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31 Infosys The Challenge of Global Branding
31 Infosys The Challenge of Global Branding
31 Infosys The Challenge of Global Branding
In December 2003, Aditi Mishra was appointed head of brand and communications for Infosys. She had been in her job only four
months when she was asked to recommend the next phase of the marketing plan. While in the airport terminal in San Francisco,
during her trip to client accounts in Seattle, Las Vegas, Houston, New York and London, she reflected on the complex and
challenging task. Mishra was asked to not only consider how to increase the visibility of Infosys as a brand, but also to consider
how to compete with global players, such as IBM and Accenture, as well as domestic Indian companies, such as Wipro.
The branding challenge for Infosys was not to compete with IBM or Accenture in brand awareness, but to ensure that Infosys,
through its reputation for predictable and excellent results, would be included in the short list for major Information Technology
(IT) outsource bidding. In that sense, consistently being considered in the numberthree slot in requests for proposals would be a
great accomplishment. To achieve this status, Infosys needed to rapidly differentiate itself from other IT outsourcing companies.
Management had identified overall company topline revenue growth as the means to achieve 30 to 40 per cent annual increases
but had not allowed for any appreciable budget for marketing communications. The key to the global brand strategy would not be
through brandimage advertising, but by communicating its solutions strategy. The marketing goals for Infosys were to be on the
short list of providers for the largest, most sophisticated assignments for IT services and to bid against IBM and Accenture, while
leapfrogging over other competitors in the fastgrowing and fragmented IT outsourcing market.
Mishra was contemplating how she should structure her plan, taking into account that there were four corporate strategies that
could define Infosys's future identity:
1. Compete globally for endtoend services, including highend consulting, by leveraging the current Global Delivery Model
(GDM), which included consulting in IT services.
2. Maintain the status quo.
3. Focus on expanding leadership in the growing domestic Indian market for IT services.
4. Market endtoend service capabilities to provide vertical industry solutions (such as retail, banking, insurance, etc.).
THE OUTSOURCING OF IT
Outsourcing Information Technologies (IT) was a major trend for multinational companies that were globalizing their business
activities in multilocation operations. India was the primary market for IT outsourcing, and revenues had grown from almost $3
billion in 1997 to 12.5 billion in 2003. As Infosys was the leading IT company headquartered in India, how it charted its future
would have a major impact on both the outsourcing industry and the emergence of India as a major global competitor in the
innovation economy.
April 13, 2004 marked a historic day for Infosys Technologies Ltd., as it became India's first listed IT firm to exceed $1 billion in
annual revenues. Infosys started in 1981, with seven people, $250 and a dream. It had grown to become the leading software
development company in the country. However, Infosys now faced different challenges. For Infosys to continue its rapid growth,
management would need to establish a global brand. Establishing a global identity that would distinguish the company from just
another outsourcing vendor was a crucial issue. Senior management needed to address the following considerations:
· How would the solutions strategy be determined for the future growth of Infosys? Would it be geared towards Infosys
becoming an endtoend IT/business process outsourcing (BPO) provider in various industry verticals through the development
and acquisition of worldclass highend IT consulting services by leveraging the Global Delivery Model? Or, would the focus
be using the Global Delivery Model to hone current distinctive competencies by undertaking penetration of additional industry
sectors?
· How would Infosys meet the challenges of creating a global brand that would highlight the uniqueness of the company, while
other multinational competitors, such as Accenture and IBM, also operating out of India, were using similar cost and human
resource advantages?
· What would be the core positioning strategy for Infosys to enable a global identity for continued growth?
COMPANY ANALYSIS
Seven professionals, spearheaded by Narayana N.R. Murthy, then chief executive officer (CEO) and chairman, founded Infosys
Technologies Ltd. in 1981. The stringent economic policies of the Indian government prior to 1991 made it extremely difficult for
companies like Infosys to import computer hardware and other equipment essential for business in the hightech market. However,
by 1991, Infosys was in an ideal position to capitalize on the rationalization of taxes, reductions in import tariffs and incentives to
encourage exports. Infosys revenues grew to more than $1 billion in fiscal year 2004.
As business expectations from IT services increased, Infosys grew from being a developer of software programs to being a solution
provider for business problems (see Exhibit 1) and successfully managed to align its services to move up the value chain. Infosys
services now ranged from consulting (although still in the nascent stage) and IT programming to the development of overall
business solutions to increase the competitiveness of its clients in the marketplace (see Exhibit 2). In India, Infosys was one of the
top software exporters with more than 97 per cent of its revenues generated by software exports.
The Infosys business model could be readily understood through the Predictability, Sustainability, Profitability, Derisking (PSPD)
model for meeting customer satisfaction requirements and achieving growth. Infosys achieved highly predictable results, which had
been key to its success (see Exhibit 3). Approximately 85 per cent of Infosys business was from repeat customers, a clear testimony
to high customer loyalty and satisfaction.
The Global Delivery Model (GDM), the backbone of Infosys's delivery model, illustrated how division of a project into
components that could be developed independently and concurrently, could provide reliable profitability through systematic work
processes, while maintaining high quality. Hence, a major part of the project could be executed from cheaper offshore locations
while the balance of the project could be executed from the more expensive onsite client.
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A key factor for Infosys's success was that the GDM was not only about cost; it was also about the best quality: doing work where
it made the most economic sense with the minimum risk (see Exhibit 4). In addition, this system allowed Infosys to take advantage
of the time difference between India and the United States, home to the majority of its clients, creating a virtual 24hour workday.
An important offshoot of reducing the cost of the project was that the savings could be reinvested in the client's business for
further business impact.
INDUSTRY ANALYSIS
The Indian IT industry comprised IT software services and exports, domestic IT market, hardware, peripherals and components,
and training. Software services and exports was the largest segment, occupying more than 60 per cent of the Indian IT Market. The
software services and exports category included:
· Development and maintenance of applications (knowledge management, customer relationship management, enterprise
resource planning and security management portals)
· Systems integration or interfacing between two or more applications, such as Oracle and SAP or Peoplesoft and Siebel, for
implementation rollouts and upgrades of these packaged applications
· Research and development services and ITenabled services
· Business Process Outsourcing, the other subsegment of the software exports, comprised all the software services across
several industry verticals, which were outsourced across a different geographic domain (see Exhibit 5)
Domestic Indian IT market
According to Professor Rafiq Dossani, senior research scholar of East Asian studies at Stanford University, the domestic Indian IT
market had a great potential for growth and could provide a plethora of opportunities to Indian firms such as Infosys, in various
product and service offerings lines. Industries such as insurance, telecommunications and banking services were registering high
growth in India and could be lucrative markets for Indian IT players.
The Indian domestic IT industry, which had traditionally lagged behind the IT software and services export segment, continued to
increase 11 per cent in 2003, with revenues of US$7.4 billion. The key vertical markets that the domestic Indian IT sector catered
to were government, energy, education, small office, banking and finance, manufacturing, IT and telecom (see Exhibit 6).
Infosys's major competitors in India were TCS, Wipro and Satyam, who were building similar consumer bases. However, Infosys's
revenue and market capitalization were burgeoning, and the company could be wellpositioned with worldclass infrastructure,
labor and domain expertise to capture the Indian domestic IT market, (see Exhibit 7).
Mishra believed that Indian IT companies shied away from the domestic market because revenues in dollars from the foreign
markets provided a more attractive profit margin than those received in rupees in the domestic market. The leaders in the Indian IT
industry had grown by earning in dollars and spending in rupees. This strategy was a source of strength as their profit margins were
significantly higher than their global competitors.
Indian IT software services and exports
The Indian IT category was the fastest growing segment of the Indian economy (see Exhibit 8). Leading multinationals, such as
IBM, were investing in India, capitalizing on the abundant and unique skill sets of India's workforce. The IT software and services
market in India had continued to be driven by exports, exhibiting robust growth during the 2003/04 period. The United States and
Europe accounted for 86 per cent of all global business outsourcing spending, with the United States being the largest customer of
software services from India.
Indian IT Enabled Services and Business Process Outsourcing
The Indian IT enabled services and business process outsourcing (ITESBPO) market was a crucial subsegment of the IT Software
services and exports and was a key driver of the overall Indian IT software and services sector. In 2003/04, the ITESBPO category
revenues were US$3.6 billion. According to recent studies by the National Association of Software and Services Companies
(NASSCOM), the Indian ITESBPO industry grew at about 54 per cent during 2003/04.
The key trends in the BPO industry were:
· Maturation and consolidation following a large number of mergers and acquisitions during 2002/03.
· An increase in multivendor and buildoperatetransfer (BOT) contracts, which through joint ventures, offered services from
two vendors and offered advantages such as low risks, scalability and competitive pricing.
· Vendors moving up the value chain to offer highend services, such as equity research and analytics, insurance, and
technology support and development.
Growth within the ITESBPO segment was focusing on the larger players that could offer clients benefits such as scalability,
delivery capability, track record and customer referrals. The industry was also earmarked by service offerings in client locations
and setting up facilities in other lowcost ITESBPO destinations.
India's value proposition was based on its low costhigh qualityscalability model, which gave it an edge over other emerging
ITESBPO destinations, such as Ireland, the Philippines, China and Latin American countries. The Indian ITESBPO service
providers offered higher service and quality levels by implementing industry standards, such as SEICMM, ISO and Six Sigma.
The average cost saving is 40 to 50 per cent, compared with U.S. service providers, and India had a large pool of skilled knowledge
workers.
Global BPO and ITO trends Changing customer expectations
Global outsourcing spending for business processing outsourcing (BPO) continued to increase by 11 per cent every year.
Information technology outsourcing (ITO) accounted for almost 10 per cent of this spending. U.S Fortune 500 companies were the
major market for these services. Outsourcing was expected to continue to increase across the developed world economies (see
Exhibit 5).
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The IT industry had experienced a steep downturn in fund creation because of the dotcom bust and economic recession in
2000/01. These events led to a mass outsourcing binge by many of the companies, primarily to save costs on IT overhead.
However, with the exponential growth in the outsourcing market over the past few years, this market was now beginning to mature.
Expectations were beginning to change. Many managers no longer simply viewed outsourcing just as a cheaper alternative, but as
an enabler of an effective business model to gain value for the company. Infosys could use this opportunity to establish a global
brand, achieve market penetration and market extension in an increasingly competitive market. Infosys needed to emphasize
qualitative advantages, and not just costefficiency. Buyer selection criteria, such as "references" and "reputation of the provider,"
"breadth of skills," "industry expertise" and "prior relationships" were gaining importance over "cost." Cost efficiency was a
necessary deliverable for buyers when selecting outsourcing providers, but was no longer the determining factor (see Exhibit 9).
While references and reputation had emerged as the most important selection criteria for buyers, providers still ranked cost as the
numberone criterion for evaluating their potential as providers. This bridge in perception was a clear indication that the providers
did not fully appreciate that buyers were seeking confidence, in addition to cost, as a determining factor for provider selection. The
preferences of the buyers and the perceptions of the providers affirmed the importance of branding and positioning for the
providers.
As the importance of outsourcing became increasingly evident, so did the need to quantitatively measure the success of an
outsourcing venture. Not surprisingly, "timeliness" and "deliverable quality" topped the list of how buyers evaluated the overall
success of the outsourcing endeavor. The providers seem to be on track with the overall success initiatives of the buyers.
Backlash on Outsourcing from Stakeholders
As more and more jobs were moving offshore from the United States, a major area of concern was the backlash from the various
stakeholders. The stakeholders included the government, media and the employees. Electionyear politics in the United States had
increased pressure on the U.S. government to restrict companies from outsourcing offshore in order to protect jobs within the
United States. Furthermore, buyers feared the deterioration of relationships with employees whose jobs were lost and who were
forced to work with the offshore partners. Employee backlash was an extremely sensitive topic for companies as it jeopardized
employee loyalty that companies had established over a period of time.
Outsourcing rationale
The two most important questions that a buyer must answer regarding the outsourcing market were:
· Why should a service or product be outsourced?
· What should be outsourced?
Even though reduction of costs remained the prime outsourcing rationale, more and more companies were outsourcing in order to
make internal resources available for critical activities. Companies were viewing outsourcing as a catalyst for growth. From the
table of Key IT functions outsourced (see Exhibit 10), it was evident that most of the buyers outsourced areas that were
exceedingly expensive and lacked internal skill sets. Nearly 25 per cent of the buyers used a structured framework to determine
candidates for outsourcing. However, the success of these frameworks was questionable because the buyers relied heavily on cost
reduction rather than the value added through the development of beneficial outsourcing strategies. Thus, the key issues for Infosys
were to recognize its distinctive competencies in the outsourcing market and then position its brand in order to successfully
capitalize on these changing trends.
CHALLENGES FOR INFOSYS
Operating challenge: Expanding HighEnd Consulting Across Business Units
On April 8, 2004, Infosys announced the launch of Infosys Consulting Inc., formed by senior leaders from some of the leading
consulting firms who had joined Infosys to make their clients more competitive and to add more value with better results and a
lower cost proposition (see Exhibit 11). Infosys pioneered this new model of consulting with more than 20 years of expertise in the
Global Delivery Model, a demonstrated operational and financial discipline and a commitment to become a strong global
powerhouse. This highend business consulting venture of Infosys had its own challenges, both because it would be initially
unprofitable, and there was a high level of competition from the giants who had already established a presence on the Indian turf.
Operationally, Infosys had established a reputation as a lowcost operation and a highefficiency service provider in the IT services
field. However, it was now venturing into highend business consulting, which by definition would be high cost.
However, Mishra believed that by not adopting the partner model (with high hourly rates for senior partners) Infosys could have a
better pricevalue relationship than the major consulting firms. The typical consulting company allocated most of the money to the
partners and then reported low profits. Infosys did not have a partner model. She also argued that Infosys Consulting could not be
looked at in isolation:
Consulting defines and designs solutions; they have to be developed and delivered as well. For every dollar in revenue from
consulting there would be roughly $3 in revenue from offshore development. As far as the client is concerned, it's a total package.
If the development/delivery is done through GDM, then the total cost of the solution comes down for the customer. Infosys
Consulting, with its emphasis on better solution design and definition, and tight coupling with the GDM, would still offer a great
value proposition for the customer. Operationally, we are committed to move up to establish expertise in solutions maturity, but it
is going to take some time to catch up with IBM.
It could be an uphill battle for Infosys to compete as a global brand with wellknown companies, such as IBM and Accenture, for
highend consulting services. IBM and Accenture had already established immense credibility and reputation in the field, and had
access to the same costeffective and rigorous Indian intellectual human capital for IT and BPO services. Clients already had access
to the bestknown brands along with the needed technical expertise. Infosys, on the other hand, had yet to build its reputation in
consulting. Therefore, Infosys management had to decide how to reconcile highend consulting with a lowcost GDM business
model.
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Branding Challenge Developing a brand without advertising
Although Infosys ranked high on its Global Delivery Model (see Exhibit 12), it was very low on the other coordinates of solution
impact, an essential component of highend consulting, and an area in which IBM and others had already established their
supremacy. It was indisputable that Infosys needed to build a global brand; however, the challenge was to do so with a minimal
budget for marketing communications.
The consulting market was still in its nascent stage, and various players could still define their unique selling propositions and
establish their market share. Global giants, however, had a natural advantage from their years of expertise and from their easy
access to Indian human capital by establishing a base in India.
On the flip side, companies such as Infosys had a proven credibility in the Global Delivery Model, which could not be easily
replicated or acquired. Infosys had an opportunity to lead the competition at every milestone. Infosys took its first steps towards
entering the highend consulting market by forming Infosys Consulting Group internally in 1999. The company also formed the
domain competency group. Both these groups were now embedded into verticals and assisted in the process of solutions being
developed for each vertical. The strategy of developing solutions for vertical markets, such as banking, could help Infosys build a
brand slowly but steadily. The move to reorganize the company structure in accordance with industry domains such as banking,
manufacturing, telecom, energy and utilities was a step in the right direction.
Resources challenge Scaling Up for Excellence
How could Infosys continue to significantly add to its global employee base and maintain superior quality performance? Global
competitors recruiting from the same Indian talent pool aggravated this challenge. IBM and Accenture were luring top Indian
hightech workers by providing lucrative offers and an opportunity to be associated with a worldclass brand; Infosys had to
compete for the finite Indian engineer human resource pool.
To meet the challenge, Infosys started the Campus Connect program to attract the talent pool from various engineering colleges in the
country. The basic objective was to increase the pool of industryready students with courseware aligned for industry needs. Infosys was
also visiting various technical institutes to provide seminars and other training session for the faculty. Would that be enough, considering
that many knowledge workers would prefer work for a global brand name with an enticing salary and other compensation benefits?
Although Infosys already had a strong brand recognition in India, where most of its talent was recruited, it was also recruiting in China,
Australia, United States and countries in Europe, where it didn't yet have a strong brand. In addition, Infosys had to deal with the
challenge of maintaining excellence while expanding its workforce rapidly. The Infosys branding issue was also tied to the acquisition and
orientation of new talent. Furthermore, the company needed to ensure that Infosys values, commitment and processes were embedded into
every new Infosys employee hired as the company planned to double its employee base over the next two years.
Solutions Strategy
As Infosys entered the global market, it needed to concentrate on its solutions strategy in order to sustain growth in the highly
saturated field of consulting. Developing a solution within the vertical market, which incorporated Infosys's highly sophisticated
consulting model, could help Infosys in developing a global brand.
Did Infosys really have a solution it could brand?
Rafiq Dossani posed the problem that Infosys would have to answer in terms of brand creation:
How to create a product out of a service? When you (Infosys) send your people to write code, it becomes a commodity. Why should one
respect it as a product, no matter how good one is at it (writing code). You can only make it (the code) a product if you can provide
something to meet a need that is changing rapidly. This can be done only if you have the expertise to respond to those changing needs. If
you want to create a product, you have to be able to move higher up (the value chain) and do what an IBM does, i.e., develop capabilities
that are very dynamic and flexible. And to do that is very difficult (for Infosys) as they would have to raise their cost structure
significantly because the markets in India are not as sophisticated as the U.S. (to provide that flexibility). You can cater to a market
overseas provided your internal market is as sophisticated or more than the one you are catering to. Hence Infosys is in a Catch22. They
have skills in something that has already become a commodity and the only way to get out is to provide skills that cater to the clients
rapidly changing needs. To do that, you have to be in a rapidly changing environment and that is not available in India.
If Infosys could not move up the value chain, it would not make sense to undertake the costs involved in becoming a branded
global company (see Exhibit 13). IBM and Accenture had a big advantage in terms of brand recognition as compared with Infosys.
It may not be worth it for Infosys to invest in creating a global brand in order to compete directly with these companies, especially
since most of the revenues of Infosys came from the horizontal IT services sector.
On the other hand, Mishra believed that Infosys did have intellectual property in the form of industry solutions. "Clients look for
solutions to their business problems. A product may be a part of the solution. But there are other components to a solution as well,
like process reengineering, customdeveloped application, etc." Infosys had established proficiency in rolling out sophisticated
solutions across different verticals such as banking, insurance and retail. Finacle, a core banking product from Infosys, was widely
used by multinational banks, such as ABN Amro, IDBI and ICICI bank in the domestic Indian market.
Mishra suggested, "The important thing is to have business and domain expertise, solutions come out of that." The promising
solution strategy for Infosys would be to take a solution that included consulting and roll it out into the global market.
Direct Competition with Global Companies for Highend Consulting:
Infosys could leverage its advantage as an established firm in India with proven market solutions to compete directly with the new
entrants such as IBM and Accenture. Even though Infosys has just begun to build credible expertise, skill and knowledge in the
highend consulting market, it could prove to be a strong player in this market by investing in strategic acquisitions and by hiring
seasoned international consultants to augment its consulting team. Infosys made its first acquisition in a yearandahalf by buying
Australian IT firm Expert Information Systems. However, Infosys lags behind rival Wipro in making strategic acquisitions to build
vertical and business line expertise; the Expert acquisition was primarily a geographic buy. Infosys could pursue acquisitions more
aggressively in order to strengthen its international presence and gain local knowledge in order to be considered competitive with
multinational giants such as IBM and Accenture.
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The combined impact of IT and BPO, however, was greater than the sum of its parts. Exhibit 14 shows that BPO was highest on
the list of areas in which clients planned to extend their outsourcing efforts. Infosys had an advantage over many global players by
virtue of launching the BPO subsidiary Progeon, which provided outsourcing solutions to its global clientele, a step that
distinguished it from other global solution providers.
Infosys's strategy, built on the cost advantage, propelled the company to reach $1 billion in annual revenue. However, to succeed in
highend consulting Infosys employees had to change their mindset to accept that consulting was crucial to the future growth of the
company. BPO, IT outsourcing and package application implementation would be important growth areas going forward for
Infosys. The company was trying to change the market perception that it was just an applications services company (application
related services were 78.4 per cent of revenue in 4Q03). BPO revenue was still very small, but it was growing quickly (181 per
cent yeartoyear).
The Infosys management team believed that one of the advantages Infosys had over the global competitors was the maturity of its
GDM model. Exhibit 15 underscores the challenges IBM faced with respect to efficiently implementing an offshore model and
shows the position of IBM with respect to Infosys in terms of GDM maturity. Establishing a base in India was not enough for
global consulting companies, such as IBM and Accenture, for the following reasons:
· The complexity of distributed project management with high degree of predictability required processes and methodologies
that took time to mature.
· A philosophical commitment to offshoring was required, which would be liable to impact the balance sheets of the global
players.
Even after considering the above challenges for the new entrants on the Indian turf, Infosys management realized that it was not
realistic to compete in marketing communications (advertising, direct response and trade shows) with IBM or Accenture. These
multinational corporations were extremely large and were well established in the field of business consulting. Mishra believed that
Infosys could extend the Global Delivery Model that it had perfected over the last 20 years into all aspects and segments of IT
services market to leapfrog other consulting companies, such as Deloitte & Touche, Bearing Point, CG, EDS and CSC, to emerge
among the top endtoend players.
Mishra concluded, "Today, the clients want the IT service provider to have consulting/solution capability as well as the ability to
leverage the GDM." The Infosys team persistently maintained that IT outsourcing and consulting went handinhand and could not
be looked at as separate entities. As Infosys was moving up the value chain, it would continue to use the models that had brought
them success in the past and use them effectively in its business ventures. Infosys would continue to try to understand the design
problems of customers, develop vertical domain expertise, create industry solutions and implement them quickly by leveraging its
wellestablished processes. Using this strategy Infosys expected to see overall annual company topline revenue growth achieve the
30 to 40 per cent benchmark identified by management.
Brand Architecture of Infosys
The brand architecture of Infosys relied on its branding and positioning statement "Improve your odds with Infosys Predictability''
The business impact that Infosys attracted for its clients was "increased competitiveness." This value was captured in the phrase
"Improve your odds" and was achieved through designing business solutions.
The execution of these solutions was accomplished with Infosys Predictability, which was targeted as the Infosys brand identity.
This positioning was meaningful, important and credible in the IT sector where the failure rates of the projects were very high.
Infosys Predictability (sleeping well at night, peace of mind through transparency and execution excellence — "Getting it done,
right") distinguished Infosys from its competitors. This positive customer perception was verified in the research conducted by
Infosys (see Exhibit 16).
Infosys Predictability improved the odds for customers to increase their competitiveness due to complete transparency in
organizational values, such as total documentation and clarity of commitments. Complete Predictability of Delivery was achieved
through processes, tools and methodology with a strong emphasis on software engineering and repeatable optimization of
processes, tools and methodologies, strong project management and an ethos of quality. Infosys could build its consulting practice
based on high customer confidence in the company for current GDM services.
Mishra strongly believed "Improve your odds" reflected the business impact of the company's solutions. "Infosys Predictability"
reflected the peace of mind that Infosys delivered. Today, the center of gravity may be towards the Infosys predictability side, but
tomorrow, it could lean towards the business impact side.
Developing the Domestic market
The present day Indian domestic market provided an opportunity for both global branding and revenue growth.
It was useful for Indian companies to compare Japan and Taiwan as contrasting models to consider in the quest for global branding.
One of the key differences between the development of multinational companies in Japan and the lack of global branded companies
in Taiwan was that the Japanese companies first established their reputations in their home market. Japan had a large and
sophisticated consumer base for companies such as Toyota and Sony to establish their brands in Japan before they expanded to the
global market. Taiwan was always exportfocused and had not developed any major global brands. The globally branded Japanese
firms had amassed far greater market capitalization than the Taiwanese firms, even though both countries had produced excellent
companies.
Companies in emerging markets and developing countries can consider whether they want to be the back office of the world — like
Taiwan became when it started servicing international brands instead of building domestic brands — or whether they want to
become global players. If they wanted to become global players, they needed to build a global brand. Historically, most technology
companies, such as IBM, Cisco and HP, which were recognized as international brands, had started locally with a strong domestic
focus. Keeping this in mind, should Indian companies like Infosys be looking at strengthening their domestic focus? This was an
issue that needed to be addressed in addition to the consideration of the emerging Indian domestic market from an increased
revenue opportunity perspective.
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Historically, the Indian domestic market was not big enough to support rapid revenue growth. Hence, companies such as Infosys
were always export focused and did not establish a brand within the domestic market. In that sense, the Indian market resembled
Taiwan. With the entry of the private insurance companies into the Indian domestic market, however, the need for hardware and
software services within the domestic market was growing rapidly. In addition, the already growing banking and
telecommunication sectors were large consumers of IT services.
Hence, at the corporate level the demand for IT services within India was increasing rapidly, representing a high potential area for
Infosys. If Infosys could successfully participate in the growing domestic market, it would not only sustain its growth but it would
also be able them to create vertical solutions for the domestic market that could also be adapted globally. Infosys could definitely
find new growth opportunities on home turf (see Exhibit 7). The challenge Infosys would face is garnering the resources to work in
the domestic market, which would provide considerably less monetary returns.
Was the domestic market attractive for Infosys right now? Did it make sense for Infosys to do business at significantly lower profit
margins? Did the domestic IT business, growing but less profitable than foreign markets in the short term, make sense as a strategic
imperative for Infosys both for branding and revenue building rationale?
Aditi Mishra now had to prepare for her meeting with Infosys corporate management. She had only three days to develop her
recommendation for the next stage of the Infosys marketing plan.
Exhibit 1
BUSINESS EXPECTATION FROM IT SERVICES
Source: company files
Exhibit 2
PRODUCT AND SERVICE OFFERINGS BY INFOSYS
Consulting and IT
Focuses on aligning client's business strategy with various IT initiatives. With a belief that technology and business go hand in
hand, Infosys is able to deliver technology solutions with a competitive advantage.
Product Engineering
Focuses on accelerating the product development and product management life cycles of their clients
Application Product
Infosys enterprise banking solutions, products and services span across the technology requirements of banks, each of which
satisfies the needs of stakeholders in the banking enterprise and has a futureproof design. These solutions help enhance a client's
customer retention, increase revenue opportunities and create new competitive advantages. Built on Internet technologies, they
have been designed with ecommerce components to enable meeting the demands of the new millennium
Source: company files
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Exhibit 3
PSPD MODEL
Source: company files
Exhibit 4
GLOBAL DELIVERY MODEL
The Infosys global delivery model (GDM) is a framework for distributed project management and multilocation engagement
teams. The Global Delivery Model is a key driver of engagement success and value realization for clients. It provides clearly
defined process guidelines emphasizing the importance of information flow and communication. The robustness of Global
Delivery Model combined with the infrastructure and quality orientation reduces engagement risk for a client compared to
conventional delivery models.
GDM and the PSPD
Total cost of ownership
Clients expect reduction in total cost of ownership for each type of service. The flexibility offered by GDM saves clients the bother
and expense of investing in a huge team. GDM adapts swiftly to a client's changing requirements. For example, a large team can be
ramped up for a sudden or shortterm requirement, which can be redeployed elsewhere as soon as the project is over. The high
quality and predictability of solutions delivered through this model make them costeffective.
GDM offers a variable cost for resources, depending on locations, which makes the most economic sense.
Derisking: Clients expect 24*7 availability of services at all times, which translates into providing a delivery model that is robust
and resilient to any type of disaster.
Timetomarket: Accelerated demands leading to shrinking cycle times is the order of the day. GDM offers extended workdays
across multiple time zones (multiple locations) for faster project completion. Projects are divided into intelligent work pieces that
are executed independently and simultaneously at our Global Development Centers, resulting in faster timetomarket.
Page (7) of (12)
Exhibit 4 (continued)
GLOBAL DELIVERY MODEL
Quality: Customers not only expect highquality work products, but also need the products delivered with high degree of
predictability. CMM Level 5 is an integral part of Infosys's Global Delivery Model. Infosys is a certified CMM Level 5
organization, which means it is pegged at the highest level of the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) of the Software Engineering
Institute (SEI) at Carnegie Mellon. It enables Infosys to institute high levels of quality processes and predictability in work. GDM
also provides for a seamless flow of information and access to experts and knowledge bases at multiple places/sites.
Requirements scaling: Monitoring, tracking and quickly reacting to changing requirements and then scaling up where necessary to
meet these needs have become critical success factors in a majority of IT engagements.
Source: company files
Exhibit 5
KEY SERVICE LINES
IT SOFTWARE SERVICES AND IT ENABLED SERVICES/BPO
Source: www.nasscom.org
Exhibit 6
GROWTH RATES OF DIFFERENT VERTICAL SEGMENTS IN INDIA 2002/03
(%)
Source: www.nasscom.org
Page (8) of (12)
Exhibit 7
INDIAN SOFTWARE SERVICES AND EXPORTS 19972003
Source: www.nasscom.org
Exhibit 8
GROWTH OF THE DOMESTIC IT MARKET IN INDIA
DOMESTIC SOFTWARE AND SERVICES
Source: www.nasscom.org
Page (9) of (12)
Exhibit 9
PERCEPTIONS OF SELECTION CRITERIA BETWEEN THE BUYERS AND THE PROVIDERS
Source: company files
Exhibit 10
KEY IT FUNCTIONS OUTSOURCED
Source: company files
Page (10) of (12)
Exhibit 11
CORE VALUE PROPOSITION OF INFOSYS CONSULTING FOR ITS CUSTOMERS
Source: company files
Exhibit 12
CHALLENGE FOR INFOSYS
Source: company files
Exhibit 13
ON CONFIDENCE AWARENESS TRAJECTORY
Source: company files
Page (11) of (12)
Exhibit 14
OUTLOOK FOR BUSINESS PROCESS OUTSOURCING
Source: company files
Exhibit 15
CHALLENGES FACED WITH RESPECT TO EFFICIENTLY IMPLEMENTING AN OFFSHORING MODEL
Source: company files
Exhibit 16
RESEARCH CONDUCTED BY INFOSYS
Source: company files
Page (12) of (12)