Infosys counts on processes

ndian outsourcer Infosys Technologies Ltd. swears by processes. It needs them to coordinate the delivery of services, which may involve staff on the client's site and offshore in India.

"It is like managing an assembly line spread across many locations, and to do that effectively, processes are critical," said B.G. Srinivas, senior vice president and head of the company's European business.

Infosys, of Bangalore, is India's second largest outsourcer, and has over 60,000 staff worldwide, delivering software, IT, consulting, and business process outsourcing (BPO) services to over 450 customers.

To make sure processes are adhered to, Infosys has developed applications for project management, budgeting and quality measurement. "When you have these tools online, and a person from any location can access the information, then a certain transparency gets built into the process," Srinivas said.

The company insists that every stage in project implementation is documented, to ensure there is no gap in communication among teams working in multiple locations.

In an industry where staff turnover is a fact of life, outsourcing companies like Infosys need to plan for this attrition. Infosys has developed a knowledge-management system and tools to retain knowledge of the customer's requirements and business if staff quit, Srinivas said.

Project staff work as a team, and within each team there are core staff who are perceived to be less likely to quit their jobs. Even if one or two employees working on the project quit, the rest of the staff can continue the work while the team is being restaffed, Srinivas said. At 11%, Infosys' current staff attrition rate is not so high as to be able to disrupt a project, he said.

The company is also able to add more staff to a project quickly if the customer requires it. At any moment, between 76% and 80% of Infosys staff are assigned to a project, with the others forming a "strategic bench" of staff waiting to be assigned. "Almost 100% of the bench is offshore, so the cost of retaining this bench is significantly lower," Srinivas said. If a customers needs, say, 100 more Java developers, Infosys can have them working for the customer in two to four weeks, he said.

Infosys spends about $100 million a year on training staff on new technologies, soft skills and leadership. At a facility in Mysore, near Bangalore, the company can train up to 4,500 staff at a time. The company plans to set up a new center in Mysore over the next year to train another 9,000 staff, according to a company spokeswoman. All the parts of the supply chain have to be planned for well in advance, Srinivas said.

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