Wipro helps Brigade with business transformation

Brigade Group is one of the leading real estate developers in South India, with a diversified portfolio including residential, commercial and retail projects. It also has extensive presence in the hospitality sector with high-end hotels, service apartments and clubs. The company has grown steadily in the past 25 years and established a leading market position in Bengaluru and is now expanding operations to other South Indian cities.

The Challenges
Brigade was facing operational issues like lack of inter-departmental coordination, poor project management, ineffective supply chain and inventory management, inefficient processes and lack of overall improvement mechanismswhich led to severe cost escalations and project delays.

The company wanted to roll out an initiative to bring about a transformation across customers, processes and people as well as overhaul its operating model. Apart from bringing organizational efficiencies in the processes, it wanted to create a culture of excellence amongst the employees, increase customer-centricity, and eventually become a best-in-class organization. The solution had to be robust enough to be implemented in an industry which is relatively unorganized, has a lot of interaction with government officials for approvals and a long product lifecycle.

The Solution
To bring about the required transformation, Brigade engaged Wipro Consulting Services. After carrying out a detailed diagnostic study, Wipro identified five goals for the transformation:
1. Ensure On Time Project Completion
2. Improve Cost Management
3. Create a culture of Innovation
4. Improve Customer Experience
5. Increase Employee Satisfaction

The focus of the engagement was to take a tool-agnostic approach. The core of Wipros solution framework was the creation of a War Room which functioned as a central hub that collected information from across the organisation and spewed dashboards that identified anomalies. Using best-in-class tools such as Lean, Six Sigma, Kaizen, 5S and the Theory of Constraints, the issues were resolved. The aim was to convert the War Room to a Strategic Decision-Making Unit for the organization over a period of time.

Based on the solution framework, the Wipro team created an 18-month long implementation plan breaking the project into multiple tracks, with each track tackling a specific organizational issue (See Box). The team introduced these tracks in a staggered manner over three phases in order to ensure smooth and effective implementation. Over the 18-month period, Wipro also carried out a focussed internal branding and communication campaign, which helped in organizational change management.

The transformational initiatives resulted in 34 Six Sigma projects, 20 e-auctions, and 30 Kaizen events. The team standardised processes and defined metrics across the entire organization. The Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) philosophy was introduced for real estate projects for the first time in India. Wipro also helped Brigade in developing a knowledge management strategy and implementing 5S at all the latters project sites. Employee capability was enhanced by developing 7 Six Sigma black belts, 23 Six Sigma green belts, 10 Kaizen facilitators and over 25 war room members across functions and hierarchy.

Business Impact
Wipro helped set up and operate the War Room and then handed over its functioning to Brigade. The War Room now serves as a strategic unit for the company. Annual improvement plans have been charted out in consultation with Wipro. The project resulted in savings of over $2 million for Brigade. In the project where CCPM was implemented, the duration of the project was reduced by 32%. The average handover time across projects was reduced by over 70% and the inspection and handover defects were reduced by over 50%. E-auctions resulted in savings worth $1.15 million.
After the project, Brigade Group has won various awards such as the CII-EXIM Bank Award for Business Excellence 2011 and Best Companies to Work For (2nd place in the Real Estate Industry) by The Economic Times and the Great Place to Work Institute.

In the words of Prabhakar Jadhav, Change Leader, Brigade Group: Wipro Consulting Services collaborated with us in the total transformation journey and has played a significant role in assisting us to improve critical business areas such as customer service, cost management, quality improvement and on-time delivery. We see a remarkable change in the culture and performance of the organization after our partnership with Wipro. We appreciate the commitment, knowledge and business insights shared by the Wipro consultants.

KD VIII N7 Glowing