Away From the Noise, I'm Trying to Create a Culture of Innovation

VISHAL SIKKA, 49, the CEO of Infosys, is in the eye of the storm over the governance issues currently affecting the iconic Indian IT giant. Ever since he joined Infosys in June 2014, Sikka, who holds a PhD from Stanford University, has strived to arrest the downward spiral that most Indian IT companies have experienced because of technological disruptions. Last October, he spoke candidly and at great length to Group Editorial Director Raj Chengappa on the challenges Infosys was facing and what he was doing to overcome them. The interview was held back because demonetisation became the national focus soon after. But in the light of the current controversy that has hit Infosys, we are carrying excerpts. For the record, India today did request Sikka to answer questions on the current controversy, but he said there was not much he could add to what he had already said at the press conference held in Mumbai on February 13.

- Raj Chengappa

Q. What are the challenges you faced when you took over Infosys in June 2014, and how did you address them?

A. When I started at Infosys, there were many structural challenges. Some were generic, others were specific to the situation the company was in at that time. These have only become worse. The short-term issues—like the global delivery model, which was a very big deal even 20 years ago—have become much more differentiated. Things are becoming cheaper; more commoditised and so forth. These days, businesses are under immense pressure because of the enormous disruption caused by the digital revolution. By digital, I don’t mean just websites, mobiles and so forth; I am talking about the deep-rooted transformation that Nicholas Negroponte has talked about. Of atoms into bits. Physical experiences, physical parts of the supply chain, even machines are becoming digital, are being converted into software. It has created tremendous pressure for innovation among big companies, and also pressure on costs. That goes down the chain and translates to cost pressure on us—the suppliers to the big businesses facing such disruptions.

Q. What about automation and artificial intelligence?

A. Yes, these are among the most important challenges we are are facing: automation and artificial intelligence. Look at companies like Infosys: in the late 1980s and 1990s, most of the work we did had to do with software development, application development and maintenance. But the new millennium saw BPO, IT infrastructural and verification services becoming much more amenable to automation. That is a deep structural shift that is happening in our industry. Digitisation, automation and artificial intelligence are three big shifts that were Infosys-specific. The challenges imposed by these three shifts have become more severe in the past three years.