Uncertainty an overriding theme; flexibility to secure future: Nilekani

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Nandan Nilekani, Non-Executive Chairman of Infosys, cited an environment of high uncertainty, significant short-term pressures, and squeezed resources, creating the need for more flexible business models, in his letter in the company’s 2022-23 annual report.

According to Nilekani, uncertainty has become the dominant theme determining the current state of the world. “In any given week, we may swing from cautious to optimistic and back to cautious based on today’s news.”

“The calm and the predictable are behind us as each new day brings new inputs and new events that derail the carefully crafted models we have established of the world around us,” reads Nilekani’s statement in the 2022-23 performance overview.

The Infosys co-founder adds that the combination of inflation, interest rates, geopolitics, war, demand volatility, supply chain disruptions, and the shift from efficiency to flexibility and security all move quickly and without warning. Going forward, Nilekani said, companies will need to develop flexibility to be able to avoid constraining options, reduce focus risks, adapt quickly, and learn to thrive in any new reality.

“Our relationship with our customers has never been so compelling, our investment in people has been continuous and consistent, and our purpose is very keen. We are ready to partner with our customers and our entire ecosystem in creating a resilient future that puts people first and benefits the wider society even as it drives business forward.” said the chairman of the board.

Unplanned project regression and decision delays from customers dampened Infosys’ fourth quarter FY23 performance. The major IT company’s revenue growth guidance for FY24 was pegged at four to seven percent, well below the company’s annual growth. in several years. This compares to revenue growth of 15.4 percent in fiscal year ’23.

While providing a roadmap for the possibilities of generative AI, Nilekani said the journey to becoming an AI-first institution has obstacles such as hallucinations of AI, systemic biases, and lack of explainability, as well as plenty of practical, ethical, and intellectual property issues. Too often, he said, organizations, seeking to extract value from data and AI models, succeed in implementing pilot programs but fail to identify what it takes to scale value across the entire organization.

“Moving value at scale from AI and retaining the larger strategic vision while breaking down tasks into small successive wins, isn’t always intuitive or simple. With our AI-first strategy, Infosys is guided by this roadmap. We also provide our global customers with the ability to Accelerate business value and amplify human potential using AI technologies with Infosys Topaz TM.