Wipro’s Edgile Acquisition: Another Step in the Right Direction for Wipro’s Cybersecurity Aspirations

IT service providers are looking to own the end-to-end cybersecurity adoption cycle and be part of the executive decision-making. This implies going beyond regular implementation and managed security services and offering consultancy and advisory services.

Through Edgile, Wipro aims to achieve the following two goals: move up the value chain by playing an influential role in the initial stages of deals, which involve decision-making at the board or CXO level, and position itself as an end-to-end service provider by augmenting its cybersecurity consulting capabilities and covering the entire value chain.

Wipro has been continuously investing in its cybersecurity practice and moving up the cybersecurity value chain by investing through Wipro Ventures, its investment arm of Wipro, augmenting capabilities for market-appropriate needs and putting the right team in place. Despite Wipro’s investments in security offerings and partnerships, they are still perceived as an implementation and managed services provider rather than a strategic partner.

With $44M revenue in CY 2020, the acquisition of Edgile augments Wipro’s cybersecurity and risk consulting capabilities and adds more than 80 new clients in the US. Edgile’s US-based, on-site workforce will give Wipro the required consulting muscle and add scale to its cybersecurity consulting practice.

Edgile brings a portfolio of consulting solutions with a “strategy-first” approach and “Quick Start” solutions to develop a road map for security and risk solutions within a four-to-six-week timeframe. Also, Wipro and Edgile plan to introduce Wipro CyberTransform™, an integrated suite that will hopefully increase investment in cybersecurity strategy and help enterprises enhance boardroom governance of cybersecurity risk.

The deal could benefit enterprise customers who are looking for a single, strategic partner for cybersecurity. As enterprises are enabling remote access of critical IT infrastructure, use of collaboration tools, and availability of enterprise data on endpoint devices, their cybersecurity strategy must adapt. This requires moving from prevention-focused activities to more cyber-resilience activities.

With the Wipro-Edgile deal in place, Edgile customers can now look forward to engaging with a cybersecurity team who will not stop at the advisory or consulting stage of a project but will see it through to the implementation and managed security stages. Edgile customers will now get someone who will work across levels and take a holistic approach, while delivering a security posture and maturity assessments. This includes zero-trust architecture implementations from the future perspective and adoption of some new areas from a security mesh perspective.

However, with Edgile coming into the picture, the challenge for Wipro will be to do a complete shift from an implementation-centric model to an integrated service model that calls for a consultative approach to sales and solutions delivery. With bringing in consulting professionals who possess domain and industry backgrounds, Wipro and Edgile can work with sales and delivery executives to manage key accounts.

The integration strategy defined here will go a long way for mergers and acquisitions planned in the future.