Tag: leadership

DXC Technology Changes CEO | Blog

There is a “changing of the guard” at DXC Technology. Mike Salvino is now President and Chief Executive Officer and succeeds Mike Lawrie, who served as DXC’s Chairman, President and CEO. The change in leadership is happening at one of the last US national champions of the services industry. This move will be viewed with interest in many of the largest US and global firms, as DXC is a strategic partner to many of the Fortune Global 500 companies. Here’s what you need to know about the challenges and opportunities DXC and Salvino now face.

Read more in my blog on Forbes

Google to Alphabet – Lessons for Global Service Providers | Sherpas in Blue Shirts

“Google is not an unconventional company. We do not intend to become one,” said Larry Page, co-founder of Google, in his original founders letter in 2004, when Google went public. He reiterated that last week, when, on August 10, Google announced a new operating structure, creating the new entity Alphabet, with Google as a wholly-owned subsidiary.

Much has since been said about the company, its leadership, its transition, and its people. However, the more I read about Google (or should I say Alphabet now) and its reorganization, the more I am inclined to draw parallels between the internet behemoth and service providers, both Indian-heritage and multinationals. The way I see it, here are a few lessons service provides could take from the reorganization:

  1. Structure:

    Most, if not all, large organizations seek to carve out subsidiaries or focused business units to reorganize themselves. These units, with their respective heads, are then entrusted with the responsibility to scale the business. With “digital” being an almost-abused cliché, it is not difficult to hear about service providers hiving off separate digital business units. This unit or subsidiary is like a “child” of the “parent” service provider, which retains control of the child.

    Google defied the norm. Rather than creating a specialized business unit, it created an entirely new holding structure, effectively making Google, previously the parent, the child, and creating Alphabet as the parent. This umbrella organization now retains control, with the child (Google) getting a tunnel-vision focus.

    Lesson for service providers: Service providers that have attained enormous scale and that are at a stage where they can cause industry turbulence by their initiatives would do well to consider possibilities beyond the conventional norms and innovate even at that scale.

  2. Simplicity and control:

    When an organization grows too large, it becomes a management challenge to control it. Simplification becomes a necessity. By breaking down its business units into multiple, independent, and accountable entities, Google has created an operating structure that is much like a conglomerate.

    Seems simple enough, right? The challenge, however, is that the leadership of such an enterprise has to relinquish control of at least some of its units. By entrusting Mr. Pichai with the responsibility of running the world’s largest internet-based engine, Mr. Page has relinquished control of the company he co-founded. Surely, founders ceding control has to be personally challenging; however, the need to look beyond itself into something grander has clearly worked well for Google so far.

    Lesson for service providers: Management of colossal corporations should hand over control of highly functional cash cows to their number-twos and invest their time on pursuing grander ambitions. When the senior leadership (or the board) is loath to relinquish control, it indicates either a lack of faith in its next-generation leaders or an obsessive need to retain control or both, all of which culminate in lack of relevance and eventual obsolescence.

  3. Culture of radical innovation:

    The mention of Google always has the word innovation lurking around and for good reason. Google has always been known to be innovative in the way it perceives and solves problems. When it seemed to reach its comfort zone, it stirred the pot vigorously and conveyed its discomfort with status quo or even incremental changes.

    Lesson for service providers: Service providers should embrace such an outlook towards change and not be hesitant to adopt a radical approach. If a US$66 billion enterprise with one primary revenue source can do it, so can a much nimbler service provider with lesser risk exposure and higher market stability.

  4. Belief:

    Google has illustrated that moonshot vision and out-of-this-world ideas are not a necessity to become what it is. Pursuing what they believed were smart ideas and chasing them with relentless passion has given us products that have almost become a necessity.

    Often, during our interactions with service providers, we discuss their vision and philosophy about next-generation technologies and services. We seldom see those being relentlessly pursued, as the ideas fall victim to the next flavor of the day, management changes, or “change of strategic direction.”

    Lesson for service providers: The trick lies in being fast and nimble so that the idea is commercialized before the market moves on, and also relentless, so that innovators aren’t distracted by the whirlpool of daily business.

  5. Investor focus:

    Last but not the least nicety of Google’s restructuring is its ability to placate its investors. While the same can be said of many other firms, it is Google’s call to action and time to market that stand out. By creating a more accountable structure, Google alleviated a lot of investor concerns, which had been growing owing to the company’s cash-burning yet low-yielding moonshots.

    Lesson for service providers: If your initiatives, especially in the digital landscape, do not resonate with your investors, it is time to reconsider those. Service providers should create a more accountable structure for their digital initiatives and appease both customers and investors.

Why Everest Group Changed its Point of View on Infosys | Sherpas in Blue Shirts

Since publishing our two most recent blogs about the business situation at Infosys (Connecting All the Dots and Silicon Valley company) and comparing those perspectives to our blogs over the past two years, people have asked us: “Why did you change your point of view about Infosys?” Here’s why – it’s because most of what we predicted about Infosys came true.

We have a relentlessly objective point of view, and our blogs over the past couple of years pointed out the internal problems we observed at Infosys. We called the firm out early on its arrogance and hubris in the marketplace, evidenced in its commitment to premium pricing despite the unsustainability of its pricing vis a vis the marketplace, along with its inward-looking focus instead of focusing on customer intimacy.

Because of these actions, in the midst of the maturing AO market and changing customer expectations, we predicted a slow down at Infosys. And it happened.

As the board at Infosys started to understand the same things that we called out, they made some interesting moves; and we’re largely supportive of the moves. If they want Infosys to be a leading high-tech firm, they need to bring in different leadership. They did that by bringing in an external executive as the new CEO in 2014. And it’s clear that the firm’s leadership is now deploying a customer-facing strategy rather than continuing to be inward-looking. This isn’t just a story line; Infosys is backing up its statements with investments in new leadership talent over the past two months as well as in other actions.

Before, we saw a once-proud firm with internal problems, which talked the talk but didn’t walk the walk. We increasingly see Infosys pivot strongly to next-generation leadership, taking steps to give the firm a chance at success again.

It’s too early to say whether the recent moves and strategy will work. And as I said in my earlier blog, execution eats strategy. But the next step in strategy is putting their money where their mouth is, and there is every sign that Infosys is starting to do that. As such, we applaud Infosys’ progress.

As we called out Infosys when we saw problems, we now comment on it as it moves forward. To date, history validated our point of view. Now that Infosys is dealing with its issues and taking consistent actions to move the firm forward, we’ve acknowledged their progress and amended our point of view accordingly.


Photo credit: Infosys

 

Wipro Takes on New Challenges in Driving Transformation | Sherpas in Blue Shirts

Wipro just hired Abid Ali Neemuchwala as COO and group president. Clearly the provider is setting up a succession plan for him to take over Wipro from current CEO, TK Kurien, who has been driving the firm’s transformation. This is an intriguing move as Wipro appears to be succeeding in the turnaround. So it makes sense that the industry is questioning the move. If the turnaround is, indeed, happening at Wipro, why bring in an outsider?

Abid comes to Wipro from TCS with a pedigree of having run the TCS BPO business. This is a big step up for him, from running a $2 billion business to a $9 billion business. The good news is Wipro is giving him at least a year to learn the ropes.

It’s interesting to reflect on why Wipro did this. I don’t believe the firm is stepping away from the transformation that TK Kurien has been driving. Nor do I think Wipro looks to capture some of the TCS magic and execution capability. I believe the firm is reinforcing its need to continue changing and is bringing in an outside perspective to drive change. This move follows in the footsteps of Infosys, which similarly brought in outside leadership.

Wipro gave TK formidable power, and five years, to drive significant change and transformation. Like any transformational plan, it has been painful and has taken time. But as I blogged before, the transformation is starting to show promise with Wipro wins picking up in the marketplace just as TK’s five years comes to a close.

So why bring in an outsider? I believe the answer is that the journey has just begun. The services industry is at an inflection point. It is clear that with changing technologies, client expectations and business models, leadership in the existing space does not guarantee leadership in the future. I think Wipro understands this and is looks to challenge its organization with fresh perspectives.

Running faster with the old model will not allow for leadership in the future. Fresh perspectives and augmenting existing talent is necessary to give Wipro the best chance at being a leader as the market evolves.

The challenges Abid will need to take on will shape and continue to drive Wipro to change how it delivers services, takes advantage of new technologies such as the digital and analytics space, and how it deals with changing client expectations demanding value beyond labor arbitrage. And Abid will bring new perspectives on how to successfully guide Wipro through the transition into the new business models of SaaS, BPaaS, platforms and consumption-based IT and business processes.

I think it’s a good move.


Photo credit: Wipro

Infosys is Different | Sherpas in Blue Shirts

What a difference a few months with a new CEO makes. Things are different at Infosys today. When we talk with them, it’s clear that it’s a different organization than it was a few months ago because of Vishal Sikka, the new CEO. On one level, very little has changed; but on another level, there are significant changes.

Their strategy remains the same. They are leaning into the future by focusing on platforms, intellectual property and software. This is the same strategy they have used for engaging with clients for several years.

It’s the same organization, other than the new CEO. He has yet to bring a large cohort of new executives in. And the firm has the same clients and employees.

So what’s different?

Inside of Infosys, morale is clearly better. There is a renewed sense of optimism in their strategy. We observe renewed vigor and enthusiasm in talking with their clients and in the marketplace. The result is improved execution across the board, from engaging with clients to delivery. Across the board we see improved execution.

We also see a change in customers’ attitudes. They are interested in the new CEO. They are giving Infosys a second chance, and Infosys is finding doors easier to open and audiences more receptive than they were a few months ago.

The moral

Here’s the moral of the Infosys story: in the services industry where client relationships and delivery execution means everything, vision and morale matter. Those factors alone can account for improved performance.

It’s not everything, but it’s a powerful ingredient in improving performance. We look forward to seeing what Vishal Sikka will do in reshaping Infosys’ strategy, organization and people. So far we’re seeing an effective start.

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