Infosys set for major organizational revamp-Feb 3, 2011

Infosys set for major organizational revamp

Mini Joseph Tejaswi , TNN, Feb 3, 2011, 05.04am IST

BANGALORE:Winds of change are coursing through the sprawling campuses of IT majors in Bangalore.

Infosys seems to be gearing up for a multi-layer organisational revamp. While a top-level reshuffle is expected in August when founder-chairman N R Narayana Murthy retires, a mid-level realignment is expected in the near term as part of the company's newly introduced role and career enhancement platform, iRace.

Infosys' recent earnings have lacked the lustre of yore with industry leader TCS bounding way ahead. It could overhaul its mid-tier organisational structure.

The changes are designed to better respond to the changing market. Wipro recently installed a new CEO, while at MindTree, founder-chairman, Ashok Soota, has quit.

Soon after the announcement of its third quarter results on January 13, Infosys conducted a three-day leadership strategic action meet in Mysore which was attended by 500 senior leaders (including top management and vertical heads) from across the world. Sharpening customer focus, becoming nimbler, business restructuring, operational efficiency, quality delivery, etc were some topics of discussion, said sources.

CEO Kris Gopalakrishnan told TOI, "I have no comment on these rumours.'' Mohandas Pai, head (education, training and HR), said, "Infosys is a new company every three years. We go through restructuring periodically and such exercises will determine what kind of company we'll be in the next year, the year after and in the future.''

Senior management changes most definitely are in the offing mid-year. A report by CLSA says it could only be a matter of time before the CEO baton passes to COO S Shibulal from Kris.

The report added Infosys will most likely consolidate industry verticals and select service lines. Geography-wise, sales force in Europe could get aligned based on countries rather than verticals. There could also be consolidation of delivery manpower and these changes could be painful and might lead to some middle and senior management exits.

All these are "expected noises'' from the company with chairman Murthy's exit around the corner. What happened recently at rivals (read Wipro) will also have a bearing on Infosys top management, said outsiders.

Murthy retires on August 20 on completing 65 years. TOI had earlier reported that Murthy may not consider an outsider succeeding him. So, the options would clearly include Kris Gopalakrishan, 54, whose term as CEO ends in October 2012 but who can be moved up earlier.

Board members K V Kamath, 62, and Deepak M Satwalekar, 61, are the other two external names in consideration. Infosys' nominations committee headed by Jeffrey Lehman has been tasked with finding Murthy's successor.