As former SAP AG board memberVishal Sikka joins Infosys, analysts and industry experts expect him help the company win business from his former customers at SAP and bring an innovation focus to the former IT industry bellwether, at a time when the industry is undergoing fundamental changes.
At the German enterprise software firm, Sikka lead the development of the HANA product, that was the quickest to reach $1 billion in sales in the company's history. SAP is now focusing all its efforts on that database product.
By choosing Vadodara-born Sikka as its first non-founder CEO, Infosys is betting on renowned innovator in enterprise technology to help revive the company. Sikka's strong connections with enterprise customers from his SAP days are expected to play a role.
"The point is that he has very strong relationships with most of the Fortune 1000 so they will hope to leverage that to get more business," Harit Shah, analyst with Nirmal Bang, told ET. Shah added it would take at least a year to judge the effects of the appointment.
Aside from just connections to global CEOs, Sikka is also expected to help Infosys makes its way in the changing landscape of the IT industry. The National Association for Software and Services Companies expects the industry's revenue to reach $300 billion by 2020, growth that will have to come in from investments in intellectual property and new solutions around the cloud and analytics.
Infosys had already begun to invest in what it called the 3.0 strategy and Sikka's appointment is expected to boost that business.
" ADM is something we have been doing and people other than Vishal Sikka can do that. But the other two portions for Infosys -- the consulting and package implementation part and the products and platforms part -- that can get an impetus with this kind of leader. He is a CEO for the future not just for managing or putting things to rest." Sundar Viswanathan, management consultant at Zinnov Management Consulting, said.
Investors also gave the appointment a thumbs-up. Infosys' stock rose nearly 3% on news of Sikka's appointment.
The company should also find it easier to attract and retain talent going forward given Sikka's stature, industry players feel. Analysts have warned that the loss of top management and mid-level employees could hurt growth going ahead.
"One of the biggest challenges facing Infosys is retaining talent. Vishal's appointment should help the company not just attract but even attract the best minds for the enormous respect Vishal commands among developers," said John Appleby, global head of SAP Hana at Bluefin Solutions, a consultancy.
"It truly marks a watershed moment for the Indian outsourcers for the traditional way the services industry works is transforming," said Appleby.
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