The Hindu Business Line : Wipro gets ‘Second Life’ to storm the virtual bastion

Bangalore, Oct.26 Indian firms have landed on Second Life. Wipro Technologies plans to conduct corporate recruitment for its BPO unit. IBM India will also launch its office on it soon.

Second Life, by the US-based Linden Labs, is a game where players can build their very own avatars – and interact with other players from around the globe. The game has a population of more than 7-lakh residents from 100 countries. Residents can build homes, vehicles, nightclubs, stores, landscapes, clothing etc at http://secondlife.com.

Wipro Technologies plans a multi-phase presence in Second Life. It plans to conduct corporate recruitment via its Innovation Isle Island. Prospective candidates will be able to submit their resume at Wipro’s virtual campus.

Initially, limited to Wipro BPO, the e-recruitment initiative will be later become an integral part of Wipro’s recruitment drive. The Innovation Isle is created and managed by Wipro’s Gaming and Animation Practice, which is based out of Hyderabad.

The firm has also set up an Offshore Development Center (ODC) model campus with facilities such as client engagement centre, learning centre, 3 floor ODC set-up with cubicles, security desk at the campus entrance gate, amphitheatre, press announcements hall, basketball and volleyball courts, admin, data centre and library. It will be regularly staffed by Wipro’s own avatars.

“Our upcoming Innovation Isle with showcase Wipro’s innovation initiatives to our stakeholders and how they deliver increased flexibility and predictability, lower cost and faster time to market for our customers,” said Mr Jessie Paul, Chief Marketing Officer, Wipro Technologies, in a release.

“This will also be a virtual forum for customers, partners, and other like minded people to collaborate with Wipro in the area of co-innovation and business transformation.”

The firm will use Second Life to collaborate with customers and partners, host virtual conferences and provide a mutual platform to infuse innovation in the space of technology and business transformation.

The hub will also serve as a virtual learning campus to further connect and grow the creative talent of Wipro.

IBM inaugurated virtual business centres in Australia, Singapore and Malaysia in late August, manned by local employees for local customers. The centres offer a place for IBM sales people, clients and partners to meet, learn, collaborate, and conduct business together. It has six areas: reception; sales centre; technical support library; innovation centre; client briefing centre; and conference centre.

The firm established the Digital Convergence business unit to develop services, infrastructure and business innovation in virtual worlds. The firm’s research division has also used virtual worlds to explore the 3-D modelling of energy-efficient data centres.

The company believes that one of the powerful, early applications of virtual worlds is holding meetings, online brainstorming sessions and other collaborative exercises. IBM now has over 40 islands on Second Life.

The company plans to launch a virtual business centre for its Indian customers in a few months’ time, Ms Harriet Ip, Media Relations Manager, Asia Pacific, IBM Singapore Pte, told Business Line.

“Social networking and virtual world participation is skyrocketing in Asia. Asia is, after all, a hotbed for 3-D gaming. Why not 3-D business, too?” asked Ms Paula Summa, General Manager, ibm.com, in a release.

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