Kirjahaku

Of all the tech tigers in India, Wipro is one of a handfulthat stands out from the pack. In the past five years,it has become one of the most accomplished techservices providers in the world, delivering businessvalue through a combination of process excellence,quality frameworks, and service delivery innovation.Totally dedicated to customer satisfaction, Wipro isknown to go above and beyond to make customershappy. It’s a move that’s paid off handsomely, witha 24 percent operating profit in its tech servicesdivision—more than twice the industry average.Bangalore Tiger is the story of Wipro’s transformationand its impact on the tech services industry andthe rules of global competition. BusinessWeek seniorwriter Steve Hamm takes you inside the halls of thistransnational phenomenon to reveal the true secretsof Wipro’s superior business: its people, principles,and core competencies.From Wipro’s triumphs to its missteps, Hammmines a treasure of business lessons, explaining howand, more important, why it is necessary to:Expand quickly without stumblingFollow the new rules for outsourcersInnovate every day—or elseBe obsessive about customersMotivate employees the Wipro wayPlan three years ahead to preparefor rapid growthHamm also gives you a rare glimpse into the mind ofWipro’s charismatic chairman and thought leader, AzimPremji. Guiding Wipro’s growth every step of the way,Premji was one of the first business leaders in India todecree that his company would not pay bribes. You’llsee how his adoption of world-class business processeshelped Wipro thrive—and how Wipro is helping to fulfillhis dream of a better educated, more prosperous India.Removing the shroud of secrecy around Indianmanagement principles, Hamm provides a real-worldblueprint for operating a successful transnationalorganization, as viewed through the eye of theBangalore Tiger.

Personal computing has reshaped economies and industries, and is transforming how we express ourselves and relate to one another. The most personal of personal computers are the portables. We carry these gadgets with us wherever we go, whether they’re laptops, smartphones, or the coolest new Web-surfing devices. The Race for Perfect tells the story of two generations of entrepreneurs, designers, and engineers as they have struggled to make ever-better portables.Steve Hamm takes the reader into a world where inspiration, design, engineering, and marketing come together to produce wave upon wave of the innovative products that we love to talk about and use. From the earliest days of portable computing, 40 years ago, entrepreneurs and designers have pushed forward relentlessly in a quest to create the perfect device. Their efforts have produced a few fabulous successes and many failures. But they never give up. They’re driven by the basic rule of the tech industry: innovate or die.In addition to a fascinating read, The Race for Perfect offers valuable lessons for business people in any industry, revealing how they mustINNOVATE constantly to differentiate their productsCREATE design principles that are timelessINTEGRATE design and engineering so products are both useful and fun to useIMPROVE quality and convenience without compromiseTAP social networks to turn customers into fansAt the center of this tale is the story of a single product, Lenovo’s ThinkPad X300 laptop. Lenovo, the first Chinese company to seek to establish a global consumer brand, bought IBM’s PC division in 2005 primarily to get the company’s storied ThinkPad laptops. The X300 was conceived as a “halo” product that would draw customers to Lenovo’s entire line. Woven through The Race for Perfect is a case study of how this ambitious company, with teams in Japan, the United States, and China, marshaled its resources to pursue laptop perfection. As X300 came close to the finish line, it collided head-on with Apple’s super-slim MacBook Air—-with surprising results.

When the world reemerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, it seems likely that it will have transformed irrevocably. Can societies already reeling from climate change, income inequality, and structural racism change for the better? Does the shock of the pandemic offer an opportunity to pivot to a more sustainable way of life?Early in the crisis, a global volunteer collaboration called Pivot Projects was formed to rethink how the world works. Some members are experts in the sciences and the humanities; others are environmental activists or regular people who see themselves as world citizens. In The Pivot, the journalist Steve Hamm—who embedded in the enterprise from the start—explores their efforts and shows how their approach provides a model for achieving systemic change. Chronicling the group’s progress along an uncharted path, he shows how people with a variety of skills and personalities collaborate to get things done. Through their work, Hamm examines some of today’s most important technologies and concepts, such as systems thinking and modeling, complexity theory, artificial intelligence, and new thinking about resilience. The book features vivid, informal profiles of a number of the group’s members and brings to life the excitement and energy of dynamic, smart people trying to change the world.Part journal of a plague year and part call to action, The Pivot tells the remarkable story of a collaborative experiment seeking to make the world more sustainable and resilient.

We are crossing a new frontier in the evolution of computing and entering the era of cognitive systems. The victory of IBM's Watson on the television quiz show Jeopardy! revealed how scientists and engineers at IBM and elsewhere are pushing the boundaries of science and technology to create machines that sense, learn, reason, and interact with people in new ways to provide insight and advice. In Smart Machines, John E. Kelly III, director of IBM Research, and Steve Hamm, a writer at IBM and a former business and technology journalist, introduce the fascinating world of "cognitive systems" to general audiences and provide a window into the future of computing. Cognitive systems promise to penetrate complexity and assist people and organizations in better decision making. They can help doctors evaluate and treat patients, augment the ways we see, anticipate major weather events, and contribute to smarter urban planning. Kelly and Hamm's comprehensive perspective describes this technology inside and out and explains how it will help us conquer the harnessing and understanding of "big data," one of the major computing challenges facing businesses and governments in the coming decades. Absorbing and impassioned, their book will inspire governments, academics, and the global tech industry to work together to power this exciting wave in innovation.

A leader in the data economy explains how we arrived at AI—and how we can navigate its future. In The Datapreneurs, Bob Muglia helps us understand how innovation in data and information technology have led us to AI—and how this technology must shape our future. The long-time Microsoft executive, former CEO of Snowflake, and current tech investor maps the evolution of the modern data stack and how it has helped build today’s economy and society. And he explains how humanity must create a new social contract for the artificial general intelligence (AGI)—autonomous machines intelligent as people—that he expects to arrive in less than a decade. Muglia details his personal experience in the foundational years of computing and data analytics, including with Bill Gates and Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, and others that are not household names—yet. He builds upon Isaac Asimov’s Laws of Robotics to explore the moral, ethical, and legal implications of today’s smart machines, and how a combination of human and machine intelligence could create an era of progress and prosperity where all the people on Earth can have what they need and want without destroying our natural environment.The Datapreneurs is a call to action. AGI is surely coming. Muglia believes that tech business leaders, ethicists, policy leaders, and even the general public must collaborate answer the short- and long-term questions raised by its emergence. And he argues that we had better get going, because advances are coming so fast that society risks getting caught flatfooted—with potentially disastrous consequences.