Infosys seeks IT-BPO synergy

In FY16, the BPO reported $551 mn in revenue, a drop of 1.2% over the previous year

Infosys has realigned its business process outsourcing (BPO) subsidiary Infosys BPO for better synergy.

Anup Uppadhayay, the chief executive officer and managing director of Infosys BPO, will report to Ravi Kumar S, the chief delivery officer of Infosys who was recently promoted as a president in the company. Previously, Uppadhayay reported to Infosys' Chief Operating Officer U B Pravin Rao.

"The intent is to drive greater synergy between the technology and BPO businesses and get more automation into the BPO," sources in the company said. "BPO will never be merged with Infosys and will continue as a subsidiary," they added.

Kumar is driving Infosys' Zero Distance initiative that aims to bring innovation to every client project. He also heads the initiative to improve productivity through automation. "We are transforming all our services, especially infrastructure management and BPO, with the power of software," Vishal Sikka, chief executive officer and managing director of Infosys, had said at the Oracle OpenWorld conference last year. With software-defined architecture, everything would become more outcome-oriented, he had added.

Infosys BPO has failed to keep pace with the infotech business. In 2015-16, Infosys BPO reported $551 million in revenue, a drop of 1.2 per cent over the previous year.

Announcing the elevation of three executive vice-presidents as presidents last month, Infosys had said they would be given additional responsibilities.

Sandeep Dadlani, president and global head for manufacturing, retail, CPG and logistics and head of Infosys Americas, has been given charge of driving new businesses and services. He will be responsible for the newly launched artificial intelligence platform Mana.

Mohit Joshi, president and global head of financial services, will also oversee large deals. Kumar will additionally be responsible for cost effectiveness and operational efficiency.