dispatches from the new world of work

It Just Could Be ...

It just could be ... WORLD'S COOLEST COMPANY. Full disclosure: They paid my way to Japan. But I am not, by nature, an endorser of my speaking Clients. As one colleague, Nancy Austin (co-author of A Passion for Excellence), said in print, "Tom almost takes pains to trash those who pay him, so acute is his sense of integrity." Thanks, Nancy! So when I say I'm besmitten with Infosys, I'll promise you it ain't no paid endorsement. I guess you could call them exhibit #1, pro or con, of off-shoring.

Infosys is Bangalore-based, and do quite a bit of their work near home port. But make no mistake, they're winning top-of-the-market work because they are good and aim stratospherically high, not because they are cheap! In fact, the hook for me is their audacious vision for leading the revolution in IS/IT—and the Talent they're amassing from around the world to pull it off.

Infosys aims to do no less than generate revolutionary approaches that turn whole industries upside down. They are not only not limiting themselves to mundane IS chores, they are not limiting themselves at all—they are ready, willing, and able to take on an IBM or Accenture as strategic enterprise masterminds, as well as effective implementers of complex enterprise-system activities.

They have won every international quality award you can name, and I am eagerly looking forward to visiting their Bangalore campus next month (on my own dime) when I accompany my wife, Susan Sargent, on her semi-annual sourcing trip to India. (She'll do textiles; I'll play at bits and bytes.) Wherever they operate, Infosys is accumulating a talent pool to die for. For example, droves of U.S. and European top-school grads, including MBAs, are signing up to do a tour in Bangalore for a quarter or less of what they could earn elsewhere.

If the firm can contend for "best there is," and I believe it can, a lot of the reason is Chairman Narayana Murthy. The softspoken but far-seeing boss, like his company, has won every conceivable Best Boss/Entrepreneur/Businessman in Asia award. Why not "Best in World," I'd ask. He is a true business visionary—both in terms of the impact he insists Infosys can have on the world and the humanity of the enterprise he has created. It takes but a few minutes in his presence for even an old (!) and well-traveled (!) hand like me to feel I've had a near once-in-a-lifetime exposure to a special person. And to the amazement of an/this American, his humility runs as deep as his accomplishments run tall.

Hey, check Infosys out! (Start with the annual report, available at Infosys.com.)

Tom Peters posted this on 08/09/04.

Comments

Here is the math .

1)Infosys receives an average one million applications a year and hires around 5-6K.
2)India produces 300,000 engineers every year .
3)1USD = 43Rs .
4) Entry level engineer earns around 15,000 Rs = 350$ Per month.

Posted by Kripal Singh at February 4, 2005 12:56 AM

Reading this trail has not been a very interesting one for me. The discussion trail generated out of Benjamin's comments and the counterarguments has been very distasteful in the light of the fact that we are moving towards a world that is going to be bereft of operational boundaries.
I have very strong objections to a lot of the points raised by Benjamin and for that matter I do not appreciate some of the comments made in response to the same.
Let us try to come to terms with the fact that no one stop any company from trying to find ways of operating its business more efficiently meeting the bottomline targets. Be it an American company OR an European company or an Indian company. Business is competitive. And it is this competitiveness that has given rise to the Global delivery model of IT services. However the fact that it happened to be Indian companies which spearheaded or at least is spearheading and leading the pack of IT companies worldwide. With increasing competition, the scenario may change in the next couple of years. We may see some new operational model being pursued across the globe.
In an ever shrinking world, talking about the cost of labor and using it as an argument or counter argument is not enterprising. The real enterprise lies in understanding what the situation demands and live upto it and work to find a better solution.
I am not being critical of anyone here nor do I want to sound jingoistic .At the same I would want to say that we Indians are pioneers of whats currently driving the IT outsourcing trends and it has been a big challenge for the rest of the world.
Companies across the globe are rising to this challenge and are countering it in their own way. Some doing it better, some worse than what we do.
Again it has been our strength to learn and go the extra mile to achieve something, be it however little. And it is this strength that is driving us a nation. We have very a very large pool of talent, but brilliance is far and between. But, we do not want to sit and drool over it. Nor do we want to fly high and brag about it.
If Infosys is making a mark in the industry and people are noticing it, then it has to be appreciated. The rise of Infosys and any other Indian IT companies cannot be attributed purely to the advantage of operating costs, though it has been one of the BIG factors.
Having said all this, I have to humbly admit that Indian companies have a long way to go. But we will definitely give it our best and try to cover this long distance in the shortest possible time.
I am sure every other IT professional in every country would definitely want to excel himself or herself, make a name for himself or herself and also see his or her company up there in the top bracket. There is no time to lose.
Every IT professional in the world is of equal caliber. Every IT company has it's strengths and weaknesses. Every country has it strengths and weaknesses.
India has its own strengths and weaknesses. However it is very incorrect to pass any judgement on any person of any company in India or for that matter any other country or company, without running through facts.
With this I would want to conclude my response with the hope that Benjamin and Co be constructive in comments without resorting to pinching sentiments of a global audience.
Finally, an open invitation for Benjamin - Please do take some time to visit the Indian IT companies - Infy, Wipro and TCS in their Indian Campuses in case you have not already done so. It may help you change some of your pre-concieved notions. Passion for excellence is driving each of these campuses more than anything else. Be a part of their team and you will probably be more open to ideas and help you realise why we function differently. We Indians have never said that we are better than anyone. But please do not consider our silence to be our weakness. Last but not the least, to get respect, you have to give respect and thats where your first comments were off the track and distasteful. Hence your expectation and notes for the counters to be soft and respectful was a complete misfit in the context.
I sincerely apologize to everyone for putting in this lengthy response, with a bit of repetitiveness in the subject content. But I could not restrict myself to a mute reader.

Regards,
Ranjit

Posted by Ranjit Puthur at April 3, 2005 6:24 AM