the morning of 16th

November. We were the �rst to move people to

Bangalore and while the other accounts were still

mulling over the thought of Business Continuity Plan

(BCP), we were already settled in Bangalore with the

�rst batch fully operating seamlessly. The customers

too were very happy to hear of the teams operating

from Bangalore.

The rains continued on 16th November and CDC5 /

CDC2 were �ooded and shutdown. We moved the

second set of about 25 people to Bangalore on the

same night and from 17th November onwards, we were

operating 24/7 without any glitch. The situation in the

city was slowly returning to normalcy starting the week

of 23rd November, but we advised the team in Bangalore

to continue work that week. However, over the end of

that week, there was a warning from the Met

department for some heavier downpour.

Employees were shuf�ed and more hands were added in Bangalore to support

peak-business. Maximum �exibility and relief was offered to employees by moving their

dependent families to Bangalore. Let’s read Wipro ServiceNXT Infra Operations’ story…

A story about managing priorities! – Sudarshan K C 50BUSINESS UNINTERRUPTED! BRAVING THE WAY

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Leaders inspirebusiness continuityRamesh BalasubramaniamAssociate Vice President – Institutional Financial Services (IFS)

IFS

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They successfully balanced

the needs of the business and

the employees meticulously. I

am proud to say that because

of this precise and dedicated

effort, we were able to deliver

customer SLAs at 100% as

against the committed SLAs of

30% during disaster.

Gowri and the Guest house team), IT Management

Group (IMG) (Saravana (WT IMG), Velu, Rajkumar and his

team), Bikram from HR and the entire GSG team for

being sel�essly committed to their duty when most of us

were complaining.

All of these individuals have gone beyond their call

of duty every minute, every hour to protect, safe guard

and support employees during and after the occurance

and also to keep the Wipro values held high by endlessly

battling nature to ensure speedy recovery of the site

despite the magnitude of the task at hand.

The recent impact of nature’s fury in Chennai bought out

the light of some great human beings without whom

many may not have survived the trauma. This is despite

the fact that these individuals put aside some of their

personal/mental distress that they and their families were

experiencing and stayed on to support the business

and delivery.

From the operations delivery perspective, a special

mention goes to Venkatesh Hariharan and Harish

Hemachandran who were there with me all through

despite Venky’s house being drowned and Harish leaving

his wife and kid back home in the most impacted area of

Chennai with no communication for three consecutive

days. He came to of�ce to restore operations by

practically battling for survival by clinging on to any life

support in �erce �ood water for couple of hours. During

this time, these two kept the entire staff suf�ciently

motivated and cared for both at a professional as well as

personal level. They successfully balanced the needs of

the business and the employees meticulously. I am proud

to say that because of this precise and dedicated effort,

we were able to deliver customer Service Level

Agrements (SLAs) at 100% as against the committed

SLAs of 30% during disaster. A note of thanks and

appreciation also goes to the entire team of a large global

bank, many of whom who walked miles to get to of�ce in

�ood waters braving odds.

From the facility and overall Wipro perspective, I

acknowledge and appreciate the contributions of few

people from FMG (Kushalappa, Karan, Lavanya, SK,

The leaders successfully balanced the needs of the business and the employees meticulously.

The entire team was amply motivated and cared for both professionally and personally, which

propelled trust and accountability. Here is how SLAs were met by this team…

Leaders inspire business continuity – Ramesh Balasubramaniam 52BUSINESS UNINTERRUPTED! BRAVING THE WAY

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ROAD TORECOVERY

ROAD TORECOVERY

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ROAD TORECOVERY

ROAD TORECOVERY

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The journey:From devastationto restorationAjjiranda Uthappa KushalappaSenior Manager - Facilities Management Group

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The journey: From devastation to restoration – Ajjiranda Uthappa Kushalappa 56ROAD TO RECOVERY

Here is a day on day account of what actually transpired in the Wipro Campus when the city

of Chennai was �ooded. Ajjiranda Uthappa Kushalappa, who was one of the key

employees involved in the rescue mission from day one of the �oods, played an integral

role in the restoration of the site. He shares his experiences in a chronological order to help

us gaze at the extent of devastation in the campus and how teamwork helped restore

operations and got life back to the site.

employees who were still stationed in the different

towers. On the 16th evening, JCB / Tractor / Boats were

used as a means of transport to provide food to the

operating towers.

17th Nov: In the morning, basic toilet kits were supplied to

the employees followed by food in all the working towers.

A doctor from the Occupational Health Centers (OHCs)

attended the sick employees at the tower level. The mode

of transport was still by boats. Additional bedding was

made available at the towers. The dormitory, guest house,

conference rooms were mobilized as temporary

accommodation for all the employees who stayed back

as critical resources.

18th Nov: The pressure to power up the data center was

immense as the business was not functional from the past

three days. A power cable of 350 meters was laid from

CDC5 to CDC2 to power up the Wipro Technologies (WT)

Data Center. WBPO DC was still down as the water level

at the ground �oor was high. We had to arrange for

additional cooling as the existing AC units were

submerged in water.

19th Nov: We started to power up the WBPO DC. The

existing electrical wiring was concealed under the false

�ooring and also damaged. We had to do a new electrical

8th Nov, 2015: Cyclone �rst hits Chennai on 8th

December. The campus suffered major damages owing

to heavy rains. At this stage, only trees were uprooted;

however, employee movement was normal. Operations

were not impacted.

9th Nov, 2015: We see heavy rains again, campus

�ooded with water clogging in several places. The of�ce

declared early closure due to incessant showers. Taking

stock of the situation, we began the site recovery

operations by clearing the fallen trees.

15th Nov onwards: Heavy rains with thunderstorms are

back again. The water level steadily increased in the

campus, peripheral walls around the campus collapsed

adding to the water ingress into the campus from the

Perumbakkam area. This deluge lead to the �ooding of

the CDC2 campus, which is low lying and entered the

electrical panel room, ground �oor data center. As a

measure to protect these assets, power had to be

shut down. While CDC5 was operational, employee

movement was restricted due to rising water level in the

campus. The of�ce had to be closed early to enable

employees to reach home safely.

16th-18th Nov: The site was shut down due to relentless

rains and resultant �ooding. However, there were

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Facility gets back to normal

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The journey: From devastation to restoration – Ajjiranda Uthappa Kushalappa 58ROAD TO RECOVERY

were informed to stay in the respective towers in the

interest of their safety.

The water level in the campus was above seven feet now.

2nd Dec: In the early morning, a recce was done to

ascertain the number of employees stationed in the

towers. Refreshments were provided and an evacuation

plan was in progress. Senior leaders from Facilities

Management Group (FMG) contacted the employees in

the towers and assured their safety at the premises. After

a while, employees were evacuated from the towers to

the cafeteria to a centralized location. FMG also started

the evacuation while some employees began to venture

out on their own.

The entire Sholinganallur area was like a marooned island

with no access to the campus – the only mode of

transport was by boats till the OMR road.

Post the evacuation, the only employees who remained at

the site from 3rd December onwards were FMG, IMG and

GSG staff.

6th Dec: The restoration of the site began from this date

onwards.

The �ood water began to recede and the restoration

was underway. We resumed power in the towers to

ensure that the Janitorial team was able to access the

�oors. The submerged equipment such as workstations

and cupboards were removed from the ground �oors and

moved to drier areas. The critical equipment such as DG,

Chillers, UPS, lifts which were water logged were now

being restored. However, the challenge was to get the

service personnel at site as the other occupants in the

vicinity were also in similar situation.

Dec 9th: Finally, UPS power was restored to the towers.

And life started to get back to normal but at a slow pace

as the damages were extensive.

cabling above the false ceiling. The existing UPS units

which were providing power were now damaged and

beyond repair. We had to mobilize from CDC5 and along

with it a Mobile DG was also organized to cater to the

backup power.

21st Nov: The WBPS DC was powered up in the

morning. Prevention of damage from further �ooding was

done by building bund walls and placing sand bags at

possible points of water entry. Additional dewatering

pumps were hired and stationed. The CDC2 entry was

sealed and the compound grills and gates were stacked

with sandbags to a height of three feet to prevent road

water ingress. We restricted employee movement to

CDC5 gates only.

1st Dec: The �rst day of the new month started on a

rather bad note as the Met department forecasted heavy

rains. As known, it poured through the day. Business

Continuity Plan (BCP) was invoked and the of�ce was

closed early. Critical resources were held back at the

of�ce and accommodated in the Guest house and café

dormitory. Bedding was arranged for about 1,600

employees, additional boats were organized and on

standby. The rains continued unabated and it was only

increasing. The water level was rising fast and the

retaining perimeter wall collapsed in two locations. We

had to shut down CDC2 site as the water had reached

the ground �oor installations. As the water level rose faster

at CDC5 owing to the wall collapse, it began to �ow

towards the Phase-1 utility room and the towers in the

ground �oor. Communication was very patchy owing to

the mobile network towers going down one by one in the

city and the near vicinity of the of�ce.

Instructions to the team were to salvage whatever

equipment they could and move to higher ground and

stay wherever they were. The security team was

monitoring the safety of the employees in the towers and

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Business as usual….

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and other essentials. We have also partnered with

‘Doctors For You’ to provide primary healthcare to

�ood-affected communities. Both organizations (Goonj

and Doctors For You) are experienced in disaster relief

operations and are working with the local government

and grass-root NGOs to help the most underprivileged

and disadvantaged groups, including those living near

our Wipro campuses. As the situation improves in and

around Chennai, we will evaluate the various options for

rehabilitation and decide on a long-term strategy which

helps strengthen the resilience of the affected

communities.

Over the years, Wipro Cares has engaged in long-term

rehabilitation projects after natural disasters such as

the Gujarat earthquake, Tamil Nadu tsunami, Karnataka

�oods, Bihar �oods, Orissa cyclone, Uttarkashi

�oods, Philippines typhoon, Hurricane Sandy and

Japan tsunami.

Chennai and parts of Tamil Nadu witnessed the

heaviest rainfall in over a century in November –

December 2015. Life was thrown out of gear with

thousands having to be evacuated from their homes

and of�ces. Scarce food and water supply, submerged

roads, lost connectivity, electricity shut down and

people being out of their homes was the face of

Chennai despite many helpful relief measures.

Food, health and hygiene were a concern with the

formidable challenges of combating disease and

cleaning up the city which will require coordinated

response from multiple stakeholders over the next few

months. An equal challenge in the longer term is that of

rehabilitation and reconstruction of people’s lives,

livelihoods and infrastructure.

Wipro Cares, our not-for-pro�t trust* has partnered with

‘Goonj’ for supporting immediate relief in Chennai

through supply of food grains, clothing, basic medicine

CORPORATESOCIAL

RESPONSIBILITY

Lending a helping hand to those in need

Wipro Cares, our ‘not for pro�t’ trust has always been engaged in long-term rehabilitation

projects after natural disasters. Their involvement in relief work during the Chennai �oods

is equally commendable.Team Wipro Cares

*Wipro Cares which began in India, is a not-for-pro�t trust that engages with our proximate communities on the issues of Education

for the Underprivileged, Primary Health-Care and Environment. In addition, the trust also works on long-term rehabilitation of affected

communities after natural disasters.

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Harish Balivada, Ganesamoorthy Muthusamy, Srinivasan Sundharam, Anuradha

Muthuswamy, Ajjiranda Uthappa Kushalappa, Gowri Shankar Natarajan, Lavanya Reddy

Singa, Mathi Alagan, Samrender Kumar Singh, Sasikala R, Manish Rajgopalan,

Hospitality Team, Partha Sarthi Shanmungam, Saravana Kumar Nagarajan, Raja

Shekhar, Sarhish, Sivasunder Radhakrishnan, Raju, Shyamala, Syed, Amita Maheshwari,

Bikram Mishra, Parameswaran Balasubramanian, Jyotirmoy Bhattacharya, Pavan,

Rahul, Deepa

Parthasarathi Shanmugam, Saravanan Kumar Nagarajan, Dalbir Singh, Velu Nallathambi,

Rajkumar William, Sumit Joshi, Umesh Kad, Ashok Nayana, Nagraj Merala, Pandiarajan

Thavasiappan, Arvind Bist, Aroulvel Shanugasundaram, Silambarasan Krishnan, Sridhar

Ganapathy, Nitin Argal, Basvaraju Chuddappa, Amit Ashok, Sandeep Chavagouda Patil,

Prasad Dicholkar, Sowmya Swarup, Rakesh Kumar Pandey, and JayaKumar CP.

Bharath Ram Venkataraman, KG Venkiteshwaran Ashish Sinha, Papiya Chanda,

Soundarya Kavaipatti Ramachandran, Karthick Sekar, Ramesh Babu, Bharath Suresh,

Amit Kapoor, Vishwanath, Kiran, Manjunath, Prakash.

SPECIALTHANKS







Rahul, Deepa









SPECIALTHANKS

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Rahul, Deepa









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