NM Nilekani is redefining the outsourcing story using the ‘flat’ paradigm, focusing on changing strategies and operations of its clients.
BANGALORE: Nandan M Nilekani inspired Thomas Friedman to coin the title for his blockbuster book The World is Flat.
The CEO of Infosys is redefining the outsourcing story using the same ‘flat’ paradigm, which focuses on changing strategies and operations of its clients – at a time when global rivals replicate his company’s low-cost offshore model in his backyard by building scale.
“We call our perspective “Think Flat,” because we believe this change is as much about changing the business mindset as it is about changing strategies and operations,” Nilekani said on Monday as he and chairman N R Narayana Murthy remotely opened trading at the Nasdaq stock market in New York, 13,500 kms from Mysore.
Infosys said most of its customers expect globalisation through offshoring, but warns that to think of the changing business world with an offshoring-tinted lens would be akin to looking only straight at your lane when driving.
“You’ll see the potholes, but you wouldn’t know when other cars catch up or cut you off, or worse, find a different short-cut,” the company said on its website.
Infosys forecasts disruptive trends and the need for shifts in operational priority to quickly grasp the impact of the changing business world and respond to its threats and harness opportunities.
It cites the market opportunity in China, India, Brazil and eastern Europe; changing global demographics with younger people in these countries serving the aged population of the developed nations; increasing comfort with technology around the world; and, accountability and regulation as the key factors.
Infosys dismisses the increasing offshore presence of rivals like IBM, Accenture and EDS in India as an unrealistic business model, saying that companies need to focus on four areas to succeed in the future.
They include beating the China Price – a symbolic price at which products and services become affordable for populations in China and other developing nations.
“It is not about price, but lowering the cost structure so that a company can leverage global operations and address new markets,” the company said.
Two, building loyalty of customers through faster innovation; Three, making money by mining information; and, Fourth winning in the turns, like investing during a downturn to reap when the economy picks up.
“Thinking flat goes beyond outsourcing IT and offshoring business processes. It requires companies to shift their operational priorities and think of new ways of doing business,” Infosys said.
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