According to the reports, the IT Special Economic Zone which is being developed by the Indian software giant, Infosys, in Thiruvananthapuram, is all set to start functioning. The IT SEZ has been developed on a plot of 50 acres, near to the Technopark IT campus at Thiruvananthapuram.
M. Vasudevan, who is the senior business development manager of the Technopark, has told that the SEZ has been built as two different buildings. He added that the work of one of the facilities is almost on the verge of completion where as the other one is under progress.
"Each building has a capacity to seat 1,500 professionals. The first one will open shortly, some last bit of work on common amenities and a food court remains. The other building is also nearing completion," Vasudevan told.
Currently the Infosys development centre in the Technopark campus has more than 1,500 professionals.
But certain officials have revealed that, Infosys will be opening both the building together by the end of this year or by early next year, but the Kerala state government is urging for the opening of the building which has almost been completed as early as possible.
The agreement for transferring land to Infosys for the project was signed in 2006 and the ground-breaking ceremony took place in 2007.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Infosys moving towards result-based pricing
The IT industry
is known for a business model where revenues are directly linked to the number of employees meaning that revenue is a function of effort. Taking a transition in its pricing mechanism, IT major Infosys is now turning towards outcome-based pricing model that pays for results and not performance.
According to Subhash Dhar, senior VP and EC member of Infosys, the outcome-based pricing model is a non-linear model and it will increase efficiency without increasing employee head count.
The model improves revenue per employee as margins for this ranges from 25-35 per cent as against 10-15 per cent for the fixed pricing models, he added.
The new model contributed 3-4 per cent of Infosys’ revenue last fiscal and Dhar plans to take it to 10 per cent of the overall revenue in two years.
“Interestingly, 14 clients have already signed for the new model. If we can pull this off this really will mean a generation change for the kind of engagement models that clients will get from the industry,” he pointed out.
While Infosys is betting big on the new model, analysts say the model is not without risks. The model works only with experienced clients and there are chances of increased number of disputes with clients leading to wastage of time.
Further, as long as Indian companies do not diversify into products and hardware and remain primarily service oriented, the revenue upside would be limited.
“It is a promising model but risky for both parties. It will take some time before people will accept the model as a de fact standard,” said Akhilesh Tuteja, ED, Advisory services of KPMG.
Despite many challenges, Infosys has started deputing specialised consultants with all its sales team to pitch the new model to clients.
Clearly, Infosys’ aggressive plans seem to be working for now.
is known for a business model where revenues are directly linked to the number of employees meaning that revenue is a function of effort. Taking a transition in its pricing mechanism, IT major Infosys is now turning towards outcome-based pricing model that pays for results and not performance.
According to Subhash Dhar, senior VP and EC member of Infosys, the outcome-based pricing model is a non-linear model and it will increase efficiency without increasing employee head count.
The model improves revenue per employee as margins for this ranges from 25-35 per cent as against 10-15 per cent for the fixed pricing models, he added.
The new model contributed 3-4 per cent of Infosys’ revenue last fiscal and Dhar plans to take it to 10 per cent of the overall revenue in two years.
“Interestingly, 14 clients have already signed for the new model. If we can pull this off this really will mean a generation change for the kind of engagement models that clients will get from the industry,” he pointed out.
While Infosys is betting big on the new model, analysts say the model is not without risks. The model works only with experienced clients and there are chances of increased number of disputes with clients leading to wastage of time.
Further, as long as Indian companies do not diversify into products and hardware and remain primarily service oriented, the revenue upside would be limited.
“It is a promising model but risky for both parties. It will take some time before people will accept the model as a de fact standard,” said Akhilesh Tuteja, ED, Advisory services of KPMG.
Despite many challenges, Infosys has started deputing specialised consultants with all its sales team to pitch the new model to clients.
Clearly, Infosys’ aggressive plans seem to be working for now.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
add add * Infosys most admired Indian company: WSJ survey
IT bellwether Infosys Technologies has been adjudged as most admired Indian company, ahead of Tata Consultancy Services and Bharti Airtel, says a survey.
Infosys has topped the list of 10 most admired Indian companies and is followed by IT major TCS at the second position, according to the survey conducted by The Wall Street Journal Asia.
Telecom giant Bharti Airtel is at the third spot, engineering major Larsen & Toubro has cornered the fourth place and IT firm Wipro is at the fifth position.
Others on the list are Tata Steel (sixth), FMCG major Hindustan Unilever (seventh), HDFC Bank (eighth), State Bank of India (9th) and conglomerate ITC (10th).
The ranking is based on the Asian 200 survey of subscribers of The Wall Street Journal Asia and other business people.
Infosys has topped the list of 10 most admired Indian companies and is followed by IT major TCS at the second position, according to the survey conducted by The Wall Street Journal Asia.
Telecom giant Bharti Airtel is at the third spot, engineering major Larsen & Toubro has cornered the fourth place and IT firm Wipro is at the fifth position.
Others on the list are Tata Steel (sixth), FMCG major Hindustan Unilever (seventh), HDFC Bank (eighth), State Bank of India (9th) and conglomerate ITC (10th).
The ranking is based on the Asian 200 survey of subscribers of The Wall Street Journal Asia and other business people.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Infosys to use its internships to attract more global talent
Infosys Technologies, India’s second largest software exporter, plans to use infosys_logothe success of its global internship programme, InStep to attract more global talent to the company. From the launch of the programme in 1999, the company has so far trained 664 people from 41 nationalities.
“The programme, launched almost 10 years ago to create a platform for the brightest engineers from the US to understand India and our (Infosys) business better, has now metamorphosed to cover most other countries globally. Our belief is that sooner or latter InStep will become a good conduit to recruit more and more global talents,” N R Narayana Murthy, chairman and chief mentor of the Nasdaq-listed company told here on Monday.
In 2008, about 175 trainees from 27 countries joined the internship programme. This year, as of now, over 100 students have joined the programme. The company says, while at least 15-20 people from every internship batch were joining the company earlier, this number is expected to go up as it is planning to recruit more overseas talent going forward.
According to the company, once they return to their respective countries, the interns work as brand ambassadors for Infosys which helps the company promote itself as a global recruitment brand. “Today if you go to 85 universities worldwide considered the best in those countries, you will see us present there and you will see our ex-interns. It has done wonders to us in terms of building a global brand amongst the global academia,” said Sanjay Purohit, vice president and head of corporate planning.
The duration of Infosys’ global internship programme targeted at young engineers and MBAs is in the range of 8-24 weeks. During the internships, the trainees are being provided monthly stipends.
“The programme, launched almost 10 years ago to create a platform for the brightest engineers from the US to understand India and our (Infosys) business better, has now metamorphosed to cover most other countries globally. Our belief is that sooner or latter InStep will become a good conduit to recruit more and more global talents,” N R Narayana Murthy, chairman and chief mentor of the Nasdaq-listed company told here on Monday.
In 2008, about 175 trainees from 27 countries joined the internship programme. This year, as of now, over 100 students have joined the programme. The company says, while at least 15-20 people from every internship batch were joining the company earlier, this number is expected to go up as it is planning to recruit more overseas talent going forward.
According to the company, once they return to their respective countries, the interns work as brand ambassadors for Infosys which helps the company promote itself as a global recruitment brand. “Today if you go to 85 universities worldwide considered the best in those countries, you will see us present there and you will see our ex-interns. It has done wonders to us in terms of building a global brand amongst the global academia,” said Sanjay Purohit, vice president and head of corporate planning.
The duration of Infosys’ global internship programme targeted at young engineers and MBAs is in the range of 8-24 weeks. During the internships, the trainees are being provided monthly stipends.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Infy, Wipro set up units to tap Indian, foreign govt mkt
BANGALORE: Two of the top three Indian tech firms—Infosys and Wipro—are setting up dedicated practices for serving government customers locally and across the globe, as they seek to address over $100-billion market for government IT outsourcing
and compete more effectively with local rival TCS, apart from challenging IBM, EDS and others in their home markets.
Both Infosys and Wipro have started hiring consultants and experts from government organisations apart from investing more in marketing efforts in order to chase government outsourcing opportunities better. According to a recent Nasscom research, governments in developed countries spent nearly $160 billion on technology services last year, which is just next to financial services and manufacturing customers.
A focused solution practice will involve hiring consultants from government organisations , putting together a large team of domain experts in the markets of India, US, UK, Canada and Australia, and develop a new revenue opportunity at par with other established verticals such as retail, telecom and banking
and financial services industry. “We have taken a decision to start government practice in India and other markets of the UK, Australia, Canada and the US,” said S Gopalakrishnan, chief executive of Infosys Technologies .
“We are building expertise by hiring consultants with relevant backgrounds, some from government organisations-we want to make this a multi billion opportunity for us in next few years,” he said. Rival Wipro, which already serves many Indian customers including several government organisations is also fleshing out a much more serious initiative for growing its revenues from this segment globally.
and compete more effectively with local rival TCS, apart from challenging IBM, EDS and others in their home markets.
Both Infosys and Wipro have started hiring consultants and experts from government organisations apart from investing more in marketing efforts in order to chase government outsourcing opportunities better. According to a recent Nasscom research, governments in developed countries spent nearly $160 billion on technology services last year, which is just next to financial services and manufacturing customers.
A focused solution practice will involve hiring consultants from government organisations , putting together a large team of domain experts in the markets of India, US, UK, Canada and Australia, and develop a new revenue opportunity at par with other established verticals such as retail, telecom and banking
and financial services industry. “We have taken a decision to start government practice in India and other markets of the UK, Australia, Canada and the US,” said S Gopalakrishnan, chief executive of Infosys Technologies .
“We are building expertise by hiring consultants with relevant backgrounds, some from government organisations-we want to make this a multi billion opportunity for us in next few years,” he said. Rival Wipro, which already serves many Indian customers including several government organisations is also fleshing out a much more serious initiative for growing its revenues from this segment globally.
IT majors preparing strategy in line with revival of demand
With the first signs of recovery in the information technology (IT) sector, the three biggest IT companies — Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Wipro Technologies and Infosys — are not only hopeful of bagging more overseas deals but have also modified their strategy to focus on near-shoring, where employees work at customer premises.
These companies are also reinforcing their product line, changing product offerings, focusing on ‘recession-proof’ sectors like pharma and healthcare, education, telecom and utilities to tide over the dip in volumes.
Wipro, for instance, is expecting a few big-ticket outsourcing deals — each valued upwards of $100 million — in the second quarter of 2009-10, in areas like IT services, consulting, remote management and business process outsourcing (BPO).
Suresh Senapaty, executive director and chief financial officer of Wipro, said, “Despite the slowdown, we expect to bag a few good deals in the second quarter, especially in the $100 million-plus range.”
Wipro had reportedly added 26 new clients in the first quarter (April-June 2009). “The total value of the new deals bagged in the first quarter works out to around $700 million, where a few are in the range of $30 million plus,” Senapaty said.
Likewise, Infosys, which posted a 17.3 per cent rise in first quarter net profit, is pursuing 12 to 15 deals worth $1 billion in the second quarter.
“We are pursuing deals worth $1 billion. The economy is gradually recovering and so we have 12-15 deals we can pursue right now. Emerging markets are a big opportunity for us, like Latin America, Europe, Japan, West Asia and Australia,” said S Gopalakrishnan, CEO and MD of Infosys.
TCS, on the other hand, is tweaking its product offerings for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
These companies are also reinforcing their product line, changing product offerings, focusing on ‘recession-proof’ sectors like pharma and healthcare, education, telecom and utilities to tide over the dip in volumes.
Wipro, for instance, is expecting a few big-ticket outsourcing deals — each valued upwards of $100 million — in the second quarter of 2009-10, in areas like IT services, consulting, remote management and business process outsourcing (BPO).
Suresh Senapaty, executive director and chief financial officer of Wipro, said, “Despite the slowdown, we expect to bag a few good deals in the second quarter, especially in the $100 million-plus range.”
Wipro had reportedly added 26 new clients in the first quarter (April-June 2009). “The total value of the new deals bagged in the first quarter works out to around $700 million, where a few are in the range of $30 million plus,” Senapaty said.
Likewise, Infosys, which posted a 17.3 per cent rise in first quarter net profit, is pursuing 12 to 15 deals worth $1 billion in the second quarter.
“We are pursuing deals worth $1 billion. The economy is gradually recovering and so we have 12-15 deals we can pursue right now. Emerging markets are a big opportunity for us, like Latin America, Europe, Japan, West Asia and Australia,” said S Gopalakrishnan, CEO and MD of Infosys.
TCS, on the other hand, is tweaking its product offerings for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Infosys BPO inks 5-yr pact with T-Mobile UK
New Delhi: Infosys BPO, the BPO arm of Infosys Technologies announced on tuesday that it has secured a five-year contract with T-Mobile UK.
Infosys BPO has been engaged by T-Mobile UK to support several core processes for their finance directorate which cover customer finance, commercial finance and accounting (F&A), and procurement operations, Infosys BPO said.
“We are pleased to have been selected by T-Mobile UK. Our strong F&A capabilities combined with our understanding of the telecom industry helps us successfully transform businesses of our clients,” Infosys BPO vice president and head (Communications, Media and Entertainment (CME)) Gopal Devanahalli said.
The deal size was, however, not disclosed.
T-Mobile is one of the world’s largest mobile operators with more than 125 million customers worldwide and about 16.7 million customers in the UK itself.
“We were keen to partner with a company that possessed a good understanding of our requirements and business needs. We are confident of gaining immense value through our partnership with Infosys BPO,” T-Mobile UK Head of Customer Finance Tim Spence said.
Infosys BPO has been engaged by T-Mobile UK to support several core processes for their finance directorate which cover customer finance, commercial finance and accounting (F&A), and procurement operations, Infosys BPO said.
“We are pleased to have been selected by T-Mobile UK. Our strong F&A capabilities combined with our understanding of the telecom industry helps us successfully transform businesses of our clients,” Infosys BPO vice president and head (Communications, Media and Entertainment (CME)) Gopal Devanahalli said.
The deal size was, however, not disclosed.
T-Mobile is one of the world’s largest mobile operators with more than 125 million customers worldwide and about 16.7 million customers in the UK itself.
“We were keen to partner with a company that possessed a good understanding of our requirements and business needs. We are confident of gaining immense value through our partnership with Infosys BPO,” T-Mobile UK Head of Customer Finance Tim Spence said.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)