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Indian Wipro likes what it sees in Finland

Excellent engineers, good command of English, honest, frank and hardworking are just some of the words the Indian IT giant Wipro uses to describe the Finns.

Indian companies no longer are satisfied with working from India, but need to be present locally, close to their customer base. A sign of this trend in Finland occurred last summer when Wipro Technologies, India's third-largest software company, acquired the Finnish company Saraware Oy, making this Wipro’s first Indian acquisition in a Nordic country.

Since 2000 Indian companies have invested more than $10 billion in Europe, and a number of Indian firms are now operating in the EU such as Infosys, TCS, HCL, Wipro and Birlasoft. According to statistics, in the first nine months of 2006 Indian companies announced a record 112 foreign acquisitions, with a combined deal value of $7.2bn.

Wipro Technologies has proved to be one of the most acquisitive of India's IT groups this year. Since December 2005, Wipro Technologies has acquired eight technology companies in Europe and the US. The Indian company struck a deal with Saraware Oy, a 21 year old Finnish company that is a leading provider of design and engineering services to telecoms companies, for Euro 25 Million in June 2006.

The aim of these recent acquisitions is not necessarily to increase scale, but rather to obtain the skills needed to service a new "domain" - or segment of the market – or to gain access to new customers through a large number of smaller acquisitions.  “It’s the ‘string of pearls’ acquisition strategy in which we look for complimentary companies that add value to us,” explains Ramesh Emani, President, Product Engineering Services of Wipro Technologies.

Eyes on Finland

The first step to having local presence in the Nordic countries was taken in Finland. Branching out to the other Nordic countries is expected to take place from Finland since it is easier for Finns to communicate with the Swedes than it is for the Indians. The Swedes and the Finns share similar cultures and Finns can speak Swedish. Wipro has important customers in both Sweden and Finland, with Ericsson and Nokia, which is why this presence was inevitable.

What makes Saraware the preferred choice over the other Finnish IT companies?  “We have been looking for a good company for some time and finally found our match in Saraware. We liked the efficient way the company is run and the quality of team that they have built,” says Emani.

Other reasons include Saraware’s good profits and the company’s location in provincial centers in Finland – Rovaniemi, Kokkola, Seinäjoki and Pori. The cost level is lower in these cities than in bigger  Finnish cities, such as Helsinki and Tampere. Also, the polytechnics in these cities produce well-skilled experts in technology, know-how which Wipro is more than eager to get its hands on.

Saraware’s CEO, Risto Niva, only sees positive things in the acquisition: “Saraware was so limited by its size. We were eager to become more global, but there were so many risks. This situation is ideal because we are now part of the biggest company in this branch in the whole world.”

Getting to know each other

The dating phase previous to the acquisition lasted about nine months. Wipro had contacted Saraware through “common friends in our common customer,” and then visited Saraware many times. The Saraware team also made a visit to Wipro.

“The meetings helped us to get to know each other better,” explains Emani. “Before the closure, we had a final visit to Saraware facilities in Rovaniemi and met with the entire senior management team of Saraware. We also exposed our senior management team to Saraware management.”

Cross-cultural differences

Risto Niva believes that technically both companies are on equal footing. The only challenges he perceives are cross-cultural, but even those are easily surpassed. “Indians love to do business, are open, proactive and extremely ambitious. They can focus on many things at the same time. We Finns, on the other hand, are quite shy and almost always prefer to concentrate on one issue.”

To understand the Indian way of working, Finnish employees are offered cross-cultural training. Indian employees, on the other hand, will have few difficulties in adjusting to Finland, according to Niva, because they are used to working in different countries and cultures. All in all, the acquisition provides opportunities for employees on both sides to travel and experience working in other countries, something which Saraware would never have been able to do alone.

Shared values

Despite the fact that Wipro is an enormous global company compared to the 200-person small Saraware, the working values are quite similar.  “As companies we share values such as flexibility and putting the customer first,” says Niva.
Emani, on his side, expresses his respect for the Finns. “We appreciate the global working culture in Finland. We like the engineers you have got. The knowledge of English is fairly good. We faced no local hurdles or challenges for this acquisition. We like the honesty and frankness of Finnish people. They are intelligent and hardworking.”

Ambitious future

Wipro has very ambitious growth prospects. In the near future an additional 200 employees will be hired in Finland, doubling the size of the original Saraware and boosting employment in the country’s provincial centers.


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