Thursday, September 28, 2006

Infosys Analyst Event - Win in the Flat World

Source: ARC

Infosys Technologies had their annual analyst event in Boson on September 25th and 26th. The theme of the event was Win in the Flat World,” a natural theme for a leading outsourcing company headquartered in India. At a high level, many of their comments would have been familiar to those who have read Tom Friedman’s best selling business book, “The World is Flat.” However, the company is trying to capitalize on this marketing windfall by doing research into what does a “flat world” mean in their core verticals? What activities in these verticals lend themselves to outsourcing? How will outsourcing in combination with reengineering impact Cash Flows, the Balance Sheet, and the Income Statement?

All of this is the kind of red meat you need to throw in front of analysts to show you are a thought leader, but in a candid conversation between Andy Chatha, ARC’s CEO, and Kris Gopalakrishnan, Infosys’s President and COO, Kris was willing to admit there may not be that much revenue that can be directly attributed to “flat world” work. Much of the conversation centered on how Infosys has achieved what they have achieved. After all, Infosys is a $2 billion company, and it is one of the most profitable service companies. They are growing remarkably quickly, and they project they will grow by a third, to $3 billion in the next fiscal year. What this means in terms of people they need to hire, train, and make a profitable member of the organization is almost unfathomable in the West.

In a company growing that fast, hiring and retaining good people is a key success factor. Is Infosys using options? Infosys stopped giving options in 2002 when the US legislature began to talk about expensing options (Infosys is listed on Nasdaq). From their perspective, they were ready to make the change anyway. They had begun to feel that there was a lottery element to stock options based on when a person joined the company.

Instead the company has a profit sharing program. Good performers can earn bonuses that are larger than their base salary. The company ties bonuses to corporate performance as measured by revenue growth, team performance and individual performance. Team and individual performance are tied to profitability. The top executives also receive retention bonuses.

One factor in retaining people in India that is not often talked about is the Indian infrastructure. For example, their people in Bangalore can spend as long as two hours commuting each way. One way they are responding to this is by opening new sites in Tier 2 cities, which have a better infrastructure and better quality of life.

Indian Services companies are always asked about their attrition rate. This is because a customer’s experience is adversely impacted if the rate is too high and the consulting firm is continually bringing in young new hires to support the contract. Infosys’s attrition rate is around 11 percent, which is good for Indian firms. What these companies are rarely asked to do is to drill down on that attrition rate. We asked Kris to do this. Of the 11 percent, 2 to 3 percent of the people that leave are the non-performing people they want to leave. Infosys rates their people in four categories: As are high performers, Bs are average, Cs need improvement, and Ds are people that are not a good fit for the company. About 3 to 4 percent of those that leave are young people that have worked in the industry for a few years and now want to pursue a graduate degree, particularly an MBA. It is really the A performers that they need to monitor and make every effort to retain. Currently, about 3 to 4 percent of those that leave are high performers, which they feel is not bad for their industry.

In competing against the IBMs and Accentures on one hand, and the other Indian service firms on the other, good people and good processes are critical. It is not cost that differentiates, that is only the point of entry to a deal, and there will always be other service firms with lower price points. Kris argues the only differentiators are speed, excellence in execution, and innovation. To achieve this, you need a process driven approach to services that is certified to various global quality standards such as ISO and CMMI. This process must be balanced with project teams that are empowered to make most of the decisions. In the long run, customers stay because of quality, and Infosys is creating new benchmarks around measuring customer service.

From a price perspective, they are continuing to innovate to increase the proportion of people that work offshore (as compared to on site) on a particular project. That offshore ratio will differ depending upon the service; it can be quite high, for example, for IT Outsourcing but will always be much lower for consulting. Nevertheless, across their service areas they have been able to drive that ratio higher, partially by gaining customer buy-in, by explicitly linking their price to do a service to the offshore ratio to support the customer.

Infosys manages profitability at the project level. They use pricing sheets that allow sales people only to reduce prices to a certain level. If the sales person believes the price must be reduced more to win the deal, the matter gets kicked up to higher level executives. Finally, they have focused on serving large companies, rather than Tier 2 and 3 companies, and continuing to grow those accounts. Currently they do repeat year over year business with 95 percent of their customers. Their top 10 clients represent nearly 30 percent of their revenue, and they have four clients that spend over $70 million per year with them. All this keeps their cost of selling down.

Kris was asked if new technologies, like Web Services and Service Oriented Architectures, could adversely impact Infosys’s revenues by making integration easier. He is seeing no evidence of that, and, if it does occur, he views it as being a long way off. For example, in recent quarters there has been little growth for software companies in license revenues. For them, however, their revenues from services are continuing to grow robustly as clients consolidate multiple releases and integrate software applications from a variety of suppliers. He points to new technologies like VoIP and emerging cell phone applications, and argues as long as technology evolves, integration will be required.

ARC also met with Infosys executive management team and leaders of their vertical industry practices. Discussions focused on Hi-tech and Discrete Manufacturing, Energy and Utilities, Automotive, Aerospace and Defense, as well as CPG and Retail. In regards to the Energy sector, of particular significance is the recently announced alliance with Schlumberger that will enable Infosys to provide comprehensive information management solutions that integrate upstream technical and business processes. One-on-one meetings were also held with the leaders of Infosys Consulting and Strategic Global Sourcing business units.

Original story

Infosys to announce Q2 results on Oct 11

The board of directors will meet on October 11 to consider the audited financial results of the company as per Indian and US GAAP for the second quarter and half year ending September 30, Infosys informed the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The audited consolidated financial results of the company and its subsidiaries as per Indian GAAP would also be considered at the board meeting, it added.

The board would also consider the payment of any interim dividend. The record date for payment of any dividend is October 20.

Infosys Technologies Limited on Thursday said it will announce financial results for the second fiscal quarter on October 11.

Original story

Infosys' Lucrative "Deferred Bonus Scheme"

How do you retain the creamy layer at the top in a highly competitive market, especially when you have put your storied ESOPs on the back-burner? Infosys Technologies has come up with a lucrative ‘deferred bonus scheme’ for senior executives in the associate vice-president, vice-president and senior vice-president grades. The payouts are impressive, ranging from $20,000 (Rs 9.2 lakh) to $1,25,000 (Rs 57.5 lakh) per year.

Deferred bonus payouts to range from Rs 9-57 lakh per year

Bonus amount to add 38-100% to salaries of top executives

Variation of 25% for employees abroad

nfosys expects an expenditure of $4-4.5m (Rs 18.4-20.7 crore) on the scheme in the first year. As most people in Infosys in this bracket earned between Rs 24 lakh and Rs 54 lakh last year, the bonus amount translates into an addition of between 38% and 100% to their salaries.

The company’s director and head of human resources, TV Mohandas Pai, said: “The scheme will cover between 160 and 180 staff, including directors... We have introduced this scheme as an incentive for the senior executives and also to ensure retention.”

He added, “This is not linked to ESOP. But after junking our ESOP, we had nothing for our employees. So this has been introduced effective April ’06.” There will be a variation of 25% in the computation for the bonus scheme for people in India and those abroad. For example, at the senior VP level, the India-based person will get $100,000, while those abroad will get $125,000, mainly to make allowances for taxes overseas.

To be eligible for the deferred bonus scheme, an employee needs to have worked with Infosys for a minimum of a year and the first year bonus will accrue at the end of the second year. The latter is where the ‘deferred’ and retention aspect of the scheme kicks in. Dispersal of the bonus is based on performance and a few other matrices.

At Infosys, its ESOP programme, which made millionaires of thousands of its employees, was for long a powerful motivator to join the company and stay there. But issues relating to expensing options combined with the sky-high prices of IT scrips took most of the lustre away from the scheme. Infosys decided to keep in abeyance its ESOP a while ago. Restricted stock units are in vogue now, with Wipro and iGate adopting it. But since it comes with a hit to the P/L account, it hasn’t caught the general fancy.

Original story

Infosys 25th Year Celebration Inauguration Slide Show

One of our readers send us a presentation on Infosys 25th year celebrations inauguration ceremony conducted in Mysore in July 30, 2006.









































The 25th year celebrations was kicked off @ Mysore DC, July 30 & 31, 2006

Infosys began its 25th Anniversary Celebrations on July 30 with a spectacular event at Mysore DC. Inspiring speeches by P. Chidambaram, Finance Minister of India, and our very own N.R. Narayana Murthy, made this a truly memorable occasion.

Nandan Nilekani delivered the welcome address to kick of the celebrations, in front of a packed audience.

After the welcome address, NRN delivered a message from the heart.

Friends, by celebrating this 25th year of Infosys, we are celebrating the success of these architects of economic reforms of India, and the courage, aspiration, enthusiasm, energy and hard work of every Infoscion and ex-Infoscion. We are all celebrating the success of the wives and children of Infoscions whose sacrifices just render our own sacrifices into little, insignificant ones.



In his speech, P. Chidambaram said,
Standing here, it is difficult to believe that we are in India, that we are not in the capital city of a state, but in a city with a great history and an even greater future.

He told Infoscions, "Today, I find a gleam in your eyes, the gleam that Shri Narayana Murthy had 25 years ago. Some of you must go out and build, replicate. Build new institutions that are within your power. What seven young men could do 25 years ago, with limited resources, limited opportunities, with constraints imposed by laws, the state, with shackles imposed by the government, certainly some of you with that spirit of enterprise and leadership can do much better. I do not say that all the shackles have been removed, I do not say that all the constraints have been removed, but surely the India today is a freer place for enterprise than the India of 25 years ago"


The Guest of Honour for the evening, H. D. Kumaraswamy, Chief Minister of Karnataka said the state government would like to benefit from Narayana Murthy’s vision and enormous experience.

S. Gopalakrishnan delivered the vote of thanks.

The MCs for the function were Infoscions Reshma Pai and Nathan Linkon.

Infoscion, Farah Iqbal, also presented an essay on the "future of Infosys", compiled from various inputs.
Infosys turns 25!
The evening ended with dinner and a concert by KK (Krishna Kumar Menon), popular Bollywood singer.

The world is flat. For those who still need convincing, on Monday, July 31, Infosys became the first company to remotely ring the NASDAQ Opening Bell from Asia, in celebration of its 25th anniversary. The event was held at Infosys’ Mysore campus.

Amidst loud cheers from thousands of Infoscions present, at 7 pm IST, NRN pressed the orange button on the podium to mark the opening of the day’s trading session on NASDAQ. He, along with Nandan Nilekani, also signed on an electronic sign-in screen that was installed specially for the event.

The screen on the seven-storey tall NASDAQ MarketSite Tower in New York displayed "NASDAQ welcomes Infosys Technologies." The ceremony was telecast live on the NASDAQ Tower. The cheers grew louder when Infoscions saw live pictures of Infy’s founders and senior management on the Tower.

Greeting Infoscions with "Good evening, namaste," Bob Greifeld, President and CEO, the NASDAQ Stock Market, said, "It is physically our largest opening with 3,000 people, we’ve set a record The real story of Infosys is not in numbers, but how it has changed the world. Infosys is the global transformation partner of choice and is truly the epitome and definition of an innovative NASDAQ company."
Infosys turns 25: NASDAQ Opening Bell Ceremony

NRN spoke of Infosys’ humble beginnings and said, "We knew that if we raised our aspirations and did right in the eyes of customers, employees, vendor partners, the government of the land in which we operate, then revenues, profit and market capitalization will automatically come. This is the story of Infosys."
He added, "When we got listed in NASDAQ in March 1999, I borrowed the words of Neil Armstrong and said, ‘our listing was a small step for NASDAQ, but a giant leap for Infosys and the Indian software industry. Thank you NASDAQ! You have indeed helped us take a giant leap."


The Chief Guest for the event, Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, said, "Infosys has competed, not within a protected domestic market, but in an unprotected global market. It has competed with the best in the world in great style, giving its shareholders extraordinary share value."

While NASDAQ has held remote openings in Davos and London, for the first time, a single company Infosys has done this outside the US. In 2005, NASDAQ held its first Remote Opening and Closing Bell in August, from Cisco Systems’ headquarters in San Jose, CA, to celebrate Cisco’s 20th anniversary. In December of that year, it held its first Remote Opening Bell outside the US in London to kick off NASDAQ’s 16th Investor Conference.

Infosys Blogs and Criticisms

Infosys Technologies has 4 5 blogs now.

Think Flat - http://www.infosysblogs.com/thinkflat/

Managing OffshoreIT - http://www.infosysblogs.com/managing-offshore-it/

Microsoft - http://www.infosysblogs.com/microsoft/

SOA - http://www.infosysblogs.com/soa/

Web 2.0 - http://www.infosysblogs.com/web2/ (Updated: 12-Nov-06)

Webyantra , a tech blog that profiles Indian web products & services, has attacked Infosys' Think Flat blogs by calling this an shameless opportunism! The blog looks like an advertisement effort rather than an innovative medium to communicate. The criticism questions the word 'think flat' and proves that the tone of 'think flat' is quite negative.
Quoting Webyantra:


I read through the blog’s content ; it seems less like a regular blog and more like a compulsive eulogy of Friedman’s theory (Thomas Friedman incidentally, has quoted extensively about Infosys in his book). Sree (who apparently works for Infosys) suggests in this incisive blog post that the general tone of ThinkFlat seems quite negative with its over-emphasis on the word ‘flat’ which is usually used in a negative sense. I would tend to agree with him. In fact, I find the entire communication in the campaign quite unimaginative and ill-conceived. For the (ad+blog) seem to celebrate Friedman’s Theory of the Flat World, with the tacit message that if that theory is true, then Infosys is a default choice. This argument adds credence to the stereotype of Indian software services companies as being nothing more than smart (or shameless?) opportunists. I would have liked to see the (ad+blog) give me solid reasons as to why should the world go to Infosys, instead of taking refuge under Friedman’s theory.


It is not clear what is the purpose of these blogs. Is Infosys giving public blogs for employees, for improving their written communication skills? ;-) That sounds like a better option for me! Otherwise Infosys could take this opportunity for testing its brand name and see how people react even if do blunders, and measure the tolerance quotient in the blogosphere!

Gautam Ghosh also questioned why has Infosys started these 'think flat'and 'managing offshore it' blogs. Quoting Gautam:

The question I am left with is, why has Infosys started these blogs? They don't seem to be adding any conversation so far. Mohan's blog hasn't got a single comment so far. The content seems to be focussed at Infosys' clients and their language. Do they think this blog will show their thought leadership in this area and sway their clients from going back to Accenture and IBM now that theyhave Indian delivery centres too?

There are some conversations for which blogs are suited and some for which they are not. Infy needs to get that right, in my opinion.


Sree's Tech Notes, the blog of the Infosys employee (we are not sure though) mentioned in webyantra, proves with examples that the word 'think flat' sounds very negative. He also published review of Infosys' think flat blog, which again attacks the purpose of the blog and giving suggestions for improving the blog website.

It seems Infosys want to capitalise on Tom Friedman's book and also utilise the new web 2.0 technologies and showcase as a leader. But they have not done the homework before jumping in. Quick decisions and not always the good decisions!

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Infosys Chennai Music Video

Infosys Chennai has produced a music video on their 10th anniversary.

Video of an Infosys Account manager's Party Dance

Infosys Brings ‘Chemistry and Innovation’ to Eastman Chemical Company’s New Web Site

By Partnering with Infosys, Eastman Launches Completely Revamped Eastman.com

Infosys Technologies announced today that it partnered with Eastman Chemical Company on the successful re-launch of Eastman.com. By teaming with Infosys Technologies to design, develop and deploy the multi-faceted Web site, Eastman was able to give its revamped site a vibrant new look and feel. Featuring next-generation Web 2.0 capabilities, Eastman.com has edgy, innovative self-service functions that provide customers with a rich, uniquely customizable experience.

"Our Web site is very important to our global strategy," said Paul Montgomery, vice president, communications and public affairs for Eastman Chemical Company. "It is the company's face to the world and allows us to do business 24/7 from any place on the globe. This is a highly valuable platform that will empower our customers by helping them research, manage and more easily access Eastman’s entire portfolio of products.”

Eastman’s customers require access to a vast array of information, from molecular characteristics to health and safety requirements. By utilizing the latest technology, Eastman can provide all of the necessary information, in a truly interactive manner.

“Eastman and Infosys worked together from concept to implementation to add significant value to Eastman’s customers,” said Paul van Deventer, associate vice president, Infosys’ Resources Business Unit. “Eastman.com is the next generation of customer care for the chemicals industry.”

Leveraging Infosys’ global delivery model and innovative technology expertise, Eastman approached this project by first mapping out its customers’ needs and then built Eastman.com to meet and exceed those needs. Eastman.com features online comparison of product properties, customized user experiences and vast amounts of information about the leading issues driving the chemical industry.

The enhanced search capability categorizes site information and is able to push relevant information directly to the user. Customers will find more user-friendly product and market information as well as a new product selection application. Other new features of the Web site include an information center with a literature archive, a news center with multilingual capability and a career center.

"We have found that our Web site is averaging more than 25 percent growth in traffic each year," said Wayne Armbrister, Web manager for Eastman Chemical Company. “The new Eastman.com was redesigned not only with customers in mind, but also investors, employees, retirees, people seeking career opportunities with Eastman, and others looking for information about the company, such as the media.”

Infosys is a member of Eastman Chemical Company's strategic supplier program, an elite group of top-tier providers who regularly give Eastman insight and ideas on improving its IT services.

Original story

Infoys Campus Tour Videos by Scott Budman of NBC11

Visit this link for watching Videos.

It looms above this teeming city like a Las Vegas hotel. Its pyramid shape is distinctive and impressive in this land of older, traditional structures. But this pyramid, while noteworthy, is actually a very small part of the headquarters of India's hottest company, as NBC11's Scott Budman learned on a recent visit.

Technologies has such an enormous campus in Bangalore, the Silicon Valley of India, that it took us almost all day to see the entire property.

It's a software powerhouse, with a flair for architecture, evident in a building modeled after Australia's famed opera house.

There are gardens, pools, a veritable oasis, all enjoyed by Infosys employees who come here from all over the world.

The jobs are better paying. They require an educated workforce.

In short, they are the jobs of the future.

And the future looks bright for Infosys, which is growing by the day.

In fact, a couple of hours away in the city of Mysore, Infosys has an even larger campus.

This location boasts buildings based on the Parthenon in Greece, origami designs and a geodesic dome.

In any language, you can call it an incredible place to work.

And Infosys doesn't just have a big campus, it has a big stock market value, not just among the biggest in India, but among the biggest in the world.

To put that in perspective for you, Infosys is more valuable than video game developer Electronic Arts, more than grocery chain Safeway, more than tech heavyweight Advanced Micro Devices, and triple the value of Juniper Networks.

And here's something you probably wouldn't expect to see - a training class.

Yes it's in India, but that's not what makes it different. Its purpose is not to train call center workers.

No, believe it or not, the class is full of American engineers, all of them recently hired by Infosys.

Adam Anderson is one of those engineers. He could work anywhere but he's training in India and soon he'll start working in Fremont, at Infosys U.S.A.

"Of all places, to go to India, it was a definite shock,"Anderson said. "I don't think a lot of people are fully aware of the technology going on in India, and the kind of economic growth because of the tech boom."

They're America's best and brightest, leaving home to learn the lessons of India -- even if their friends think they're crazy.

"They thought it was some humanitarian mission, or religious thing," said Sarah Taliaferro, wearing traditional Indian garb.

"Coming to India was a definite plus. ... I've had a great time learning about India and Indian culture."

Thanks to companies such as Infosys, India has come a long way from the days of inexpensive labor.

And America isn't so much losing jobs as it's losing engineers.

They're coming to India, to a big campus that's making the world a smaller place.

Who are, by the way, going willingly

Original story

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Is this Narayana Murthy's Modern Home?

Received this email from one of our readers, claimed to be working at Infosys. It is said to be the pictures of Narayana Murthy's home. But we can't believe it!

But, is this true? What do you think?

(Click on the pictures to enlarge)

















Harsha Mutt of Infosys Joins HCL Technologies

According to a release issued by HCL Tech to the BSE today, HCL Technologies has appointed Harsha Mutt as vice president (capital market services). the capital markets business unit is one of the key micro-verticals of the company's financial services business.

"Harsha will manage the company's capital markets business unit based out of Bangalore. Before joining the company, Harsha was the head of delivery for banking and capital markets with Infosys where he was heading a team of more than 5,700 people." the release added.

Original story

Monday, September 25, 2006

Nandan Nilekani Attends Clinton Global Intitiative Conference

Top ranking Indians from the corporate and social sectors were present for the concluding day of the Clinton Global Intitiative conference in New York on Friday, September 22, attended by queens, prime ministers, ambassadors, singers and Hollywood stars.

Nandan Nilekani, chief executive officer and managing director, Infosys Technologies, hailing from Bangalore, a city of approximately 6.1 million people, attended the module titled 'Cities of the Future' along with the mayor of London (7.5 million people) and the mayor of Curitiba, the capital city of the southern state of Parana in Brazil and a city with a population of about 3.2 million.

Original story

Saturday, September 23, 2006

Ethics seen key to Infosys' success

Various technology giants to come out of India have been referred to as "the Indian Bill Gates," but the label seems particularly fitting for Mr. Murthy, founder and recently retired executive chairman of Infosys. Like Mr. Gates, whose mission was to bring computing to the masses, Mr. Murthy appears driven by social goals rather than a desire for riches.

He developed his desire to set up a firm as he hitchhiked his way home from Paris to India in the late 1970s. One of his less pleasant experiences on this epic 11-month trip crystallized his intentions.

Previously a staunch leftist, a 72-hour spell in a Soviet prison was, he said: "the last nail in the coffin of socialism for me. I decided I would conduct an experiment in entrepreneurship, and I embraced capitalism.

"I call myself 'a compassionate capitalist' -- I'm a capitalist in mind, but a socialist at heart. For me entrepreneurship is the only instrument for countries like India to solve the problem of its poverty, creating more and more jobs with higher and higher disposable income."

"In Infosys, a few of us have made lots of money, but there is still another section that has not. I believe it is our responsibility to ensure that those who have not made that kind of money have an opportunity to do so," he said.

Original story

TCS Overtakes Infosys in Market Capitalisation

Tata Consultancy Services Limited (TCS) has replaced Infosys Technologies as the country's biggest IT firm and second biggest private sector company in terms of the market capitalisation.

TCS, the country's largest software exporter, achieved a market cap of Rs 1.02 lakh crore, surpassing Rs 1.01 lakh crore of its closest rival in the IT space Infosys.

TCS has also replaced Infosys as the country's fourth most valued publicly listed corporate entity after ONGC, Reliance Industries and NTPC. Wipro retained its position as the third largest IT firm with a market cap of Rs 74.5 lakh crore at the end of today's trading session.

Original story

Friday, September 22, 2006

Flat World is like Gravity - is it Good or Bad?

Deal with a changing world or disappear, said Nandan Nilekani, CEO and president of Indian outsourcing giant Infosys Technologies Ltd. "Is a flat world good or bad? That's like asking if gravity is good or bad," said Nilekani, who spoke at this week's Forrester Technology Leadership Conference.

very company will eventually be affected by the opening of emerging economies, structural shifts in global demographics, the ubiquity of IT and increasing regulation, said Nilekani, who refers to these factors as the four global forces.

Indeed, what companies make, to whom they sell, where they sell, at what price and where they produce their goods are all subject to these four forces, Nilekani said. "Everything in your business in some sense is up for grabs."

Up until 1978, more than half of the world's population was not part of the global economy, Nilekani said. Today, emerging economies, with their large markets and large labor pools, not only gave rise to companies like Infosys, but also turned India and China into one of the largest consumers of mobile phones -- 10 million a month. Shifts in global demographics -- an aging, affluent Europe, a youthful and relatively poor Asia -- will also affect how those phones are priced.

He outlined several ways CIOs can help their companies make the shift from an old world mentality to a flat world strategy.

First, instead of dreading the "China price" -- worrying what happens if somebody comes along who can make a product cheaper -- companies need to "be the China price. This is a reality which will not go away," Nilekani said. IT departments should be asking themselves if the IT is architected to take advantage of the global production and consumer markets.

Second, the concept of winning customer loyalty through customer service is par for the course. In the new flat world, customer loyalty will be won through faster innovation. Repeat business will hinge on what's new. "The pace at which we generate ideas from concept to product has to increase," Nilekani said.

Third, if CIOs want a seat at the head table, they need to show their organizations how to capitalize on, not just pay for, IT. "The question to ask is how can we go from being people who spend money on information to helping our business partners make money from information?" Nilekani said. The challenge is considerable, given the multitude and diversity of IT systems at many companies. The cost of streamlining or implementing a single business change becomes very expensive. Still, the "great companies will figure out how to make money from information," he said.

The great companies will also be able to "win in the turns," not just the "straightaway." Companies that can't respond to and take advantage of change are in jeopardy, Nilekani said, citing his own company's ability to adapt after the tech bust of 2001. In the past six years the company grew from 2,000 to 58,000 employees.

Original story

Infosys to Expand in China to 6000 Employees over 5 Years

India-based software outsourcing Latest News about Outsourcing company Infosys plans to increase its investment in two new centers in China to a total of US$65 million over five years, after which it will be able to house a total of 6,000 engineers at its three centers in that country. The centers will produce work in the areas of software development, IT services Latest News about IT services and business process outsourcing, and will also have training and research facilities.

Infosys plans to double the number of its workers in China to 1,000 this year. Bigger rival Tata Consultancy Services plans to increase the number of employees in China to 5,000 by 2010, from about 400 now.

The company said on Wednesday that it would set up a new center in Shanghai with seating capacity for 1,000 engineers over the next two years. That facility will be in addition to a facility the company already has at the Shanghai Pudong Software Park that employs about 250 people, according to Dhawan.

"China is a domestic market for us because many of our multinational clients are expanding in China," Chief Executive Officer Nandan Nilekani said in an interview in Singapore.

It is a "potential source of resources for our global clients and a potential
The company is setting up a center in Hanghzhou, China, at the Hanghzhou Hi-Tech Development Industry Zone, the company said in a statement.

Original story

Philippine Long Distance partners with Infosys for BPO Service

Manila-based Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. said on Wednesday that it has formed a call center and business process outsourcing alliance with Infosys Technologies Ltd.

Philippine Long Distance said that the alliance will sell services to clients and prospective customers of Infosys Technologies.

Rose Montenegro, Head, Call Center unit Ventus, Philippine Long Distance, said, "This is a very strategic partnership that will enable both companies to reach additional markets and offer expanded services to customers."

Philippine Long Distance is expanding its call center business as the growth in mobile-phone services, its main source of revenue, slows. Last month, it became the world's third- largest supplier of transcription services to health-care providers after buying Richmond, Virginia-based CyMed Inc. for $35mn.

Under the agreement, Philippine Long Distance will provide the call center infrastructure for Infosys Technologies, it said in the e-mailed statement. The Philippine phone company operates 4,500 call center seats in the country and expects to increase the number by more than 10% this year.

Original story 1, Original story 2

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

How about Narayana Murthy as CEO of Bangalore?

How about Narayana Murthy as CEO of Bangalore, Ratan Tata as CEO of Mumbai and YC Deveshwar as CEO of Delhi? This sounds like a radical idea but that’s what citizens in these cities are hoping for since the three CEOs possess great managerial skills that are needed to transform Indian cities which are fast deteriorating into urban sprawls.

It’s true that that the Indian economy is growing at a break-neck speed at over eight per cent a year, and matching infrastructure to support this growth is never going to be easy. Rural poverty and fast population growth have seen mass migration and changed the once beautiful cities and towns into mass refugee camps.

So, tough challenges need innovative solutions. Knowing India’s high corruption levels and the rural politicians’ main objective to plunder cities’ wealth, there is a need today for a major systemic change. Citizen groups are campaigning for de-linking provincial (state) government and city administration. Currently, for example, the Bangalore city mayor reports to the state government and has little autonomy to effect change. Most of the tax collected in the city is spent elsewhere and very little is ploughed back. City corporations, in fact, have to borrow from financial institutions to fund basic infrastructure projects.

The suggestion doing the rounds is to make cities independent of the states even if they continue to function as their political capitals. The mayor or the CEO of the city can be directly elected by the people of the city, as it happens in New York. This way, cities can be sure of what percentage of their revenues can be spent and what can be used for rural development. This will ensure greater accountability. Some Indian cities such as Chennai and Kolkata have some kind of autonomy and the difference is evident.

With constant media campaigning and pressure from the industry, the central government must be made to effect this systemic change quickly by an amendment in the constitution. Governance is the biggest issue under consideration today and a more accountable administration can provide it better. Corruption can be brought down significantly with an independent city mayor. This will also make it easier for businesses to function better and cities can attract more investment since investors wouldn’t need to go to multiple points for approvals. Resistance from politicians will be there but it’s time citizens and businesses pushed for change.

Original story

We Need Better Education Facilities, More English Schools - N R Murthy

N Narayana Murthy, who stepped down as Executive Chairman of Infosys last month, is quite clear that India’s much vaunted Information Technology sector has fuelled expectations, may be more than it should have.

Commenting on a recent survey which found that the level of satisfaction among Indian techies is on the wane, Murthy told Mumbai Mirror, “Expectations of IT employees are increasing with the sector’s growth. So, it’s like a treadmill. You keep walking on it, and your doctor keeps increasing the speed. A software engineer earning Rs 5 lakh a year now feels that he is earning lesser. Compare that to a doctor who may feel the same but only if he is stuck at Rs 2 lakh a year.”

Govt needs to get its act together

With competition increasing in the industry, Murthy feels that there is also an urgent need of speeding up reforms.

“On the government’s part, there are so many things to be done. There are many regulations. For example, norms

calling for a software firm to acquire an environmental clearance licence is stupid. When the sector is growing at the rate of about 35 per cent a year, the pace of new construction also has to match. Government takes at least a year-and-a-half to clear one construction project,” he said.

Manpower is the key

Though the country has achieved a lot in the IT sector, it will have to sustain it. “For sustaining growth, infrastructure will have to be improved.

We have the opportunity, it has come after a long time,” Murthy said.

He further added that India can sustain this growth if manpower is improved. “We need better education facilities, more English schools, and a better curriculum with IT education,” he pointed out.

Easy way? ‘ that’s bulls***!’

While, addressing a gathering of the Asian Institute of Management Alumni Association in the city, Murthy said, “If we want to grow, we will have to increase our exports, create more jobs, increase disposable incomes, bring more capital through FDI. If any politician, or anyone else says that there is another way of doing this, that’s bulls***!”

Original story

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Infosys Bangalore Campus Pictures

One of our readers sent us these amazing pictures of Infosys's Bangalore campus. Hey, is it the heaven on the Earth? :-) Click to see in original size.

If you have more beautiful pictures of Infosys (Bangalore or other locations), do send to us for publishing in this blog.







































Indian Growth Rate is Sustainable : Nandan Nilekani

Reuters Correspondent Dan Sloan caught up with Nandan Nilekani, MD & CEO, Infosys - at the IMF venue and discussed on host of issues.

DS: How have Indian Entrepreneurs and industry developed post the crisis?

NN: Well, I don't think Indian business was affected by the crisis. But, we have seen a sea-change in the business. In the 80s, we had a pro-business environment. In the 90s, it was pro-competition, thanks to the liberalization, and this decade, it is about pro-globalisation. Indian firms are becoming truly global players. So, we can witness tremendous private sector activity in India.

DS: Why do you think that business in India was not affected by the crisis?

NN: The reason being that India, then was not that integrated to the global economy and a large part of the crisis was felt in East-Asia, whereas in India, it was just a few years after liberalisation. Hence, we did not have to go through the crisis.

DS: Indian and Chinese growth is leading the world. How do you access the Indian growth rate and the overall expansion within Asia?

NN: Indian growth rate is quite sustainable. India is growing at 7-8%. It is growing at high capital productivity and because of the demographics, the savings will increase, which will contribute more capital to growth. The private sector is doing well. Infrastructure is improving. Educational and health sectors are improving slowly. Hence, I believe it is a positive long-term thing and not a bubble. It is a sustainable plan that can carry on for many years.

Original story

Mohandas Pai on Reservation in India

"We have to be sensitive to create a totally transparent and non-discriminatory policy for employment coupled with an affirmative action programme to reach out to the people who are disadvantaged," T.V. Mohandas Pai, Member of the Infosys Board, has said.

Mr. Pai was responding to a question about his views on "Reservation in industry" during an interactive session with professionals, students and academics at Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Saturday. Stating that there was truth in the reservation debate, Mr. Pai said: "The whole issue boils down to making available access to education to everybody where money should not be a constraint."

Stating that he was all for merit, Mr. Pai said: "You have to be realistic and accept the argument about reservation for what it is."

Full story

Bangalore not getting investment it needs, says Mohandas Pai

"I am not very optimistic about cities in India (in terms of their infrastructure development for expansion of IT industry)," T.V. Mohandas Pai, Director (HR), Infosys, said here on Saturday.

Asked about the expansion plans of Infosys, Mr. Pai said, "We have only 10 cities, so we will expand in each of these cities."

"Bangalore is not getting the investment it needs in public area to develop infrastructure," he said while replying to questions of presspersons after addressing professionals, academics and students at the Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry. On Karnataka Government's initiatives to improve infrastructure in Bangalore, Mr. Pai said, "They are trying to do something now. Let us see what happens."

On the problems in Bangalore, Mr. Pai said, "You need to look at Bangalore in a different manner. I think the present Government is trying to see what can be done for Bangalore, but it is not enough. It will never be enough because we need more." He was critical of Bangalore's transport woes. "We have 24 lakh vehicles for 70 lakh people. Every household has a two-wheeler. We have around 18 lakh two-wheelers. So the roads are not enough. There is no performing public transport system either. In the sense, we have 4,000 buses, but they are not enough, obviously," Mr. Pai said.

To ease congestion, he suggested building ring roads. "Bangalore needs ring roads, Beijing has eight ring roads. So we need not go to the middle of the city and congest traffic to go from one end to another," he said. Asked if he saw any other city emerging in competition to Bangalore as an IT destination in the near future, Mr. Pai said, "Hyderabad has done well, they have got good infrastructure. They are proactive. Chennai is becoming very exciting, Maran (Union Minister for Communications Dayanidi Maran) is doing a lot of work."

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Brand Building Through Internship - Infosys's InStep Program

Driven by the need to go truly global, some Indian IT companies have initiated an internship programme for international students, in the hope that they will be unpaid brand ambassadors.

IT major Infosys has put in place a structured programme for global internship since 1999 and it has been tremendously successful in helping the "brand Infosys", while taking care of global recruitment needs too. The programme is called InStep which provides a platform for students from top academic institutions around the world to work on live technical and business projects, ranging from application development to business consulting in Infosys' offices worldwide.

The other benefits of the programme, apart from the stipend, include airfare, accommodation in a fully furnished apartment, food, and transportation within the city.

InStep interns work on diverse live projects, ranging from application development to business consulting, in practices that include corporate planning, education and research, enterprise solutions and software engineering and technology labs. These are projects that represent and impact the Infosys core practices.

Interns have been part of various groups that have worked on high-end projects. Some of the interns have even authored papers on their work at Infosys and their papers have been accepted by internationally reputed journals.

125 interns

This year, Infosys Technologies, as part of its Global Internship Programme, is taking 125 interns at its Bangalore campus.

In keeping with academic cycles across different countries, these students will arrive on the campus in a staggered manner all through the year.

The intensive eight to 24-week internship programme gives select students hands-on experience on developing latest software services and solutions in Infosys' global development centres.

InStep, which began with 300 applications for 14 positions six years ago, received over 12,000 applications for 125 positions this year, from about 80 prestigious universities across the world including those in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, France, Germany, South Korea and the Philippines.

The InStep programme is now increasingly being endorsed by placement faculty and professors from leading schools.

Enriched for life

Antoinette Schoar, Associate Professor of Finance at MIT Sloan, validated the Infosys experience, stating, "Most students are keen to experience globalisation and its business benefits firsthand. Infosys is today seen as an internship destination of choice since it allows students the opportunity to undertake challenging assignments that allow them to gain an understanding of emerging markets.

"InStep also uniquely combines an experience of in-depth corporate learning with the opportunity to learn from the cultural ethos of India. This leaves students enriched for life."

Colleges Should Teach Project Management - Kris Gopalakrishnan

Engineering colleges and management institutes should include "project management" in their curriculum, as it imparts basic knowledge that is taught by many firms, said S. Gopalakrishnan, president and chief operating officer, Infosys Technologies.

Inaugurating a national Project Management Practitioners' Conference here on Monday, he said the need of the hour was to understand the concept of teamwork: how to use the tools and how single person commitment can impact the team.

Full story

The inspiring Tale of Sarathbabu, an IIM Graduate

A truly inspirational story of Sarathbabu, an IIM Graduate. This article has more than 880 user comments in rediff.com!

When 27-year old Sarathbabu graduated from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, he created quite a stir by refusing a job that offered him a huge salary. He preferred to start his own enterprise -- Foodking Catering Service -- in Ahmedabad.

He was inspired by his mother who once sold idlis on the pavements of Chennai, to educate him and his siblings. It was a dream come true, when Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy lit the traditional lamp and inaugurated Sarathbabu's enterprise.

Sarathbabu was in Chennai, his hometown, a few days ago, to explore the possibility of starting a Foodking unit in the city and also to distribute the Ullas Trust Scholarships instituted by the IT firm Polaris to 2,000 poor students in corporation schools.

In this interview with rediff.com, Sarathbabu describes his rise from a Chennai slum to his journey to the nation's premier management institute to becoming a successful entrepreneur. This is his story, in his own words.

Childhood in a slum

I was born and brought up in a slum in Madipakkam in Chennai. I have two elder sisters and two younger brothers and my mother was the sole breadwinner of the family. It was really tough for her to bring up five kids on her meagre salary.

As she had studied till the tenth standard, she got a job under the mid-day meal scheme of the Tamil Nadu government in a school at a salary of Rs 30 a month. She made just one rupee a day for six people.

So, she sold idlis in the mornings. She would then work for the mid-day meal at the school during daytime. In the evenings, she taught at the adult education programme of the Indian government.

She, thus, did three different jobs to bring us up and educate us. Although she didn't say explicitly that we should study well, we knew she was struggling hard to send us to school. I was determined that her hard work should not go in vain.

I was a topper throughout my school days. In the mornings, we went out to sell idlis because people in slums did not come out of their homes to buy idlis. For kids living in a slum, idlis for breakfast is something very special.

My mother was not aware of institutions like the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, or the Indian Institutes of Technology. She only wanted to educate us so that we got a good job. I didn't know what I wanted to do at that time because in my friend-circle, nobody talked about higher education or preparing for the IIT-JEE.

When you constantly worry about the next square meal, you do not dream of becoming a doctor or an engineer. The only thing that was on my mind was to get a good job because my mother was struggling a lot.

I got very good marks in the 10th standard exam. It was the most critical moment of my life. Till the 10th, there was no special fee but for the 11th and the 12th, the fees were Rs 2,000-3,000.

I did book-binding work during the summer vacation and accumulated money for my school fees. When I got plenty of work, I employed 20 other children and all of us did the work together. That was my first real job as an entrepreneur. Once I saw the opportunity, I continued with the work.

Life at BITS, Pilani

A classmate of mine told me about BITS, Pilani. He was confident that I would get admission, as I was the topper. He also told me that on completion (of studies at Pilani), I will definitely get a job.

When I got the admission, I had mixed feelings. On one hand I was excited that for the first time I was going out of Chennai, but there was also a sense of uncertainty.

The fees alone were around Rs 28,000, and I had to get around Rs 42,000. It was huge, huge money for us. And there was no one to help us. Just my mother and sisters. One of my sisters -- they were all married by then -- pawned her jewellery and that's how I paid for the first semester.

My mother then found out about an Indian government scholarship scheme. She sent me the application forms, I applied for the scholarship, and I was successful. So, after the first semester, it was the scholarship that helped me through.

It also helped me to pay my debt (to the sister who had pawned her jewellery). I then borrowed money from my other sister and repaid her when the next scholarship came.

The scholarship, however, covered only the tuition fees. What about the hostel fees and food? Even small things like a washing soap or a toothbrush or a tube of toothpaste was a burden. So, I borrowed more at high rates of interest. The debt grew to a substantial amount by the time I reached the fourth year.

First year at BITS, Pilani

To put it mildly, I was absolutely shocked. Till then, I had moved only with students from poor families. At Pilani, all the students were from the upper class or upper middle class families. Their lifestyle was totally different from mine. The topics they discussed were alien to me. They would talk about the good times they had in school.

On the other hand, my school years were a big struggle. There was this communication problem also as I was not conversant in English then.

I just kept quiet and observed them. I concentrated only on my studies because back home so many people had sacrificed for me. And, it took a really long time -- till the end of the first year -- to make friends.

The second year

I became a little more confident and started opening up. I had worked really hard for the engineering exhibition during the first year. I did a lot of labour-intensive work like welding and cutting, though my subject was chemical engineering. My seniors appreciated me.


In my second year also, I worked really hard for the engineering exhibition. This time, my juniors appreciated me, and they became my close friends, so close that they would be at my beck and call.

In the third year, when there was an election for the post of the co-ordinator for the exhibition, my juniors wanted me to contest. Thanks to their efforts I was unanimously elected. That was my first experience of being in the limelight. It was also quite an experience to handle around 100 students.

Seeing my work, slowly my batch mates also came to the fold. All of them said I lead the team very well.

They also told me that I could be a good manager and asked me to do MBA. That was the first time I heard about something called MBA. I asked them about the best institution in India. They said, the Indian Institutes of Management. Then, I decided if I was going to study MBA, it should be at one of the IIMs, and nowhere else.

Inspiration to be an entrepreneur

It was while preparing for the Common Admission Test that I read in the papers that 30 per cent of India's population does not get two meals a day. I know how it feels to be hungry. What should be done to help them, I wondered.

I also read about Infosys and Narayana Murthy, Reliance and Ambani. Reliance employed 20,000-25,000 people at that time, and Infosys, around 15,000. When a single entrepreneur like Ambani employed 25,000 people, he was supporting the family, of four or five, of each employee. So he was taking care of 100,000 people indirectly. I felt I, too, should become an entrepreneur.

But, my mother was waiting for her engineer son to get a job, pay all the debts, build a pucca house and take care of her. And here I was dreaming about starting my own enterprise. I decided to go for a campus interview, and got a job with Polaris. I also sat for CAT but I failed to clear it in my first attempt.

I worked for 30 months at Polaris. By then, I could pay off all the debts but I hadn't built a proper house for my mother. But I decided to pursue my dream. When I took CAT for the third time, I cleared it and got calls from all the six IIMs. I got admission at IIM, Ahmedabad.

Life at IIM, Ahmedabad

My college helped me get a scholarship for the two years that I was at IIM. Unlike in BITS, I was more confident and life at IIM was fantastic. I took up a lot of responsibilities in the college. I was in the mess committee in the first year and in the second year; I was elected the mess secretary.

Becoming an entrepreneur

By the end of the second year, there were many lucrative job offers coming our way, but in my mind I was determined to start something on my own. But back home, I didn't have a house. It was a difficult decision to say 'no' to offers that gave you Rs 800,000 a year. But I was clear in my mind even while I knew the hard realities back home.

Yes, my mother had been an entrepreneur, and subconsciously, she must have inspired me. My inspirations were also (Dhirubhai) Ambani and Narayana Murthy. I knew I was not aiming at something unachievable. I got the courage from them to start my own enterprise.

Nobody at my institute discouraged me. In fact, at least 30-40 students at the IIM wanted to be entrepreneurs. And we used to discuss about ideas all the time. My last option was to take up a job.

Foodking Catering Services Pvt Ltd

My mother is my first inspiration to start a food business. Remember I started my life selling idlis in my slum. Then of course, my experience as the mess secretary at IIM-A was the second inspiration. I must have handled at least a thousand complaints and a thousand suggestions at that time. Every time I solved a problem, they thanked me.

I also felt there is a good opportunity in the food business. If you notice, a lot of people who work in the food business come from the weaker sections of the society.

My friends helped me with registering the company with a capital of Rs 100,000. Because of the IIM brand and also because of the media attention, I could take a loan from the bank without any problem.

I set up an office and employed three persons. The first order was from a software company in Ahmedabad. They wanted us to supply tea, coffee and snacks. We transported the items in an auto.

When I got the order from IIM, Ahmedabad, I took a loan of Rs 11 lakhs (Rs 1.1 million) and started a kitchen. So, my initial capital was Rs 11.75 lakhs (Rs 1.17 million).

Three months have passed, and now we have forty employees and four clients -- IIM Ahmedabad, Darpana Academy, Gujarat Energy Research Management Institute and System Plus.

In the first month of our operation, we earned around Rs 35,000. Now, the turnover is around Rs 250,000. The Chennai operations will start in another three months' time.

Ambition

I want to employ as many people as I can, and improve their quality of life. In the first year, I want to employ around 200-500 people. In the next five years, I hope to increase it by 15,000. I am sure it is possible.

I want to cover all the major cities in India, and later, I want to go around the world too.

I have seen people from all walks of life -- from the slums to the elite in the country. That is why luxuries like a car or a bungalow do not matter to me. Even money doesn't matter to me. I feel bad if I have to have food in a five star hotel. I feel guilty.


Personally, I have no ambition but I want to give a house and a car to my mother.

Appreciation

I did not expect this kind of exposure by the media for my venture or appreciation from people like my director at the IIM or Narayana Murthy. I was just doing what I wanted to do. But the exposure really helped me get orders, finance, everything.

The best compliments I received were from Narayana Murthy and my director at IIM, Ahmedabad. When I told him (IIM-A director) about my decision to start a company, he hugged me and wished me luck. They have seen life, they have seen thousands and thousands of students and if they say it is a good decision, I am sure it is a good decision.

Reservation

Reservation should be a mix of all criteria. If you take a caste that comes under reservation, 80 per cent of the people will be poor and 20 per cent rich, the creamy layer. For the general category, it will be the other way around.

I feel equal weightage should be given for the economic background. A study has to be done on what is the purpose of reservation and what it has done to the needy. It should be more effective and efficient. In my case, I would not have demanded for reservation. I accepted it because the society felt I belonged to the deprived class and needed a helping hand.


Today, the opportunities are grabbed by a few. They should be ashamed of their ability if they avail reservation even after becoming an IAS officer or something like that. They are putting a burden on the society and denying a chance to the really needy.

I feel reservation is enough for one generation. For example, if the child's father is educated, he will be able to guide the child properly.

Take my case, I didn't have any system that would make me aware of the IITs and the IIMs. But I will be able to guide my children properly because I am well educated. I got the benefits of reservation but I will never avail of it for my children. I cannot even think of demanding reservation for the next generation.

Full story

Accumulate Infosys Stocks at Declines : LKP Research

“Infosys is de-risking its clients profile, which is evident from the fact that contribution from top 10 clients, which was 34.3% in Q1FY05 has come down to 31.7% for Q1FY07. Better client mining ability together with increasing share of offshore revenue (average 51% for past eight quarters) will lead to better operating margins. Infosys is looking for some overseas acquisitions, mainly in Europe, to strengthen its footprints in European market.”

“There is a clear shift in global outsourcing contracts towards small to medium contract value (USD 50-200 million) and multi-vendor outsourcing. From the services perceptive, package implementation, Testing Services and Business Process Management have shown good growth in past few quarters. These high end services are expected to grow, strengthening the operating profit margins.”

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Multinational IT firms outpacing Indian Companies in Hiring

Multinational IT giants are fast outpacing or matching domestic IT majors such as Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Infosys Technologies in the rate at which they are expanding their manpower in India. The rate of manpower addition is 12% on the higher side and 6% on the lower side for multinational firms such as IBM and Hewlett Packard, which is on a par with the rate at which large Indian IT firms are adding people.

In June 2006, IBM India had a staff strength of 43,000 in India compared with 38,500 it had during its fiscal ended December 2005. This translates to growth of 12% for two quarters or about 6% a quarter. In comparison, TCS had a manpower strength of 71,960 on June 2006, 7% higher than the 66, 480 it had on its fiscal ending March 2006.

Infosys, which recruited heavily in the first quarter of the fiscal, had a higher growth rate at 11%, ending the June 2006 quarter with 58,409 employees. Satyam Computer Services and Wipro, the two other top tier IT companies, had a manpower strength of 56,435 and 30,000 respectively, representing growth in manpower of 5% and 7% respectively.

Full story

Monday, September 18, 2006

Infosys Implements PeopleSoft Enterprise Applications at Nissan North America

Infosys Technologies Limited (NASDAQ:INFY) and Oracle today announced the successful "go-live" of an Oracle's(R) PeopleSoft 8.8 implementation at five Nissan North America locations spanning the US, Canada and Mexico. Nissan North America Inc., the North American subsidiary of the Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., first partnered with Infosys in January 2005 on this multi-lingual, multi-currency HR and Payroll implementation.

Specifically in this deployment, Infosys implemented PeopleSoft Enterprise Human Capital Management (HCM) 8.8. The new PeopleSoft deployment includes PeopleSoft Enterprise Human Resources, Base Benefits, Benefits Administration, ePay, eProfile, eCompensation, eBenefits, eRecruit and eDevelopment. This PeopleSoft implementation is designed to give employees greater visibility into their payroll, benefits and other related HR information.

"In order to thrive in the new 'flat world', companies must not only change their strategies and operations, but also embrace a new, globally-oriented way of doing things," said Franco Gonsalves, Vice President, Automotive and Aerospace Unit, Infosys Technologies Limited.

The new platform implemented by Infosys is designed to streamline HCM processes, enhance reporting capabilities and improve productivity and global decision making. A consolidated system of this nature makes it easier to manage inter-company operations and improves the ability to respond to changing business dynamics.

"Our PeopleSoft HCM solution enables companies to align human resources with their strategic business goals and achieve true workforce excellence," said Folia Grace, Vice President, Oracle ERP Product Marketing. "This Infosys-led implementation is a perfect example of cases where our joint clients are seeking the benefits that can be achieved with an end-to-end HCM solution and proof positive as to why Infosys is one of our most valued partners."

"Large scale HCM implementations like this are highly complex in nature, especially when they are multi-lingual, multi-currency and span different locations. However, by leveraging Infosys' proven processes and global delivery model, we are able to reduce the duration for such roll-outs and regularly meet aggressive go-live timelines," said Chandra Shekar Kakal, Senior Vice President and Global Head, Enterprise Solutions, Infosys Technologies Limited. "Companies who install large scale HCM deployments can typically expect streamlined HCM processes, improved productivity and enhanced reporting capabilities."

Infosys is a Certified Advantage Partner in the Oracle PartnerNetwork.

Full story

Remembering JRD Tata and Jamsetji Tata - Sudha Murthy

- An article by Sudha Murthy

Sudha Murty was livid when a job advertisement posted by a Tata company at the institution where she was completing her post graduation stated that 'lady candidates need not apply'. She dashed off a postcard to JRD, protesting against the discrimination. It was the beginning of an association that would change her life in more ways than one

There are two photographs that hang on my office wall. Every day when I enter my office I look at them before starting my day. They are pictures of two old people. One is of a gentleman in a blue suit and other is a black-and-white image of a man with dreamy eyes and a white beard.

People have asked me if the people in the photographs are related to me. Some have even asked me, "Is this black-and-white photo that of a Sufi saint or a religious guru?" I smile and reply "No, nor are they related to me. These people made an impact on my life. I am grateful to them." "Who are they?" "The man in the blue suit is Bharat Ratna JRD Tata and the black-and-white photo is of Jamsetji Tata." "But why do you have them in your office?" "You can call it gratitude."

Then, invariably, I have to tell the person the following story.

It was a long time ago. I was young and bright, bold and idealistic. I was in the final year of my master's course in computer science at the Indian Institute of Science [IISc] in Bangalore, then known as the Tata Institute. Life was full of fun and joy. I did not know what helplessness or injustice meant.

It was probably the April of 1974. Bangalore was getting warm and red gulmohars were blooming at the IISc campus. I was the only girl in my postgraduate department and was staying at the ladies' hostel. Other girls were pursuing research in different departments of science. I was looking forward to going abroad to complete a doctorate in computer science. I had been offered scholarships from universities in the US. I had not thought of taking up a job in India.

One day, while on the way to my hostel from our lecture-hall complex, I saw an advertisement on the notice board. It was a standard job-requirement notice from the famous automobile company Telco [now Tata Motors]. It stated that the company required young, bright engineers, hardworking and with an excellent academic background, etc.

At the bottom was a small line: "Lady candidates need not apply." I read it and was very upset. For the first time in my life I was up against gender discrimination.

Though I was not keen on taking up the job, I saw it as a challenge. I had done extremely well in academics, better than most of my male peers. Little did I know then that in real life academic excellence is not enough to be successful.

After reading the notice I went fuming to my room. I decided to inform the topmost person in Telco's management about the injustice the company was perpetrating. I got a postcard and started to write, but there was a problem: I did not know who headed Telco. I thought it must be one of the Tatas. I knew JRD Tata was the head of the Tata Group; I had seen his pictures in newspapers (actually, Sumant Moolgaokar was the company's chairman then).

I took the card, addressed it to JRD and started writing. To this day I remember clearly what I wrote. "The great Tatas have always been pioneers. They are the people who started the basic infrastructure industries in India, such as iron and steel, chemicals, textiles and locomotives. They have cared for higher education in India since 1900 and they were responsible for the establishment of the Indian Institute of Science. Fortunately, I study there. But I am surprised how a company such as Telco is discriminating on the basis of gender."

I posted the letter and forgot about it. Less than 10 days later, I received a telegram stating that I had to appear for an interview at Telco's Pune facility at the company's expense. I was taken aback by the telegram. My hostel mates told me I should use the opportunity to go to Pune free of cost and buy them the famous Pune saris for cheap! I collected Rs 30 each from everyone who wanted a sari. When I look back, I feel like laughing at the reasons for my going, but back then they seemed good enough to make the trip.

It was my first visit to Pune and I immediately fell in love with the city. To this day it remains dear to me. I feel as much at home in Pune as I do in Hubli, my hometown. The place changed my life in so many ways.

As directed, I went to Telco's Pimpri office for the interview. There were six people on the panel and I realised then that this was serious business. "This is the girl who wrote to JRD," I heard somebody whisper as soon as I entered the room. By then I knew for sure that I would not get the job. That realisation abolished all fear from my mind, so I was rather cool while the interview was being conducted.

Even before the interview started, I reckoned the panel was biased, so I told them, rather impolitely, "I hope this is only a technical interview." They were taken aback by my rudeness, and even today I am ashamed about my attitude.

The panel asked me technical questions and I answered all of them. Then an elderly gentleman with an affectionate voice told me, "Do you know why we said lady candidates need not apply? The reason is that we have never employed any ladies on the shop floor. This is not a co-ed college; this is a factory. When it comes to academics, you are a first ranker throughout. We appreciate that, but people like you should work in research laboratories."

I was a young girl from small-town Hubli. My world had been a limited place. I did not know the ways of large corporate houses and their difficulties, so I answered, "But you must start somewhere, otherwise no woman will ever be able to work in your factories."

Finally, after a long interview, I was told I had been successful. So this was what the future had in store for me. Never had I thought I would take up a job in Pune. I met a shy young man from Karnataka there, we became good friends and we got married.

It was only after joining Telco that I realised who JRD was: the uncrowned king of Indian industry. Now I was scared, but I did not get to meet him till I was transferred to Bombay. One day I had to show some reports to Mr Moolgaokar, our chairman, who we all knew as SM. I was in his office on the first floor of Bombay House [the Tata headquarters] when, suddenly, JRD walked in. That was the first time I saw 'appro JRD'. Appro means 'our' in Gujarati. That was the affectionate term by which people at Bombay House called him.

I was feeling very nervous, remembering my postcard episode. SM introduced me nicely, "Jeh (that's what his close associates called him), this young woman is an engineer and that too a postgraduate. She is the first woman to work on the Telco shop floor." JRD looked at me. I was praying he would not ask me any questions about my interview (or the postcard that preceded it). Thankfully, he didn't. Instead, he remarked. "It is nice that girls are getting into engineering in our country. By the way, what is your name?" "When I joined Telco I was Sudha Kulkarni, Sir," I replied. "Now I am Sudha Murty." He smiled that kindly smile and started a discussion with SM. As for me, I almost ran out of the room.

After that I used to see JRD on and off. He was the Tata Group chairman and I was merely an engineer. There was nothing that we had in common. I was in awe of him.

One day I was waiting for Murthy, my husband, to pick me up after office hours. To my surprise I saw JRD standing next to me. I did not know how to react. Yet again I started worrying about that postcard. Looking back, I realise JRD had forgotten about it. It must have been a small incident for him, but not so for me.

"Young lady, why are you here?" he asked. "Office time is over." I said, "Sir, I'm waiting for my husband to come and pick me up." JRD said, "It is getting dark and there's no one in the corridor. I'll wait with you till your husband comes." I was quite used to waiting for Murthy, but having JRD waiting alongside made me extremely uncomfortable.

I was nervous. Out of the corner of my eye I looked at him. He wore a simple white pant and shirt. He was old, yet his face was glowing. There wasn't any air of superiority about him. I was thinking, "Look at this person. He is a chairman, a well-respected man in our country and he is waiting for the sake of an ordinary employee."

Then I saw Murthy and I rushed out. JRD called and said, "Young lady, tell your husband never to make his wife wait again."

In 1982 I had to resign from my job at Telco. I was reluctant to go, but I really did not have a choice. I was coming down the steps of Bombay House after wrapping up my final settlement when I saw JRD coming up. He was absorbed in thought. I wanted to say goodbye to him, so I stopped. He saw me and paused.

Gently, he said, "So what are you doing, Mrs Kulkarni? (That was the way he always addressed me.) "Sir, I am leaving Telco." "Where are you going?" he asked. "Pune, sir. My husband is starting a company called Infosys and I'm shifting to Pune." "Oh! And what you will do when you are successful?" "Sir, I don't know whether we will be successful." "Never start with diffidence," he advised me. "Always start with confidence. When you are successful you must give back to society. Society gives us so much; we must reciprocate. I wish you all the best."

Then JRD continued walking up the stairs. I stood there for what seemed like a millennium. That was the last time I saw him alive.

Many years later I met Ratan Tata in the same Bombay House office, occupying the chair JRD once did. I told him of my many sweet memories of working with Telco. Later, he wrote to me, "It was nice hearing about Jeh from you. The sad part is that he's not alive to see you today."

I consider JRD a great man because, despite being an extremely busy person, he valued one postcard written by a young girl seeking justice. He must have received thousands of letters every day. He could have thrown mine away, but he didn't do that. He respected the intentions of that unknown girl, who had neither influence nor money, and gave her an opportunity in his company. He did not merely give her a job; he changed her life and mindset forever.

Close to 50 per cent of the students in today's engineering colleges are girls. And there are women on the shop floor in many industry segments. I see these changes and I think of JRD. If at all time stops and asks me what I want from life, I would say I wish JRD were alive today to see how the company we started has grown. He would have enjoyed it wholeheartedly.

My love and respect for the House of Tata remains undiminished by the passage of time. I always looked up to JRD. I saw him as a role model for his simplicity, his generosity, his kindness and the care he took of his employees. Those blue eyes always reminded me of the sky; they had the same vastness and munificence.

* Sudha Murty is the chairperson of the Infosys Foundation. She is involved in a number of social development initiatives and is also a widely published writer.

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