Search the Internet          Tips  Sites: Finance, Investment

Infosys braces for tougher times; forays into BPM

Fakir Chand in Bangalore

Weathering the first tech meltdown of the new millennium and posting a higher growth rate than it had projected for the fiscal 2001-02, Infosys is bracing for tougher times ahead as it expects to post lower revenue growth (17-20 per cent) during the current fiscal year (2002-03).

In a bid to ride the storm again on account of the anticipated flat or lower technology spending by its existing client base or prospective customers, especially in its dominant US market, the Rs 26-billion global software company is foraying into Business Process Management in a big way with an initial investment of $5 million.

Disclosing this in Bangalore on Wednesday, Infosys' newly-appointed CEO Nandan M Nilekani, said as part of its global strategy to evaluate new businesses and opportunities, the company would also be foraying into IT outsourcing and system integration so as to offer end-to-end services to its diverse client base.

"For instance, the initial focus of BPM services will be in the areas of transaction processing and accounting services, to be offered on multiple forms such as business process, re-engineering, shared services platform and business intelligence service," Nilekani stated.

Though the company is yet to shortlist the prospective clients for the BPM services, it is betting on the returns owing to the cost advantage of doing the work from India.

"Financial services will be one of the key target verticals. The frameworks developed for the BPM offering is based on Infosys' Influx methodology. These frameworks will enable client processes to be transitioned and executed with a finesse," Nilekani affirmed.

In view of its domain expertise in financial and banking sectors with its flagship product Finacle, Infosys will be adding value to its offerings. In this connection, the company has acquired during the fourth quarter of the fiscal 2001-02 SimpleRM, a CRM product from the US-based TriVium Systems Inc for $1 million.

"We will be integrating the SimpleRM with Finacle to offer a CRM solution to our bank customers which are moving away from a product-centric approach to a customer-centric approach.

"With the Finacle CRM product, Infosys will be addressing this crucial and potentially lucrative market space effectively by offering ready-to-use functionality," Nilekani claimed.

As part of its IT outsourcing activities, the company has taken over the management of applications of two of its clients. It has also inked a pact with a leading financial services company to provide 24x7 support to its mission critical applications, which were being supported by the client's support centre in India.

Infosys has also signed a strategic global outsourcing contract with a leading networking equipment manufacturer to improve its operational efficiency, reduce costs and mitigate risks.

The company has, however, declined to name neither the companies nor their location, citing non-disclosure agreement with them.

ALSO READ:
Narayana Murthy to be chief architect of Infosys
Infosys projects 20% growth in 2002-03
Infosys Tech Q4 net up by 15.77%, FY-02 net up by 28.49%
Infosys results as per GAAP standards
Infosys issues outlook for FY-03
Infosys fixes book closure for final dividend
The Rediff Budget Special
Money
Business News