Brand Infosys, Brand Nilekani work together

Infosys Technologies and its chief executive, Nandan Nilekani, have lately taken a couple of steps which offer a glimpse into how the two are evolving on their journey towards a single goal "� becoming a "globally respected" brand.

In this there is a triple emphasis on being global, challenging the established industry leaders and being respected.

In a break with tradition which earlier forbade working directors other than the chairman from joining other boards, Nilekani has recently joined the Reuters board. All working directors can now join one such board to get a feel of how global firms work so that they can make Infosys a truly global company.

He feels this will "broaden their horizon" by giving them an "exposure to board governance practices", to different environments and different sets of challenges.

Why Nilekani chose Reuters is also significant. "What I like about Reuters is that it is a brand for integrity. They double check whatever news they put out and don't put a spin on it." The other attraction of Reuters is that it is "at the intersection of technology, content and globalisation which is critical. That gives you a different perspective."

The other big recent development, Infosys getting included in the Nasdaq 100 index falls into the same pattern, "a part of the journey of globalisation, our desire to be seen as a global company, noted for our corporate governance and international standards of leadership."

The Nasdaq 100 is truly global in the sense that it is the only major global index which accepts companies headquartered outside the domiciled of the index.

Global means your client reach, profile, investor base and employee base have all to become global. The last is perhaps the most important in terms of the internal culture of a firm. And Infosys is consciously seeking to acquire an international work force. The aim is to make the firm "the employer of choice not just in India but other parts of the world."

Going global with a global work force has two implications. Not only do you need to set up shop around the world, you need to people them with locals.

This is precisely what Infosys is doing. But perhaps the most significant step in acquiring a global work force has been to globally recruit people who are clearly set to become tomorrow's key managers. The first batch, of 126 recruited from leading US institutions like MIT and Columbia are in Mysore right now and a pilot group of 25 from the UK will come next year.

How serious Infosys is about the global focus is implicit in its business plan. The domestic Indian market is today emerging as a key opportunity for global technology firms.

Infosys has a presence in this through its Finacle banking software suite, the dominant solution. But that's about it. "At this point in time, building the global presence, building the brand as a global transformation partner, helping global corporations in their transformation "� that's really our main strategic priority," says Nilekani.

Infosys does not want to remain just a global low cost supplier. "Firms in the world are going through a very fundamental transition" and "there is a lot of opportunity in this world for a firm like Infosys to become the trusted partner in helping clients make this transformation."

The new paradigm that is emerging is "a company which is globally spread out, which uses technology, has its workforce where it makes sense, which leverages the demographics." This is the new "flat world company" and Infosys wants to offer itself as "a paradigm or prototype of a flat world. We are the change that we want to preach."

The cutting edge of this "trusted partner" role is being provided by US based Infosys Consulting and most of the 200-plus people are globally recruited.

"Consulting provides the capability to help our customers make that transformation. It is the thin end of the wedge which will lead to downstream work which hopefully will be more profitable." Plus there is a "strategic inevitability. You need that kind of capability just to be in the game."

The strategic inevitability that Nilekani is talking about is leading it to the next stage in the evolution of the brand. It is clearly aspiring to be a consulting-led global IT leader and challenge the likes of Accenture. A recent Forrester Research report talks about Infosys "going head-to-head with the likes of Accenture" although in size its $ 2.2 billion revenue (2006) is far behind Accenture's $ 18.2 billion.

While being a globally successful business is half the brand story, the other half is being a good citizen and in this brand Nilekani plays a significant role.

He is personally a major philanthrope, innovator in urban institution building through the Bangalore Agenda Task Force experiment and keenly articulate on national policy priorities.

He and wife Rohini are almost invariably there, as organiser or listener, whenever there is a lecture in Bangalore by the likes of Jeffrey Sachs or Amartya Sen.

He does not need much prompting to clearly spell out the imperative of inclusive growth. Growth has to be inclusive first for moral reasons. "There is the whole issue of inequity." Second comes the need for "stability". Non-inclusive growth is the recipe for social strife. Third, if you assume that this journey, to reach a stage where poverty is eliminated, will take 20-30 years, "you need a political consensus on the direction we are taking, which again requires inclusive growth. So whether we look at it, inclusive growth is a no brainer, it has to happen."