The cloud is the limit, says Infosys executive Salil Parekh
The pandemic has accelerated the digital transformation of enterprises as companies scrambled to build capacity to support remote work and maintain business continuity amid widespread disruptions, lifting the Bengaluru-based IT services firm’s overall growth.
Infosys Ltd is exploring more acquisitions to build its digital business, which has the potential to contribute to as much as half of the company’s total revenue soon, chief executive Salil Parekh said.
The pandemic has accelerated the digital transformation of enterprises as companies scrambled to build capacity to support remote work and maintain business continuity amid widespread disruptions, lifting the Bengaluru-based IT services firm’s overall growth.
“Large enterprises worldwide are now going faster on their digital transformation journey. The investments we have made in digital are really helping us,” Parekh said in an interview.
Parekh joined Infosys in January 2018 with the mandate to bring the struggling company that was once the IT industry bellwether back on track. Infosys was going through a turbulent period amid months of hostility between the founders and the board, which also seemingly led to the resignation of his predecessor Vishal Sikka.
In April that year, he outlined a three-year transformation plan that revolved around stabilizing Infosys, gaining momentum, and then accelerating growth. That strategy appears to be working.
Infosys’s digital revenues grew at a scorching 25.4% year-on-year in constant currency terms to $1.57 billion and contributed 47.3% to the total revenues for the September quarter. Parekh said digital can cross 50% of the total revenues soon.
“This is because clients are driving their new spends on transforming from a digital perspective,” he said.
Infosys has been building its cloud capabilities, both organically and inorganically.
This year, Infosys has clearly stepped up its pace of acquisitions, all cloud-based, having acquired three companies - Simplus, GuideVision, and Blue Acorn. Parekh said the thought behind the acquisitions is ‘digital’.
Other IT services companies, including Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) Ltd and Wipro Ltd, have been betting big on digital as clients are increasingly embracing cloud and remote-working solutions during the pandemic.
Focus on automation, artificial intelligence (AI), and cost efficiency was another key element of the strategy that helped Infosys, he said. “Our own work on automation and AI has become more relevant for our clients.”
As part of the company’s three-year plan, Infosys also re-skilled many of its employees in new areas of digital through its learning app Lex and student platform InfyTQ.
With gradual improvement in demand, Infosys will be hiring around 15,000 college graduates in India and about 1,500 college graduates outside the country, in the next 12 months.
“Part of the hiring will be completed this financial year. And part of it will be during the cycle of the campus recruitment in the next financial year,” Parekh said. “We will continue to hire laterals at different levels, both in India and outside.”
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