Change of guard at Infosys: Can new CEO Vishal Sikka lift embattled company?

Mumbai: Vishal Sikka has been appointed as the new CEO of Infosys. Narayana Murthy will step down from this post on June 14, 2014

Sikka completed his schooling from Rosary High School, Baroda where his father worked as an officer in Indian Railways. He also completed his BS in Computer Science from Syracuse University and his doctorate from Stanford University in artificial intelligence as well.

As per official reports, Vishal Sikka is a well- known figure among the Silicon Valley elite and was the closest to Hasso Plattner, founder of SAP.

Certain facts you need to know about Vishal Sikka are given below:

• Sikka previously had joined SAP in 2002 to head the advanced technology group responsible for strategic innovative projects.
• By 2007, he was named the first CTO at SAP. He took up the responsibility to manage production of SAP products and innovation.
• In 2008, Sikka discussed with Hasso Plattner, SAP's founder that he wanted out of the company and work on newer technological areas which were affecting data computation speed. Plattner, in turn challenged Sikka to intellectually renew SAP and gave him a free hand in doing so, according to sources.
• Media reports also said that Sikka's exit from SAP has shaken the company. A Business Insider article said that Sikka is a victim of power struggle in the company.
• Sikka was seen as an American Executive in the company and Plattner's man in the company. European board members, customers and big investors were concerned about how SAP was increasing becoming an American company, especially since the current CEO is an American, Bill McDermott.

Being appointed by Infosys, Vishal Sikka is expected to introduce new innovative projects in the IT sector as well. As Sikka lead the development of the HANAproduct, that was the quickest to reach $1 billion in sales in the company's history. SAP is now focusing all its efforts on that database product.

As SAP was on the Internet-based 'cloud' platform long back with mySAP.com, Sikka knows how to bring in smart innovations. He will also be able to make Infosys a cloud ready platform.

As per official reports, ‘The National Association for Software and Services Companies expects the industry's revenue to reach $300 billion by 2020, growth that will have to come in from investments in intellectual property and new solutions around the cloud and analytics.’ Having a wide network with different Industry heads. Not ignoring the fact that he is in contact with the 1000 Fortune professionals, Sikka is definitely capable of bringing more business to Infosys. Bringing in several business ideas on board

Infosys had already begun to invest in what it called the 3.0 strategy and Sikka's appointment is expected to boost that business.