Infy set to begin new chapter by bringing start-ups on board, says new CEO

As part of this, Infosys will kick-start a new journey joining hands with start-ups and new-age entrepreneurs, by putting to use the $100 million corpus that it has specifically put together for this purpose.

Sikka, however, added that he has no plans to convert Infosys into a software products firm but instead retain its high margins as a software services player.

The move to help start-ups is extremely significant and signals the arrival of a new innovative spirit within the $8 billion IT services behemoth, which has thus far been hesitant to spend its considerable resources on such potentially risky pursuits. Sikka said there will be additional focus on non-linear growth which would come from use of IP and software as a service (SaaS) model. “But that won’t make us a products firm,” he said.

On the sidelines of a luncheon meeting here on Friday, Sikka said he would want to immediately delve into the $100 million corpus and help drive the highest class of innovation at Infosys.

“We would like to help start-ups achieve scale quickly. And we are not just stopping with India. We will be happy to help any interesting start-up around the world,” he said. Infosys has not dipped into this corpus yet. “Hope we can start soon,” he said.

Infosys CFO Rajiv Bansal was at hand to chip in here. “We don’t want technology innovation to be limited by geographical boundaries and hence this will be a global outreach programme. Infosys may pump in equity into some of these start-ups and in some other cases we may want to be a research associate,” he said.

The IT major, in April last year, had announced this $100 million fund to invest in products and platforms. IT services engineers, across the globe, have been clamouring for such exciting opportunities to work with start-ups. Often, they leave large IT firms in search of these start-ups, many of which are into cutting edge innovation and research.

“We want our engineers to have the same innovative bent of mind. A day should come soon at Infosys, when every employee irrespective of his function or role, is able to think of innovative ideas to help improve himself and his team. This is the culture we want to build,” Sikka told a media gathering on his very first day at Infosys.

‘SUCCESS BEGINS WITH MURMURATION’

bangalore: The new CEO of the Infosys, Vishal Sikka, quoted Herman Hesse’s book Siddhartha in an email to employees on his first day on the job, here on Friday, to convey the conviction behind his decision to join the IT bellwether company that has, in recent time, been struggling to keep up with competition peers.

In an email, where the tone was a marked departure from the staidness associated with Infosys’ past, the first CEO to emerge outside of the ranks of the co-founders of the company addressed his co-workers as “Friends” and signed off as “V”. Sikka stated in the email that he got a sense from his interactions with people at Infosys that he was embarking on an exciting journey.

Sikka in his letter appreciated an ‘overwhelming response’ within the company for a joining of minds labelled ‘Murmuration’ (after the natural phenomenon when large flocks of starling birds make a sound in unison with their individual wings). “Ideas from the Murmuration will be shortlisted and will feature at the heart of our transformation plan,” the new Infosys CEO said. ENS