SD Shibulal, Infosys? newly-announced chief executive officer and managing director, is taking up the post at a very crucial juncture. There are clarion calls that the company should transform into a more aggressive institution, shedding its conservative image of the past. Now, Shibulal was considered a conservative executive right through his career, but the question now is whether he would change himself in the new envrionment. Analysts and industry stakeholders are of the view that the company needs to exhibit a bit more aggression with its sales engine slowing down, TCS widening its revenue lead and Cognizant playing a fast catch up game. People who have worked with Shibulal for years believe that he brings in immense positives to the table. Many would like to label him ?Mr Process? of the organisation. At heart, he is still a techie. But he is also an astute thinker, with great detailing power, is perceptive, with a proven operational excellence record. Insiders also regard Shibu as a man with a strong value system ? just like the company?s other founders.
?Shibu combines strategy and execution. He is a well-rounded person and will make a good CEO ,? CFO V Balakrishnan told FE on Sunday. But another person who knows Shibu for a long time said sometimes his obsession for processes can slowdown decision making. While only time can tell how aggressive Shibulal would turn out to be in terms of driving sales and acquiring companies, the CEO-designate preferred ducking these questions when FE met up with him post the announcement.
?Aggressiveness has to depend on the strategy of the organisation, the environment and the style of the CEO. Each one of us have in the past been both aggressive and non-aggressive depending on the need of the hour,? he said. ?Under Murthy, we built a respected global corporation. In Nandan?s era, we increased our addressable market size multi-fold, and under Kris we created a consulting plus global delivery organisation,? he explained. Shibulal said that his style is to lead from the front and lead by example. ?I connect with people. I lead by example. It is one of Infosys? core values and I clearly believe in it. I am very execution focused. Execution is the key to creating value. I also believe in result-orientation,? he said talking about his management style.
Does he have a panacea to reducing the topline gap with TCS? The recent restructuring of the firm could yield results in the future, he hinted. ?We have a healthy respect for our competition. At the same time, we have decided on a certain strategic direction and that direction is important for us to follow. In Infosys 3.0, our direction is to become a true enterprise player. It means that we should be able to participate with our clients in all their activities in different dimensions. If you look at our game plan of becoming an enterprise player in the global consulting and system integration space, I believe we are very well placed,? he said.