India?s second largest IT services exporter Infosys Technologies may recast its executive council this quarter as it looks to turbo charge its speed of execution. The reshuffle could be effective from the new fiscal year, sources said.
Under the reorganisation, portfolios will be reallocated and all executive council members will take on larger organisational responsibilities besides spearheading their own units. The council could be strengthened with new faces as well, sources said.
The company?s executive council currently includes CEO Kris Gopalakrishnan, COO SD Shibulal, K Dinesh, Mohandas Pai, Srinath Batni, Ashok Vemuri, Chandra Sekhar Kakal, BG Srinivas, and Subhash Dhar.
When FE approached CEO Gopalakrishnan for a comment on the executive council recast a few weeks ago, he said he could not comment on anything forward looking. A board member did not either deny or confirm the development.
A senior executive from the firm said that the thing to watch out for is who succeeds NR Narayana Murthy as the chairman after he retires later this year. This would kick off a series of changes in the top management. If current CEO Kris Gopalakrishnan succeeds as the chairman, COO SD Shibulal would be Infy?s next CEO. FE reported on how the scales were tilting towards Kris becoming the chairman and Shibulal the next CEO as early as August last year.
There is a large pool of leaders Infosys can choose from for the COO?s post now and for the CEO?s chair after Shibulal (56) completes his term. Board member and former CFO Mohandas Pai (52) is the most visible face of Infosys.
Ashok Vemuri, the global head of Banking and Capital Markets and BG Srinivas, chief of manufacturing and product engineering, are likely contenders for the job. Chandra Sekhar Kakal, the head of enterprise solutions and Shubhas Dhar, the head of global sales have also been steadily rising in the ranks. ?By re-casting the top leadership, companies are looking to focus on new verticals and geographies and restructure their strategic business units. The focus is likely to shift to more customer engagement and a more consultative approach. The new leaders of both Accenture and Wipro, for instance, bring in consulting experience,? an analyst who did not want to be identified, said.
Accenture?s Avinash Vashisth,a founded outsourcing advisory firms, neoIT and Tholons. Kurien had kick-started Wipro Consulting.
?The last era of Indian IT was about application development and maintenance and supplying resources to customers. The coming years will be about transaction models where customers will pay by incidence. This requires the agility of IT firms to change ? there has to be a new sense of urgency,? the analyst noted, explaining the recent changes in the top management of top tier firms.