Ripples on the brain

Business Today August 13, 2006 Edition

NRN, chairman and chief mentor of Infosys Technologies, will turn 60 on August 21 this year; that day he will assume a new role - a non-executive chairman of the company he founded 25 years ago. Murthy is stepping back, not to retire, but to indulge in a passion - following the footsteps of his schoolmaster father - and teach Infoscians at the company’s leadership institute in Mysore….

Reuters August 2,2006

…(Cognizant’s) Current CEO Lakshmi Narayanan will become vice chairman of the board. …Narayanan, 53, said he will focus on recruitment and training of employees in his new role…

Comments: Both of them have become legendary leaders of their times (okay one more famous than the other, thanks to the media). They have taken their respective organizations to the pinnacle of glory.

NRN used his charisma to popularize his company. The fact that it was a public company in India helped him. On the other hand, LN maintained a low profile in India. When Infosys’ popularity began to soar in the early 2000’s, Cognizant didn’t have a great brand value in India even though the CTSH stock prices soared even after multiple splits in NASDAQ. It didn’t even have a presence in Bangalore, the Silicon Valley, then. But where the performance of the company itself failed to make it famous, things such as work locations in multiple cities, campus recruitment in premier institutes and staff bus services (though they were more of a hindrance to the general public) helped in establishing the brand.

After a year or two, I see the two companies moving to a different league altogether, leaving behind the rest of the Indian firms and competing severely. Infosys is wary of Cognizant’s rise and its strength in some verticals (I think healthcare and insurance). The way Cognizant is growing right now, it seems to have everything figured out and playing according to a grand script.

Infosys, on the other hand, has a better portfolio of services. It seems to have a strategy where the consulting arm forms the first interface and figures out which services from its basket can be useful for the customer. Its strength is in its presence in all the spheres, even where Cognizant is considered traditionally weak, like ERP consulting. Cognizant’s own consulting arm, the BTC (Business Technology Consulting), is still believed to be a non-starter (A Gartner report points out that though Cognizant is technically very strong, it is nowhere near Infosys as far as consulting in concerned).

Now, NRN and LN step down after making their companies the most famous IT company and the fastest growing IT company respectively in India. NRN first announced his change of role and LN has followed suit in Cognizant’s Q2 conference call. Looking at the gist of the reports, both plan to play somewhat similar roles after their semi-retirement.

I wish them all the success in their new roles.