Infosys – Brochure 2021

CLOUD AS A COMMUNITY

Project partners

CLOUD AS A COMMUNITY

Anant Adya and Umashankar Lakshmipathy dive deep into what cloud means for digital transformation and what the Infosys Cobalt cloud offering brings to the table…

I nfosys

Written by

Nell Walker

Produced by

Craig Daniels

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global technology leader, Infosys – headquartered in Bangalore but present and

active across the world – is busy not just conquering the cloud services arena, but taking its customers with it. Even at the size it is now, as a multinational tech giant, Infosys continues to hold the hands of its clients and collaborate in order to create bespoke solutions which benefit all parties. And at the heart of the business are brilliant experts pushing the agenda that community is key.

Umashankar Lakshmipathy heads up the cloud, infrastructure and security services line businesses across the EMEA region as Senior Vice President & Regional Head, as well as being responsible for

providers, and drives joint go-to-market

the localisation of Infosys in Europe, and

with them. He’s been with Infosys for 13

the Bucharest-based technology hub. He

years and, in his words, it’s been consist-

started his 30-year career as a desktop

ently exciting.

engineer, and his entire working life has

For both Lakshmipathy and Adya, cloud

been around cloud and infrastructure. He

is a way of life, and a foundational pillar in

came to the UK in 2001 to set up an infra-

the digital transformation of any business.

structure services business, and he’s been

Digital transformation has never been

with Infosys for a decade.

more important; it was forging forward

Anant Adya, based in Dallas, Texas,

even without COVID-19, but the pandemic

heads up the cloud, infrastructure and

has accelerated its march to a startling

security services line, as Senior Vice

degree. So why exactly is cloud so vital?

President and Business Head. He is also

For Lakshmipathy, cloud is no longer

responsible for working with Infosys part-

something unreachable – it’s fully landed.

ners in digital working, whether hyperscalers or private cloud providers, SaaS I nfosys

“It’s now a very mature service line offering from a system integrator,” he

says. “Cloud has enabled digital transformation, but cloud has also grown within its clients. It used to be an enabler for enterprises to do things in a very OpExcentric way, but now, it’s not only about cost savings, but faster time-to-market, and taking what the client used to struggle with to a much broader platform.

That’s the hybrid nature of cloud.”

Cloud maturity Certainly, cloud is now mature enough that few doubts about its effectiveness and necessity remain, but that wasn’t the case until recently. “A few years back, most customers were looking at cloud

Umashankar Lakshmipathy Senior Vice President and Business Head of Cloud, Infrastructure & Security Services, Infosys EMEA Lakshmipathy is the Senior Vice President & Regional Head, Infosys Limited for the Cloud, Infrastructure and Security business and is a member of the European Leadership team. He is responsible for the entire EMEA market and is based in London. He joined Infosys in 2010 and has led the cloud, security and infrastructure business. In this period he has tripled the revenues and added Marque clients to the portfolio across all Industry segments. www.theinterface.net

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and saying, ‘I don’t want to be in the business of running data centres’,” says Adya.

“But, as we started maturing in that space – and now with the pandemic – the real need for digital transformation and how cloud and AI can contribute to that are coming into play.”

It’s about resilience, according to Adya, and business continuity and security, both for existing businesses which have been reliant on legacy systems and are being disrupted, and for startups who want to be the disruptors.

Introducing: Infosys Cobalt For Infosys, the drive towards digital transformation has culminated in the creation of Cobalt, its exciting new innovation – the first of its kind cloud services

Anant Adya Senior Vice President and Business Head of Cloud, Infrastructure & Security Services, Infosys Adya is responsible for growth of the CIS service line in the Americas and Asia Pacific regions for Infosys. In his 25 years of professional experience, he has worked closely with many global clients to help define and build their cloud and infrastructure strategies from design to execution.

Currently, he works with customers on their Cloud powered digital transformation journey. He defines digital transformation as focusing on cost and agility to help customers’ market responsiveness and improve resiliency. He is also responsible for several GTM strategies and works with the service offerings teams, CEOs, innovation ecosystem and, most importantly, strategic partners. www.theinterface.net

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brand. “We had a lot of services and a lot

how we should integrate all the services

of solutions across a lot of platforms,”

that we offer in the cloud space and bring

says Lakshmipathy. “So, we wanted an

it under one umbrella, so everybody’s

initiative to bring all of this together. The

working towards one goal. It’s important

enterprise landscape is a combination of

to remember that cloud isn’t just about

multiple public clouds, one or more private

technology – we talk about cloud in terms

clouds, and legacy systems. To deliver

of how we can bring value based on the

on the digital transformation agenda, we

30 years of experience we have serving

saw an opportunity to help our clients by

the customer. We were the first company

bringing all our cloud assets together –

in the world to launch a brand – Cobalt –

services, industry solutions and platforms

around cloud services.”

– to help accelerate their cloud journey. Infosys Cobalt is helping our clients

Productivity and profitability

amplify innovation.”

Alongside the end-to-end streamlining

“We wanted to bring some method to

of all processes, Infosys Cobalt delivers

this whole narrative of cloud,” says Adya.

major benefits in two areas for custom-

“Last March, we started thinking about

ers: productivity and profitability. In terms

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of productivity, Adya gives an example of a case study which says it all. “This is a healthcare company in the payer space, so these are the guys who actually pay

LEADERS, LIKE US, WE’RE ALWAYS THINKING: HOW DO WE INNOVATE? HOW DO WE REMAIN CONSISTENT? — U m as h a nka r L a ks h m i pat hy

the claims for patients,” he explains. “They keep acquiring new states, and two years ago, it used to take nine-to-12 months to onboard a new state, because as soon as they won a deal they’d have to set up the infrastructure, an app, test it, enhance it, and so on. It was hugely expensive, time-consuming, and they weren’t able to make money quickly. In 2018 we created a template for their platform to run on Azure, and it cut the implementation and onboarding timeline to six weeks.”

An incredible feat for something

Senior Vice President and

that used to take upwards of a year. It

Business Head of Cloud,

stands to reason, then, that with this

Infrastructure & Security Services, Infosys

astounding boost in productivity comes increased profitability, for both Infosys and its customers – a win/win situation.

Additionally, those using Infosys Cobalt become part of what the Infosys team calls the ‘Cobalt community’ – something which boasts many benefits.

Cobalt cloud community “We have something called the Infosys Innovation Network, where we look at what trends are coming up in various industries – retail, manufacturing, healthcare, etc.,” Adya explains. “For example, retailers are 9

WE WANTED TO BRING SOME METHOD TO THIS WHOLE NARRATIVE OF CLOUD — Umash an kar L aksh mip athy Senior Vice President and Business Head of Cloud, Infrastructure & Security Services, Infosys

all about what they call frictionless check-

for other solutions that are available in the

outs right now, like the Apple Store has.

market, which we can take and integrate as

For healthcare, it’s vaccine distribution

part of a larger ecosystem.”

and management. We spot these trends and we start working with customers in

Becoming cloud native

terms of creating new products to take to

Offerings like Cobalt are the reason why

the market, and this is the Cobalt cloud

cloud is easier than ever to adopt, and

community, which has what we call tech

mean that customers don’t need to have

innovators and business innovators. It’s

a strong understanding of it to implement

a brilliant community because it helps

it – but it does help. “Cloud is a board

you spot trends that are going to come to

agenda,” says Lakshmipathy, “so execu-

market then pick them up quickly and roll

tives at every level understanding cloud is

solutions out to market.

a boon for a systems integrator like us. The

“Let’s assume a customer comes in

big advantage of becoming cloud native

and says, ‘I have a business problem and

is that, today, more and more applications

I want you to help me with it’, but the solu-

are being designed and engineered for

tion doesn’t exist. We’d partner with that

the cloud. A few years ago, the thought

customer to co-create a solution for a

process of application vendors used to be,

business model defined by them. Plus, the

‘how do I create a functionally strong appli-

Cobalt cloud community keeps looking

cation?’ But that is now a given. If you don’t

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have a functionally strong application,

more than what it was, so we have to

nobody is going to buy it because there’s

educate the customer that security cannot

so much variety available.”

be an afterthought – it’s embedded into the

For the stragglers that are still not

design of whatever you do. You wouldn’t

entirely onboard with cloud, what’s the

build a house and then say, ‘let me now find

hold-up? Often, the problem is distrust,

out if I should add a lock and key to this

which is rooted in security fears. However,

house’ – you think about what kind of lock

“security is not an afterthought,” says

and key you want at the start.”

Lakshmipathy. “It’s part of the architecture right from the start, so there’s no longer

Great power – greater responsibility

any defense for people saying, ‘I can’t go to

As a leader in its industry – as not only

cloud because it’s not secure’.”

the originator of a cloud services brand,

Adya adds that, “it’s a very holistic

Infosys Cobalt, but the creator of the

approach that we take when we talk about

world’s largest cloud community that helps

security. Since the pandemic, if you look

its customers lead in their own fields – the

at security in general, some of the stats

onus is now on the business to remain

we’re seeing are mind-boggling, whether

ahead of the game. Not that Lakshmipathy

it’s about ransomware attacks, phishing or

or Adya are concerned about this at all.

spam emails. The number of spam emails

Infosys was recently recognised as a

that come post-pandemic is 300-400%

leader in the Forrester Wave Multicloud 11

INDUSTRY SOLUTIONS AND NEW TECHNOLOGY ARE OUR FOCUS, AND WE’RE EXTREMELY GOOD AT THAT — A n ant Ad ya Senior V i ce President a nd B u s in es s Head of Cloud, Inf rast r u ct ure & Security Ser v i ces , I nfosys

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Managed Service Providers Q4 2020, further cementing its position about its competitors.

“We’re thrilled to be in the leaders’ quadrant, but how do you consistently innovate in order to stay there?” Lakshmipathy asks.

“Leaders, like us, we’re always thinking: how do we innovate? How do we remain consistent? That’s the great advantage of Infosys. I’ve worked here for 10 years and the advantage we have is it’s a company with a strong philosophy of learnability.

Our next generation, cloud-based talent and learning experience platform, Infosys Wingspan, part of Infosys Cobalt, is available to all our 240,000+ users, it’s a fullyscaled training platform, and we can train 7,000 to 8,000 people at any one time.”

Cobalt itself is one major manifestation of Infosys’s ability to innovate, and to share that innovation within a community.

It brings together the engineering assets, business assets, knowledge assets and learning framework necessary for both Infosys and its customers to continuously build and adapt, because that’s simply part of the company’s culture. “Anybody can say, ‘I’m going to create a multi-cloud platform’, but what we’ve built is a community culture,” Lakshmipathy says.

“The community aspect is what really differentiates Cobalt and Infosys,” adds Adya. “The second big difference is the 13

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assets we have, which mean we can create

solutions for different sectors, as well as a

bespoke solutions without reinventing

customer care solution called Cortex, and

the wheel, and the third is security, which

a healthcare solution in conjunction with

is fully embedded in our design. When a

a leading hyperscaler. “There are a lot of

customer embarks on a cloud or digital

these industry solutions we’re launching

journey, they should be able to sleep easy

with the hyperscalers,” says Adya, “where

without worrying about security.”

we are partnering with them and going

Since Cobalt launched, Infosys isn’t

directly to the market. Industry solutions

exactly resting on its laurels. It’s currently

and new technology are our focus, and

working on a go-to-market strategy with

we’re extremely good at that.”

partners that will focus on four cloud 15