Once the poster boy for IT success in India, Infosys seldom finds place in the newspapers nowadays. Whenever it does manage to grab some place, it is mostly for all the wrong reasons. This time around the once IT superpower of India is in the headlines for the shocking departure of its high profile CEO, Vishal Sikka. The thing that is making people in the corporate world wonder the most about this particular exit is what was the real reason that made Sikka hang his boots and walk away.
Sikka as a CEO was a first for Infosys. The 50 year old business world biggie was Infosys' first non-founder CEO. It's ironical, how the one thing that made him standout during his appointment, was ultimately the thing that fuelled his departure.
In a recent interview to Financial Times, Sikka shared that a CEO's effort towards reshaping a company is very difficult even if everybody in the company was supporting it, but if the founder goes up against that, then that tasks becomes impossible. The statement gives one a clear understanding of what exactly is Sikka hinting at.
Sikka, "the outsider", had been trying hard to save Infosys' sinking shape and had even succeeded in doing the same at certain places. He was the first one who brought some stability to the company's market performance since it had begun going down the hill almost a decade ago.
Since assuming power and taking a stock of the matters at the company, Sikka observed that large scale automation was slowly making the company's back office processing and IT support irrelevant. He realised that in order for Infosys to survive and flourish in the coming years, it will have to embrace innovation.
The rapid automation that the world is witnessing today makes moving into emerging sectors like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robotics an obvious move for IT firms, but unfortunately, Infosys was no where to be seen in the creme de la creme of these sectors. Sikka tried changing this scenario and changing the company's direction towards these disruptive sectors but was met with unhappy faces of the company's founding members, who over the years have become comfortable with making profits through labour arbitrage and don't want to take any extreme chances.
Sikka's departure and Nandan Nilekani's return is a true blue example of the larger malaise that still exists within the Indian corporates as a whole. It highlights how even in 2017, Indian founders have a tough time letting go of their control over the company and are always ready to dive back into the pool whenever they feel uncomfortable with the operations and decisions of the current "non-founder" leadership. Such behaviour is highly unhealthy for a company's stability.
Sikka as a CEO was a first for Infosys. The 50 year old business world biggie was Infosys' first non-founder CEO. It's ironical, how the one thing that made him standout during his appointment, was ultimately the thing that fuelled his departure.
In a recent interview to Financial Times, Sikka shared that a CEO's effort towards reshaping a company is very difficult even if everybody in the company was supporting it, but if the founder goes up against that, then that tasks becomes impossible. The statement gives one a clear understanding of what exactly is Sikka hinting at.
Sikka, "the outsider", had been trying hard to save Infosys' sinking shape and had even succeeded in doing the same at certain places. He was the first one who brought some stability to the company's market performance since it had begun going down the hill almost a decade ago.
Since assuming power and taking a stock of the matters at the company, Sikka observed that large scale automation was slowly making the company's back office processing and IT support irrelevant. He realised that in order for Infosys to survive and flourish in the coming years, it will have to embrace innovation.
The rapid automation that the world is witnessing today makes moving into emerging sectors like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robotics an obvious move for IT firms, but unfortunately, Infosys was no where to be seen in the creme de la creme of these sectors. Sikka tried changing this scenario and changing the company's direction towards these disruptive sectors but was met with unhappy faces of the company's founding members, who over the years have become comfortable with making profits through labour arbitrage and don't want to take any extreme chances.
Sikka's departure and Nandan Nilekani's return is a true blue example of the larger malaise that still exists within the Indian corporates as a whole. It highlights how even in 2017, Indian founders have a tough time letting go of their control over the company and are always ready to dive back into the pool whenever they feel uncomfortable with the operations and decisions of the current "non-founder" leadership. Such behaviour is highly unhealthy for a company's stability.
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