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Country: USA

Bio: Kumar is an accomplished IT professional with over 20 years of experience, including 14+ years in consulting and progressive leadership roles within the Energy Industry. He has successfully collaborated with major Oil & Gas Operators and service companies on digital transformation initiatives. Kumar’s expertise spans domain, technical, sales, and consulting areas, with extensive practical experience in leading application, technology, data, and infrastructure teams. He has a proven track record of defining and implementing multiple successful transformation programs. Kumar is passionate about data/information architecture and transforming IT services in the energy sector by leveraging existing investments and emerging technologies such as Big Data, Cloud, Microservices, AI, Automation, and Analytics. Recently the solution “Energy Data Centricityâ€� developed under his leadership to accelerate adoption of OSDU data platform, has won topmost award at The Open Group India Awards 2024.

Forum: OSDU® Forum

Membership Level: Silver

Q. How long have you been involved with The Open Group?

I have been a Member of The Open Group since 2018 and have been actively involved in notable Forums like the Architecture Forum involving TOGAF®²¹²Ô»å&²Ô²ú²õ±è;ArchiMate®, the OSDU® Forum, and the Open Footprint® Forum.

Q. What do you do, and how long have you been doing it?

As Global Head for Wipro’s Energy and Data platform practice, I lead a team of Techno-Functional experts, Energy practitioners & consultants to deliver various digital transformation solutions & services centered around data, energy, cloud & AI platforms, to our Oil & Gas clients across the globe. Through our Services and accelerators around OSDU Data Platform (from The Open Group), we help our customers with adoption and value realisation. I collaborate with Hyperscalers, Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) and Clients to deliver solutions that are Interoperable, industry standards based, technology agnostic, and most importantly value driven.

I am in this role at Wipro for about 3+ years & involved with the OSDU Forum for over 6 years and been in the Energy industry for over 20 years.

Q. Why did your organization become a Member of The Open Group…�. Forum and what does/will your involvement look like?

Wipro became a member of The Open Group to actively participate in the development and adoption of open standards and frameworks that drive digital transformation across industries. By joining The Open Group, Wipro aims to collaborate with other industry leaders to shape the future of technology standards, ensuring interoperability and innovation. This membership allows Wipro to contribute to and benefit from a global consortium focused on creating vendor-neutral technology standards, which is crucial for their clientsâ€� digital transformation initiatives

Wipro has been one of the early members and Technovators at the OSDU and Open Footprint Forums of The Open Group. Wipro plays a significant role in The Open Group, particularly in the Energy sector. From collaborating with the Forum members in active development of the standards, participating in community workshops & conferences to creating awareness & promoting adoption, to sponsoring various events of The Open Group, partnering with ISVs, CSPs, and clients to build solutions using standards, Wipro has played a significant role in all aspects of The Open Group Forums and continues to be deeply invested.

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Q. How has/will membership in The Open Group benefit you, your organization, and the industry at large?

Membership in The Open Group offers numerous benefits to IT/Energy Professionals like me, my organization-Wipro, and the industry at large:

For Me:

• Collaboration and Networking: Membership provides opportunities to collaborate with other industry leaders, attend industry conferences, share knowledge, POVs, and learn from peers, which can lead to innovative solutions and best practices
• Access to Expertise: Membership grants access to a wealth of expertise, knowledge libraries, standards and other resources, which help enhance knowledge, skills and advisory role, on how the organizations can make informed decisions and avoid costly mistakes? Or help understand the benefits of adopting to industry standards?
• Training and Certification: The Open Group certification programs across various streams provide worldwide professional credentials for knowledge, skills and experience. For IT products, services and processes, they offer a worldwide guarantee of conformance.

For Wipro:

• Influence and Leadership: Wipro can significantly influence the direction and strategy of global IT/Data standards and certifications, enhancing their leadership position in the industry
• Competitive Advantage: By participating in the development of open standards, Wipro can align their products and services with market demands, ensuring they stay ahead of the competition
• Interoperability and Innovation: Open standards foster interoperability between different systems and technologies, which can streamline operations and drive innovation. Interoperable solutions & innovation has been one of the key asks/requirements from Clients for System Integrators like Wipro
• Strategic Insights: Being part of The Open Group allows the organization to stay informed about upcoming standards and trends, aiding in strategic planning and investment

For the Industry:

• Standardization: The development of open standards helps create a more standardized and interoperable technology landscape, benefiting all stakeholders
• Collaboration: The Open Group facilitates collaboration across different sectors and companies, leading to more cohesive and effective industry-wide solutions
• Innovation and Growth: By promoting open standards and frameworks, The Open Group helps drive innovation and growth within the industry, ensuring that new technologies can be seamlessly integrated and utilized.

Q. Why is it important for other organizations to join The Open Group?

Joining The Open Group is important for the organizations, their employees, and the industry overall, for pretty much all the reasons as per the response to the previous question. In summary, membership in The Open Group provides organizations with the tools and opportunities to drive innovation & growth, improve interoperability, reduce cost and risk, and achieve strategic goals.

Q. What are your hobbies?

Playing Chess or solving chess puzzles, gardening, and running marathons

Q. What book are you currently reading?

None currently, but love reading Nonfictional best sellers.

Q. What social networks do you belong to?

LinkedIn, Facebook

Q. Any last thoughts?

Any Industry wide innovation or standards or solution development for the common challenges, involves considerable amount of effort, collaboration, and time from the community & its Members. By offering a proven framework and methodology to form and govern these initiatives, The Open Group significantly reduces overhead and accelerate the path to success. It is in the best interest of participating Members to contribute, remain committed & invested to each of The Open Group initiatives, as they directly or indirectly impact them, their organization, and the industry at Large. My organization, Wipro and I are committed to developing and promoting of standards in the Energy Industry. We extend our sincere gratitude to The Open Group for their invaluable contributions & the opportunities they provide to make an Impact.

Date Published: February 21, 2025