Infosys recasts management for bigger bite of retail, banking & healthcare - Economic Times

Infosys recasts management for bigger bite of retail, banking & healthcare - Economic Times BANGALORE: In the middle of its biggest management transition ever since Infosys was founded, the company is aiming for a larger share of revenue from retail, banking and healthcare customers by shifting the roles of leaders handling multiple business units. During the past few quarters, Infosys' telecom, large deals group and computer infrastructure management units have lagged peers, raising questions about whether the company should continue to have its top leaders handle more than one portfolio. For instance, while Ashok Vemuri manages the banking, financial services and insurance business unit and the large deals group, Prasad Thrikutam heads energy utilities and system integration businesses. Another executive council member Subhash Dhar is heading both telecom business and global sales at Infosys. "It's less to do with individual leaders and more about the structure itself. The company needs to either combine smaller units into one or let its best leaders focus on the most important areas," said a person familiar with restructuring talks at the company. In a year when top outsourcing customers such as Wal-Mart, Citi, JP Morgan and BofA have resumed spending on new projects, tech firms Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Wipro and Cognizant are scrambling to gain leadership in at least 1-2 verticals. "We observe that in several cases where members of the executive council management have multiple responsibilities, one or two of the portfolios tend to suffer," JP Morgan analysts Viju K Geroge and Amit Sharma wrote in their report last month. "Our finding is that at least one of the responsibility areas in the portfolio has under-performed peers, and multiple responsibilities might have something to do with this. For example, the retail vertical has performed in line with peers, but infra management, which is managed by the same person, has significantly underperformed," the JP Morgan analysts added. During calendar year 2010, Infosys' revenues from infrastructure management grew by 13.6% compared with TCS' 39.5%. TCS also outperformed Infosys in the back-office outsourcing business by growing its revenues during 2010 by 23% compared with Infosys' 17% growth. Pravin Rao, who is considered for establishing Infosys dominance in the retail business, also heads infrastructure management and transportation and logistics business units.