Future of IT industry is wide open, says Infy chief

The Indian IT industry, which evolved between the mainstream and the minicomputer era in the late 1970s, is now on a downward path. From 1987, the industry has seen five slowdowns, and it withstood all the challenges and grew strength to strength, said Infosys Technologies’ chief executive officer and managing director Kris Gopalakrishnan, putting a disclaimer: “About the future ... we don’t know. It all depends on company to company.”

“Mainstream, minicomputer, personal computer, client server, network, Internet, mobile and pervasive computing – the Indian IT industry has gone through all these technology changes over the last three decades and survived. And many companies have done extremely well through all these changes. However, the industry still has a long way to go in terms of technology. It’s now in the stage of the first powerplay in a Twenty20 match,” he said.

Gopalakrishnan was delivering the keynote address at the third International Symposium of Information Systems held at the Indian School of Business (ISB) in Hyderabad on Friday.

So far, the Indian IT companies did not have an easy walk. They had to overcome significant challenges. Now, they have to prepare for the upturn by creating resilience and capabilities. The industry’s future lies in using new models of engagement like software-as-a-service (SaaS) and platform-based BPO solutions and products. And small and medium enterprises have to be focused and find niche areas, he said. “The future of the Indian IT industry to me is wide open.”

How do you win in today’s flat world? he asks and himself gives the answer: “Use cost as a strategic weapon to withstand this downturn – from cost as a barrier to growth to cost as a fuel for growth, from customer loyalty through good services to customer loyalty through rapid innovation, from spending more on information to making money from information, and from winning in the straightway to winning in turns.”