NRN Back to INFOSYS

On Saturday morning, NRN Murthy joined a long list of founders such as Michael Dell, Steve Jobs and Howard Shultz, in the entrepreneurial hall of fame. All of them like Murthy returned to the companies they had started after either retiring or being ousted from them. Founders coming back to run a company is hardly unusual. Many like Jobs have actually been far more successful in their second stint than they were in the first. So in the global scheme of things, NRN Murthy coming back as Chairman of Infosys is not such a big deal. Especially when the company is going through a challenging time as Infosys clearly is. At such time investors often feel that there is no one better than a founder to steady the ship. Murthy has never hidden his or his family’s attachment to Infosys. Infosys had seven founders, but it was only the Murthys who referred to Infosys as their child. A founder’s wife once told me that none of the other founders could match the intensity of how the Murthys felt for Infosys. Murthy has always maintained that if Infosys needed him, he would not hold himself back. But Murthy’s return to Infosys is a little bit different from the other iconic founders mentioned at the beginning of the article. None of them came back to the company along with their sons or daughters. But more on this later, for now let’s look at some other important issues. The biggest question is what happens now to the succession planning at Infosys? With the founders back in the key executive roles, what does it mean for the rest of the management team? There are at least three leaders (B G Srinivas, Ashok Vemuri and V Balakrishnan) waiting to take over from S D Shibulal when he retires as CEO in 2015. What happens to them now that Murthy is back as executive chairman? The assumption was that one of them would become the CEO and Kris (S K Gopalakrishnan) and Shibulal would be kicked upstairs as Chairman and Vice Chairman respectively. If Murthy stays on till 2018, then it means that either (Kris) Gopalakrishan, or Shibulal might have to go. After all even Infosys cannot afford to keep three chairmen in the company. Now let’s examine the issue of bringing in Rohan Murty into the company. Again there is nothing unusual about this scenario. After all Rishad Premji works at Wipro and Mukesh Ambani succeeded his father at Reliance. Rohan is well qualified, and by all accounts extremely righteous and intelligent. The world in which Murthy ran Infosys (between 1981-2002) has changed dramatically. He has not held an executive role at Infosys for the last 11 years. When he was the CEO, there was no iPad, Facebook, Twitter or Tumblr. At nearly 68 years of age, it is not wrong to assume that Murthy might have fallen behind on some of the big trends driving IT spending today. Rohan has a PhD in computer science from Harvard University. Imagine the scenario. Murthy is meeting the CIO of Apple and Rohan is by his side. Murthy would feel a lot more confident in that meeting and the client would be a lot more impressed. Except for one detail. For as far as anyone can remember, Murthy has held that no family member of a founder can ever come to work at Infosys. It is a rule he set himself and all these years he has taken great pride in living by it. The whole magic about Infosys was that when it gave its word it knew how to keep it. If it made offers to employees and the market tanked, it honored them no matter what. If it made a promise to shareholders about meeting its revenue and profit guidance, it kept it, quarter after quarter. If it said founders would retire at 65, it made sure they were gone by that time. If it said founder’s family members would not join the company, it enforced the rule strictly. Some time back, in an interview with me, Rohan had said that what he most admired about his father was that Murthy never went back on his word. He had said that he would often ask his father jokingly whether he could join Infosys. And Murthy’s answer would always be the same. No. Once a promise has been made, it had to be honored no matter what. For a while now, Infosys hasn’t been able to keep up with its promised guidance to shareholders. Today one more promise was broken. In the press conference today Murthy labored on that Rohan was only coming into help him. Rohan has not been given any leadership role at Infosys and he is not even going to draw a salary. As his executive assistant, his job is merely to make Murthy work more efficiently and effectively. The question is, could Infosys find no one of Rohan’s caliber either inside or from outside the company? Does this mean that other founders can now send their children to work at Infosys? Murthy’s coming back will definitely make shareholders happy. It is highly likely that on Monday morning the Infosys stock price will validate the Board’s decision to bring him back. Company officials tell me that when they would go on investor meets; they would always be greeted with this one question, why don’t you bring Nandan and Murthy back? They say that old customers would prefer to talk to Murthy even after he left the company. At the last AGM Murthy chaired in 2011, I witnessed for myself the intense emotions shareholders felt for him. So did the company bend under shareholder pressure and ask Murthy to come back? Did Murthy fear that if things continued the way they were at Infosys, shareholders would demand for Shibulal to go? In his press conference today he said, more than once, that the other two CEOs (Nandan and Kris) had the advantage of his support and guidance, something that Shibulal did not have. Is he coming back to Infosys to protect Shibulal and Kris from further criticism? Clearly with him back in the saddle, it will be very difficult for anyone to directly take on Shibulal or Kris. So will things change for Infosys with Murthy back at helm? My colleague Ramnath has an interesting take on that. Murthy though has refrained from making any predictions for the future. But earlier in the day, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Biocon Chairperson and a close family friend provided some interesting insights. Speaking on a news channel she said that Murthy was concerned about how the strategy was being executed at Infosys. One way to interpret this could be that he won’t make too many changes to the strategy but focus on putting it to work. Infosys has gone through a very long and painful restructuring in the last two years. It would be dangerous to put the company through too much change again. It is difficult to predict the future. Looking back at the past is so much easier. The years before Murthy gave up his executive role were some of the best years of Infosys. The pressure will be on Murthy now to deliver the same results. It will be interesting to see if Murthy still has the midas touch. Source : Read more: http://forbesindia.com/blog/business-strategy/why-did-narayana-murthy-come-back-to-infosys/#ixzz2iSV59zuQ

An article about Mr.N.R,Narayana Murthy

An Indian IT chief who's really made it big without dropping his ethical precepts by the wayside is Nagawara Ramarao Narayana Murthy, Chairman of Infosys. Born in 1946, Murthy's father was a schoolteacher in Kolar district, Karnataka, India. A bright student, Murthy went on to acquire a degree in Electrical Engineering from Mysore University and later studied Computer Science at the IIT, Kanpur, India.

The Infosys legend began in 1981 when Narayana Murthy dreamt of forming his own company, along with six friends. There was a minor hitch, though-he didn't have any seed money. Luckily, like many Indian women who save secretly without their husband's knowledge, his wife Sudha-then an engineer with Tatas-had saved Rs 10,000. This was Murthy's first big break.

The decade until 1991 was a tough period when the couple lived in a one-room house. The second break came in 1991 when Indian doors to liberalization were flung open… Murthy grabbed the opportunity with both hands and has never looked back ever since. Today, Infosys is the first Indian company to be listed on the US NASDAQ.

While working in France in the 1970s, Murthy was strongly influenced by socialism. The bubble was pricked, however, when he was arrested in Bulgaria on espionage charges. Today, he says: "I'm a capitalist in mind, a socialist at heart." It was this belief in the distribution of wealth that made Infosys one of the first Indian companies to offer employees stock-option plans. Infosys now has 400 employees who are dollar millionaires.

In a poll conducted by Asiaweek, the quiet, soft-spoken man was selected one of the 50 most powerful people in Asia for 2000. And 50 per cent of the respondents in an online poll conducted by The Economic Times voted him the best CEO of India.

Heading a company with the largest market capitalization hasn't changed Murthy's life-style much. The man still doesn't know how to drive a car! On Saturdays-his driver's weekly off-the Infosys chief is driven to the bus stop by his wife, from where he boards a company bus to work! Incidentally, Sudha Murthy is now chief of the Infosys Foundation, which channels Rs 50 million into charity every year.

Simplicity, humility and maintaining a low profile are the hallmarks of this super-rich Bangalorean. And the man is principled to a fault. Murthy's unprecedented wealth has catapulted him into the public glare. After the kidnapping of Dr Rajkumar by forest brigand Veerappan, the Home Ministry has sounded out the local government about providing Z-category security to Murthy and Premji. Both characteristically turned down the offer.

In a letter to the police top brass last month, Murthy said he was a simple man who had no intentions of annoying his neighbors and disturbing traffic with an intrusive entourage of security vehicles and personnel.

That's Narayana Murthy for you.

Want to work at Infosys?

Infosys Technologies Ltd is a name to reckon with in the IT industry; every software graduate worth his/her salt is trying to secure a job with the company. 

Does Infosys allot a specific recruitment period for each financial year? When you do hire, what is the ratio of experienced professionals to freshers?

At Infosys, hiring is a well thought out and comprehensive process, based on business requirements. According to the business plan, hiring is forecasted and implemented throughout the year.

The company plans to recruit 26,000 more employees in the current financial year; the fresher to lateral hiring ratio is 70:30.

Do you hold campus interviews? Are there any preferred colleges or universities when it comes to recruitment?

Yes, we visit campuses every year. We have built our global talent pool by recruiting from premier universities, colleges and institutes in India . Our reputation as a premier employer enables us to select from a large pool of qualified applicants.

We visited over 650 colleges during this year. This year, we have already visited around 1,000 colleges.

What qualifications and personal skills do you normally look for in a candidate?

While recruiting fresh graduates, we look for a high degree of learnability in those we hire. Learnability can be defined as the ability to derive generic knowledge from specific experiences and apply them to new situations.

Infosys also places significant importance on professional competence and academic excellence. Some of the attributes and competencies that we look for in potential Infoscions, especially at the entry level, are analytical ability, teamwork and leadership skills, communication skills and the ability to innovate.

Do communication skills play an important role? Does knowing a foreign language or two help boost a candidate's chances?

Effective communication is an essential part of organisational success, whether it is at the interpersonal, organisational or external levels. Thus, having good communication skills is imperative.

As Infosys moves forward and continues to grow, there is a need to hire more local talent and become an embedded part of the countries and communities within which the company operates. Knowing foreign languages is definitely an advantage for certain roles, but it is not a prerequisite for applicants.

How does a candidate apply for a job at Infosys? Also, tell us about the selection process; if an individual is not selected after an interview, is s/he allowed to apply again, should the chance arise?

At Infosys, the emphasis on quality is of prime importance. The selection process adopted is rigorous, involving a series of aptitude tests and interviews to identify the best applicants in the industry. The recruitment procedure is continually assessed and refined, based on the performance track of past recruits.

The selection process for fresh graduates is a combination of resume screening, a written test on analytical thinking, logical reasoning, English language and communication skills and a personal interview.

When it comes to hiring experienced professionals, Infosys follows a competency-based recruitment philosophy, wherein we focus on the best match to the profile required and the candidate's personal abilities.

The applicants who pass the above tests then appear for a personal interview, where the emphasis is on motivational levels and communication skills. If selected, they are put through a formal induction and training programme upon joining.

All processes are geared to achieve our objective of attracting and selecting the best and brightest talent, while ensuring the best fit for each profile.

Aspiring candidates can send in their applications to us via e-mail to bpo_careers@infosys.com -- the address is on ourWeb site, as well as in advertised vacancies.

A candidate who has failed to clear the selection process can reapply nine months from the date when s/he first appeared for selection.

What positions are open to freshers? What postings can a newcomer expect and what are the growth prospects at Infosys?

Infosys hires based on business goals. Freshers are selected on the basis of their profiles and allocated to projects depending upon their competencies and the requirements of the role. Typically, freshers join as software engineers.

Infosys strives to achieve the best fit between individual aspirations and organisational requirements. With this in mind, we have adopted a complete range of services to offer customers and in turn have been able to define several career streams. These are:

1. Project Management
2. Customer Interface
3. Technical
4. Programme Management
5. Consulting -- Enterprise Solutions
6. Consulting -- Domain Competency
While Infosys provide the necessary tools for career development and development of competencies, the onus for career development lies upon the individual.

What remuneration is offered to freshers? What additional benefits can employees expect to avail of?

Infosys offers freshers competitive salaries. The compensation for entry-level employees was increased to Rs 320,000 during the financial year 2010-1011.

Other benefits include health care, life and medical insurance, paid leave and soft perks like access to campus facilities such as the gymnasium. However, the benefits of working at Infosys go beyond the salaries.

In addition to the brand name, a challenging and open work environment and a strong belief in meritocracy, a fresher can expect a well-charted career growth path backed by world-class training.

What age group do you prefer when it comes to recruitment?

The average age of Infoscions across the organisation is 26 years. At the entry level, employees join after completing their graduation/post-graduation. Typically, the age group of candidates joining is 22 to 23 years.

Do you have any preferences when it comes to the nationality of recruits? And what about those who hail from different Indian states?

Infosys aims at building a diverse talent pool. Cross-cultural teams bring different experiences and views to the table, aiding adaptability in the development of overseas operations.

How important is loyalty to the company? How do you strengthen your employees' commitment to Infosys?

Loyalty is important to every organisation. At Infosys we have a three-pronged approach when it comes to attracting and ensuring employee commitment. We provide:

Learning value-add through continuous learning opportunities, exposure to technology and new assignments as the company partners up with clients to transform their businesses.

Financial value-add through competitive salaries and variable pay philosophy.

Emotional value-add through a fair, rewarding work environment and a culture that has been built through various initiatives.

What is the work culture like at Infosys?

Infosys has a very open-minded work culture -- it is a place where there is minimal hierarchy and people are unafraid to voice new ideas. Infoscions enjoy trust at the workplace and have a friendly environment within which to perform their duties.

All employees have a sense of pride and belonging -- we have striven to create a workplace where politics are kept down to a minimum and where employees enjoy the transparent work culture.


We believe that people are our core assets and continuously work towards motivating our employees, by providing an environment where they feel comfortable and secure. We have robust people management practices which enable us to create a place full of energy, vitality and freshness, where people work in a campus-like facility and culture.

We ensure that a good work-life balance exists at all times, which is why we have a gamut of recreational facilities on campus, at par with global standards.

Our people management practices set us apart from other technology companies, enabling Infoscions to excel and innovate in the duties we perform for our clients and in what we stand for as a company.


How does your existing staff relate to new recruits?


Infosys has undertaken various measures to create a conducive work environment for its employees. The company has institutionalised a 'buddy' programme to help new employees experience a smooth transition into the organisation and to facilitate inclusion into the culture.

At a more formal level, we also have a mentoring culture wherein a senior provides insights and advice to a new employee to ensure quicker and faster acclimatisation.


What advice do you have for prospective Infosys employees?


In today's competitive world, it has become imperative for prospective employees to be accomplished in all possible ways -- academic background is, therefore, of the foremost importance. The years spent in college should be treated as an investment, since these years set the foundation for later life.


Anything you would like to tell newcomers interested in joining your company?


Infosys is a name to reckon with and its desirability goes well beyond the company's instant name recognition. We offer entry-level employees immense employment options in a challenging and stimulating work environment.

Infosys is a great place for a first job, since it provides a perfect platform to launch oneself into the corporate world. Programmes like senior-level mentoring, opportunities to interact with clients and exposure to international markets are other add-ons.

Source: http://www.rediff.com/getahead/2007/aug/03infy.htm

Infosys I-Race

Problem with Infosys is it makes too many bad policies and then eventually rule them out to make more bad policies, One of the latest such policy comes as IRACE. Such a Bad Decision that Infosys is facing a melt down in terms of employeesoops Resources, The Attrition rate in infosys haven’t be so much anytime in past. but seems like every day so many employees are leaving the company cause everyday when you open the infosys mail box you get the mails from infoscions saying that they have decided to move to greener pastures.

What is IRACE?

Its a new HR initiative that was introduced by the company last year. Some employees, who the company says form 5% of the total workforce, had resisted the initiative. According to this policy “five bands of assessment — from A to E — earlier which have now been increased to eight — 1 to 8. There is a change in designation as well. For example, a project manager with 3.5 years of experience has been renamed as technical lead and he or she has to work for two more years to become a project manager.”

What is Nandita’s Response?

Nandita Gurjar, senior vice president and group head, human resources, Infosys, said. “There is demoralisation in the team if you allow a manager to get promoted before his or her time, Because he or she may not be mature enough to deal with human issues. We have to make sure right decisions are taken.” 

“Our structures are in place and our hiring plan, job description and performance management is connected to iRACE,” she said. “It is a very lean and mean structure.” 

The platform defines roles, competencies and proficiency requirements while linking career movement to performance and business focus.

Facts!!

“Some 25% of the employees are against it and 15% are not happy about it,”  and this is why many people are leaving infosys right now and hence infosys is recruting again on a big scale, not only through collages and campus drives but also through Naukri, Monster and Shine.com

Comments from ex-Infoscions

“If I wouldnt have left Infosys then I would have actually bean demoted because of IRACE from S.E(Software Engineer) to S.E.(Systems Engineer)”

“I have worked hard to become the Project manager and now because of this stupid policy I have to wait for another 2 years”

“All these companies treats us as Resources, all they care about is their profits, there is no say of anyone in here”

“Even If you want a release from them, They won’t give it that easily. They keep you hanging for long time”


source: http://www.allaboutinfosys.com/iraceinfosys-role-and-career/

Infosys is a giant in infrastructure creation too

A company started by seven people 30 years ago from a small house bought on loan is today sitting on 2,085 acres of land across the globe. That's the enviable journey of Infosys Technologies Ltd in creating such a huge infrastructure for its employees.

What was a dream in 1992 has become an unbelievable journey for the Indian information technology giant. As the company's revenue keeps increasing each year its infrastructure creation has also multiplied.

The company has so far invested Rs 9,450 crore in infrastructure with a commitment of another Rs 2,500 crore in the next phase. As of March 31, Infosys has 28 m.sq ft of built-up space – equivalent to over 350 soccer fields – with a capacity to accommodate 1,23,000 seats.

The 2010-11 Infosys annual report provides some fascinating data on the kind of infrastructure it has created over the years for its 1,30,820 employees across the world.

ENOUGH POWER

Take power for instance. As of fiscal 2011, Infosys has a power demand of 81 MW; diesel generating capacity of 134 MW; 48,000 tonnes of comfort air conditioning; UPS capacity of 45 MW, fresh water storage of 33 million litres; waste water treatment capacity of 16 million litres and diesel storage of 1,700 kilolitre.

There are 35 food courts capable of feeding 40,000 people in a single sitting and the company has training facilities of 25,000 seats. While it has 13,800 hostel rooms, Infosys also has a laundry capacity of 7.3 tonnes a day – not many companies would have such a facility.

NETWORK

Infosys said it has network bandwidth of 6,700 mbps connecting over 1,50,000 desktops; 37,500 laptops and 5,500 servers globally.

LOT OF PARKING

Till date, Infosys has created parking spaces for 9,500 cars and 15,300 two-wheelers in its Indian campuses for employees. Another seven multi-level parking lots are under construction for 13,800 cars and 15,500 two-wheelers to cater to the ever increasing employee strength.

SMALL START

However, 70 per cent of its employees still use public transport to commute to work “as a result of our sustained focus on encouraging mass transport,” the company said in the annual report.

In 1992, the Karnataka Government allocated four acres in the Electronics City in Bangalore to Infosys. It was a challenging terrain and poor accessibility and entailed a cost of Rs 17.22 crore when the company's revenue for fiscal 1992 was Rs 8.66 crore.

This did not deter the company with its IPO to raise funds for building the campus to have a built up space of 1,60,000 sq ft with a capacity to seat 1,000 people.

This campus was completed in eleven months and became the most visiting corporate campus in India with over 70 heads of state and global political leaders visiting it. Today, the campus has grown to 81 acres, a distributed low-rise campus of 4.2 mn sq ft of built up space; 26,850 seats and a 487-room hostel.

Till date, the company has invested Rs 1,830 crore in its Bangalore campus and it generates revenue to the tune of Rs 7,900 crore annually.

Infosys is building another 8.3 m.sqft with 40,000 seats. “Soon we are starting a $150-million campus in Shanghai for 8,000 seats,” the annual report says.

Source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/info-tech/article2040283.ece?homepage=true