Vishal Sikka as new Infosys CEO: What analysts think

After torrid search, India’s second largest software services firm Infosys has finally found its new CEO in Vishal Sikka. Whether the highly successful chief technology officer of German software major SAP AG will be equally successful in turning around the fortunes of Infosys is too early to say, but Sikka’s appointment has surely brought positivity among the stakeholders.

Commenting on Vishal Sikka’s appointment as new Infosys CEO, Partha Iyengar, Country Manager - Research, Gartner India says: “The news of Sikka’s announcement is extremely important for Infosys since it ends the uncertainty that was the main enemy of Infosys.”

[caption id=“attachment_83927” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Vishal Sikka[/caption]

“The new CEO will have to move very quickly to first calm the three key stakeholders, employees, customers and the investors, in that order. Infosys cannot afford any more resource departures especially at senior levels. He will next have to establish credibility with those stake-holders, again, in a fairly short period and then energise them in the medium to long term. The medium term strategy will have to be fairly close to the knitting of the IT services industry - anything else will create a level of confusion and uncertainty again,” Iyengar adds.

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“Sikka will also have to become a visible standard bearer for the Infosys brand, something that the Indian IT services still need at the level of maturity they are at.”

On the other hand, Manish Bahl, vice president and country manager for India, Forrester Research, believes the announcement highlights an increased realisation within the company to get a fresh perspective to its culture, processes, and business by bringing an outside-in perspective.

“Vishal’s proven experience as a leader and innovator is expected to help Infosys.”

In order to be successful, Vishal will have to run two set of priorities in parallel: Continue to focus on traditional IT services deals to meet market and shareholder’s expectations; and develop new capabilities for Infosys to win in the digital world.

“Vishal will have to immediately focus on the following areas: Learn and understand Infosys culture and prioritise changes that need to be reflected within the company to get Infosys’ brand story back on track; Address attrition-related challenges to strengthen employees confidence into the system; and Leverage his product/platform experience to develop new capabilities for Infosys,” Bahl feels.

In addition, Religare Capital Markets Ltd gives an interesting perspective on Sikka appointment saying the young CEO will get a free hand to drive Infosys.

“Infy has formally announced the new CEO, Vishal Sikka. He has worked in a senior role at SAP. Importantly NRN and Rohan are stepping down, which is positive in our view as it gives Vishal a free hand to drive the company in a certain direction without creating multiple power centres. Further we believe that clarity in senior leadership will also improve confidence of employees as well as the investors. Vishal is young (under 50) and has enough time to drive his strategy within the company. Overall we believe that management clarity is positive for the stock in the medium term and in coming days/months we should get greater clarity on the roadmap for growth.”