Gearing Up for 2010: Infosys Has a Big Week
Tallying the headlines from December 13-19, the most featured company in outsourcing news was Infosys (NasdaqGS: INFY). The company has appeared back to back in news bits and clips all over the world and it seems like the company is revving up their strategies for the coming new year.
The India based company stated on the 16th of December that they’ve been looking to acquire a technology firm to add to the company’s already considerable subsidiaries as a new venture. The company has actually been looking since last year. If you’ll recall, Infosys tried to buy Axon group last year in a ‘bidding war’, but lost the deal to HCL Technologies (NSE: HCLTECH.NS). As of now the company is still actively scouting for possible prospects for this venture, and is just keeping their cash on hand, $3 billion or thereabouts, for when they do. Meanwhile they’ve invested some of their earnings into launching another subsidiary in Dallas, Texas on the 14th of December, which will be focusing on winning government and federal contracts, much like the strategy employed by Wipro (NYSE: WIT) and TCS (NSE: TCS.NS). If done successfully, this should prove profitable for the company, as the US is no stingy customer. Last year alone, US government spending for government contracts reached $500 billion.
Aside from acquisition of government contracts, Infosys is also branching out into the insurance market with two recent developments on the 13th of December. First, the company signed a partnership with the Institutes of Insurance, the American Institute for Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter and the Insurance Institute of America, to offer co-branded certification in collaboration in order to enhance quality and service. In line with this, Infosys has been planning on entering the UK insurance market through its recently acquired technological company, McCamish Systems. Through the partnership with the Institutes, Infosys can ensure training and certification for insurance agents of the company, and allow them to distinguish themselves from the competition, including the UK insurance market.
Meanwhile in Latin America, the company announced on the 16th of December that they’ve acquired another development center in Brazil, which is now the company’s first wholly-owned facility. The new facility will be catering to the Latin America clients of the company and will be offering a multitude of services associated with the company such as banking, finance and information technology. On the same day, Infosys also announced that they’ve partnered with Philips (NYSE: PHG) Latin America, to offer a suite of services to Philips. With the development center in place and a new partnership to boot, Infosys’ reach into the Latin America’s is fairly secure.
Considering that there’ve been these many developments in a span of days, it can be surmised that Infosys is getting ready, expanding its markets all over the world. For this week, its beginning focus on North America, Latin America and the UK, as well as expanding and improving the quality of their business, who knows what next week will bring for Infosys as it expands globally. It will be interesting to watch how these strategies will pan out for them this 2010.
Author: Audrey B.
Tags: American Institute for Chartered Property Casualty Unde, BPO, HCL Technologies, Infosys, INFY, Institutes of Insurance, Insurance Institute of America, McCamish Systems, Offshoring, Outsourcing, Philips, TCS, Wipro
January 5th, 2010 at 4:42 am
It’s no surprise that Infosys has been keeping itself busy in preparing for what 2010 may bring in business and profit. This hectic sense of urgency could be the very thing that could bring Infosys the advantage through the year of expected economic recovery.
January 7th, 2010 at 3:28 am
That’s true. Especially with the downturn in outsourcing in India, companies over there have to work twice as hard now compared with their overseas counterparts. It’s also a good strategy for them to be extending globally, establishing ‘roots’ so to speak.