Pune.1

After our visit at Deloitte in Mumbai, we packed into our beloved bus and headed to Pune. We had arrived early in the evening, so the group ate dinner, showered, and headed out to celebrate Theresa's birthday. Due to the time difference, we were able to justify a 48 hour celebration--a birthday in India time and a birthday in US time :)

Infosys Visit

Infosys had a rocky start. The wives of the founders pawned their jewelry in order to raise capital for the business. Later, in 1981, Infosys took on its first US client amidst a predominately socialist government. It took three weeks to order foreign currency for this project, and there was lots of red tape through complicated licensing processes. The company persevered, however, and now sees a new set of challenges.

First of these is the motivation behind investment. In India, investment occurs through word of mouth; in the US, it occurs through transparency and information. There have been huge efforts to increase the level of openness within the company.

Secondly, in India, people are more likely to deliberate longer, hesitate, or "beat around the bush" when communicating a problem with U.S. counterparts. This is at conflict with the U.S. preference for fast and open communication of a problem.

Thirdly, U.S. business men and women need to become more sensitive to body language and verbal signals from their Indian colleagues. Many times an Indian will nod and appear in agreement, when in reality they still have lingering questions over an issue. U.S. colleagues should be sensitive to things like this and make sure "everyone is on the same page" before assuming that all is understood.

Four global forces are at play in to make the business world more streamlined (flatter if you will) than it was in 1981.

• Emerging economies: Brasil, Russia, India, and China are the biggies.
• Demographic shifts: The younger generation is a consumer generation and drives demand.
• Technology Ubiquity: People have the capacity to be multiple places at the same time through things like Telepresence and cell phones.
• Increased Regulations: Drives uniformity and playing by the rules.

So how do you win in this flat(flatter) world? According to Infosys, you shift your operational priorities.

• Cost as a barrier to growth > Cost structure as your fuel.
• Loyalty through good service > Loyalty through faster innovation.
• Spending $ on innovation > Making $ on information.
• Winning in the straightway > Winning in the turns.

The presenter also highlighted an interesting trend in Business Process Outsourcing. For the past few years, BPO revenue from US clients has actually been on the decline (not what I had imagined!) A couple of years ago, 78% of the revenue came from U.S. clients; today, that has shrunk to only 65%. In light of this decrease, areas such as Europe and developing markets are becoming more prominent sources of revenue for the company.

Not only is Infosys focusing on these developing markets, but also it is focusing its energies on four major areas of innovation.

1. Healthcare in the U.S. and elsewhere to incorporate lifestyle changes and legislative changes.
2. The phase out of laptops...handheld devices having the computing power and memory capacity that is equivalent of a laptop.
3. Going green.
4. Social networking development.