Brands
Publicis launches customer experience centre of excellence
MUMBAI: Publicis Communications has launched its new customer experience centre of excellence in India. Three Publicis Communications agencies – SapientRazorfish, DigitasLBi and Indigo Consulting – have come together to consolidate their top-end user experience and user interface capabilities to form the experience centre.
The centre will house some of India’s best UX/UI professionals. In addition, it will have access to the Publicis.Sapient team based out of India, one of the largest customer experience-focused teams in the country, covering the breadth of design and technology.
This team helps brands connect with consumers, focusing on delivering rich design experiences across domains and industries for Fortune 500 clients, globally. Publicis Communications’ India clients will now have access to unprecedented thought leadership by heads of verticals spanning financial services, automotive and retail, amongst others. They will also have access to other offerings such as rapid prototyping and the immersive UX lab.
The centre will be led by SapientRazorfish’s customer experience director Hemant Bhagia who has over 17 years of domain experience, working across sectors such as technology and BFSI.
Prior to joining SapientRazorfish, he worked with Capgemini India as head of the UX practice.
Bhagia has worked for clients such GE, Airtel, AT&T, Verizon, Metlife, DHL and the Government of UK (where he was involved in the ‘Smart City’ project).
SapientRazorfish and DigitasLBi CEO – India Himani Kapadia says, “This strategic shift is in line with our vision of creating client-focused best-in-class solutions. It made sense to create connections between our immense ‘for India’ and ‘from India’ CX capabilities spread across brands, so that the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. Each brand will continue to have teams under their roof, thus ensuring insulation for clients, while being part of a platform that gives them access to thought leadership, best practices, talent and infrastructure to deliver new age experience solutions.”
Indigo Consulting CEO Rajesh Ghatge adds, “The voice of the customer is demanding best-in-class, best-in-category, immersive CX solutions. This ask can only be addressed by getting in the best talent that is supported by distilled insights and collective experience. The centre is aimed to build a competence in UX and UI, in depth and scale, which is unmatched in the country. The benefit to our clients is going to be immense, helping them win bigger and win faster in the marketplace.”
Brands
Boeing appoints Barun as head of FP&A for global engineering function
Seasoned finance leader to steer budgets and strategy across global centres
BENGALURU: Boeing’s finance cockpit has a new pilot, and he is no stranger to turbulence or transformation. Boeing has appointed Barun as head of FP&A for global engineering, placing him at the centre of financial strategy for its worldwide engineering and technology operations.
Based in Bengaluru, Barun steps into a role that is as expansive as it is critical. He will serve as the primary finance lead for Boeing’s Engineering and Technology Centers globally, working closely with executive leadership to shape financial decisions, manage complex budgets, and design scalable finance processes that support the company’s growing engineering footprint.
In a note announcing his move Barun said, “I’m excited to share that I’ve joined Boeing Global Engineering. This opportunity is incredibly meaningful to me not just from a professional standpoint, but also for what Boeing represents globally.” He added that he looks forward to contributing to an organisation that continues to shape the future of aerospace and innovation.
Barun’s mandate spans strategic financial leadership, operational oversight, and stakeholder engagement. From directing large-scale budgets and schedules to influencing long-term organisational goals, the role blends financial discipline with business foresight. He will also lead cross-functional teams and partner with finance colleagues worldwide to support engineering programmes across geographies, including India.
The appointment caps a long stint at Juniper Networks, where Barun spent over a decade, most recently as finance senior manager. There, he led FP&A for global product business units and G&A functions, driving budgeting, forecasting, and long-range planning. He also played a key role in enterprise-wide transformation, including spearheading an Oracle to SAP ERP migration and building advanced analytics capabilities using tools such as Tableau and SAP Analytics Cloud.
His earlier career includes finance leadership roles at Sony India Software Centre, Cognizant Technology Solutions, and Mphasis, where he focused on financial planning, governance frameworks, and operational efficiency across global delivery centres.
A chartered accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Barun brings nearly two decades of experience across financial planning, digital transformation, and analytics-led decision making.
His appointment comes at a time when global engineering operations are becoming increasingly complex and distributed, requiring sharper financial oversight and agile planning. With Barun at the helm of FP&A for engineering, Boeing appears to be tightening its financial playbook as it looks to scale innovation with discipline.
