In last 2-3 years, we had lost our way, says Infosys COO

Infosys, which had "lost its way in the last 2-3 years", is witnessing confidence returning among employees and there's a clear articulation of strategy after Vishal Sikka took over, a top company official has said.

Speaking at the Citi Global Technology Conference, Infosys Chief Operating Officer UB Pravin Rao said: "... As a company we had potential, we have been an iconic brand, we have had many firsts in the industry and so on. But in the last few years, last 2-3 years, we had lost our way and that has translated into fairly low employee morale, high attrition and so on."

He added that the "achievement that has happened, over the last 9 to 12 months after Vishal came on board, is a good deal of confidence in people, about our own abilities, about the future and so on".

Rao said it has been pervasive and is reflected in the attrition coming down dramatically.

Sikka, a former board member of German software giant SAP, took over as Infosys CEO in August last year. He is the first outsider and non-founder CEO at the USD 8-billion firm.

He joined at a time when the company was facing high attrition rates, especially at senior levels.

Once the IT bellwether, Infosys was also reporting laggard performance and facing harassment allegations by overseas employees, among other issues.

Rao said Sikka's leadership has also brought in clear articulation of the company's strategy.

He said the company's "renew and new strategy" is similar to that of its competitors and the one the company was following prior to Sikka's appointment.

"But the difference is now there is much more meat behind the strategy, we are very clear about what we need to do on the renew side of business, what we need to do on the new things. There's a very clear articulation of the strategy what it means to each one, which perhaps was not well articulated by us in the past," he added.

Rao said the company has done many things in the past 9-12 months to improve the experience of people internally, its internal customers, improving HR practices, processes and policies.

"People are now able to do things much more productive in the company... But these are probably three or four things that have happened in the last year, which has really translated into much more optimism and the company being much more confident about its fortune and future than it was in the previous two, three years," he said.