Infosys Loaded with its 3.0 Version - Part II

I am not a regular television viewer (more due to living out of home since last 12 years) but i do consider myself just lucky enough to catch the historic ones - from IC 814 hijack to 911 to Egypt crisis to Obama's election to almost all the general elections in India post the famous riots at Bhagalpur. But never saw a live corporate broadcast such as the Infosys' one yesterday. They have their own way of doing things. Everything scripted to picture perfect? Living up-to the transparent organization they are much touted as. 

Despite all the hoopla, the janitor example by Mr.KV Kamath was the most touching. It seems the first ICICI ATM was installed in the same Infosys campus from where the new leadership announcement was being made yesterday. One day Mr.Narayana Murthy asked one janitor standing in line of the ATM regarding what he thinks about the ATM. The janitor responded that he loves this machine because if he would have gone in the bank , the teller/cashier would give extra treatment/respect to the babus in the line , but the machine here treats everyone equally. This reflects the 'technology as a leveler' effect which the modern India is experiencing. This leveling on par behavior is being what is aimed when we speak about automating the NREGA process or the e-Choupal initiative by ITC or the introduction of UID - just reduce the manual touch points and get rid of the hierarchical society estranging  our India.

So here comes the first similarity between Mr.KV Kamath and Mr.Narayana Murthy - Both had brought social levelers in their own way/field. One by creating millions of employment/jobs (and honoring them all even in downturn) and the other by revolutionizing the banking sector in this country - both through technology usage and adoption. The other similarity comes from the nature of fields they come from - both IT business and financial industry have lots of similarity- ever changing and evolving fast with their own share of (cyclical) downs. Both these leaders are difficult shoes to fill in their respective spaces and now when one is putting on his feet on the other's, the movie should be worth watching.

Many see it as the toughest period for Infosys with the top management changes, founding members moving forward , their Global Delivery Model under test more than ever before and declining revenues amidst the transition. But forget that they started in the most unfriendly of the environment for doing business with limited resources and have now created an extraordinary setup of infrastructure and leadership.And the knack of Mr.Kamath to identify the next change/opportunity/trend will just add to it. The bigger challenge is motivating the team again after the recent media bashings holds the key for them

Where they lack is perhaps a little more aggression ; remember the Axon deal where they decline to re-bid on top of HCL's quote? They have done so many things first - listing on Nasdaq, consulting through GDM, center in China but in their quest of taking planned and thoughtful risk, they seem to be losing out. Perhaps the "'In data we believe and God we trust' philosophy needs a little tweaking. The declining gap with other Indian IT companies such as TCS is just a myth. One theory says that the gap is more because of they considering in their financial report the expiry of tax exemptions from the STP(Software Technology Park) scheme of the government of India leading to an increase in their effective tax rate which the other companies are yet to figure out like the government and NASSCOM itself. One point which media seems to be not pointing as of now is the dual leadership conundrum - At one point (merely 3 months ago) we saw Wipro breaking away from this model and now Infosys embracing it further by retaining the co-chairman space.

Perhaps a mix of continuity and fresh perspective was the call.

Click here for Part I

Infosys Loaded with its 3.0 Version - Part I

There used to be 'swayamvars' orchestrated by the Kings in India for their daughters to choose the men of their life-and-choice and the men had to coo the bride with their immaculate abilities. Then there are parts of India where still the women-to-be gets literally abducted and forced into the marriage. And till few years ago, i used to hear the Bihar's Shotgun Weddings where the reverse used to happen - yes, the guy being kidnapped by the family for their beloved daughter. None of these happened for N R Narayana Murthy's 30 year old "daughter-like" Infosys.

Swayamvar in current ever-growing modern India sound too much of modernity. The only one i can remember is when first foreign coach of Indian Cricket team was being finalized and Greg Chappel was chosen. The rest is history as we all know. Infosys fared not-so-good in the last two quarters but have never reached to a stage where it can be abducted (read acquired). Its fundamentals are still strong as the pundits say. And doing anything like kidnapping is just out of the world and our thought for an institution of immense ethical standards. Is 'Lure' the apt word to say? Convincing Mr. KV Kamath to bring it back to glory?

Rather , the handover has been a perfect script as of now. A perfect marriage of past with present. Will it survive? Only time will tell. We still need to see how the Tatas fare in their leadership transition. Perhaps they will pick lesson from this rather-so-perfect 'vidaayi'.