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How I Saved the Day

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Phaneesh Murthy,
CEO, iGATE Global Solutions
Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it,” said Michael Jordan, the legendary basketball player.

A memorable saying to recall when faced with a significant business challenge; like the one I encountered in 1995, while at Infosys.

At that time, GE was Infosys’ largest customer, contributing approximately 38 percent to the company’s revenues. It was the key growth period for the company. A phase when the kind of projects being executed was leading to the maturity of the organization, and skills and capabilities were being enhanced.

The GE contract was coming up for renewal. However, as the terms of renewal were not mutually agreeable, Infosys was certain to loose the GE account in the next 6 to 9 months.

The consequence of this eventuality looked disastrous. Not only would the top line take a big hit, it would also mean a large bench and half vacant buildings in the new 5 acre campus the company was moving into. For me it was a whammy, as I had just taken over as the Head of Sales.

What I did that year would determine how Infosys would fare immediately and in the future years to come.

I realized that proactive management, focus on the right issues, and an unambiguous internal communication was the key to circumvent the crisis.

Since a 38 percent revenue-contributing customer can threaten the survivability of the company, I proactively called on all our customers, informed them of our decision to conclude our relationship with GE, and sought their support.

Thankfully, their response was positive. They agreed to give us more work and provide reference. What helped was proactive communication. It also taught me an important lesson, that, however bad the news, customers would rather hear it from you.

While managing the severance was a challenging task, more pressing was the urgent need to bring in at least half a dozen new clients of significant size capable of absorbing people as they started rolling off from GE projects. As this called for a strong focus, I did two things. To begin with, I sharpened our service offerings and message, and got on the road to meet numerous prospects.

I also priced deals aggressively. This was really important as new customers that came in became the core set, responsible for fueling the growth for the future, besides picking up resources as they came about.
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Comment 1: By Kripa Shanker Gupta on 6th Apr 2012
Dear Phaneesh,
The great lessons for Business developers and leaders to face the challenges in coming days. Thanks for sharing.
Dr KS Gupta, Expert on Empowerment and Human Mins Reprogramming.
Comment 2: By Jolin Thakore on 26th Mar 2012
Satyam and Tcs got all GE projects there after i believe
Comment 3: By Ajai Antony Kolarikal on 8th Aug 2011
Patni...

whether this acquisition decision is a rt decision at 2015.

Or Whether u will regret for this at 2015.



Comment 4: By Ajai Antony Kolarikal on 8th Aug 2011
Patni...

whether this acquisition decision is a rt decision at 2015.

Or Whether u will regret for this at 2015.



Comment 5: By Thyaga V on 28th Jun 2010
I am much more curious - which company received the GE contract after Infosys and did they manage it profitably ?

http://twitter.com/thyaga
Comment 6: By supraja gudiya on 6th Oct 2009
Happy morning sir...

"Never decrease your goal upto your ability,
rather increase your ability to achieve your goal."

Though this article was late 2 me, its really a great lesson taught to us by your experience....
Comment 7: By maruthi prasad on 15th Sep 2009
"The golden rule therefore is – communicate, communicate, and communicate."
Why don't many executives / supervisors learn this. It is the crux of anything in life, be it persons, software, business,entertainment or any other.
Thanks for sharing your experience and also leaving a lesson to be learnt that never give-up come what may. Face it head-on and one will succeed.

Regards,
M H Prasad
Banker.

Comment 8: By shekar bhaskar on 1st Sep 2009
Hello Mr. Murthy,
Thank you for sharing your real time experience which you faced being an Head-Sales. myself being a sales/BD person in IT company do understand how necessary is motivation reequired to keep going.
Would like to read more experience like this from legends like you.

Thank you.
Regards,
Shekar.
Comment 9: By SWARNESH PATHAK on 3rd Aug 2009
thats make a company ahead of all and prepare to take challenges
Comment 10: By Ramesh Kumar on 3rd Aug 2009
Mr.Phaneesh, the article striked me at the right time,really great to see your determination, focused mind.This will be a motivational GITA for a sales guy like me.

Ramesh
TTK services
Comment 11: By Arun Jain on 24th Jul 2009
Its true that we are facing global recession but the impact is not seen in Indian market.Company like TCS are showing net profit.Its how to manage people and show cost cutting measures on different things instead of firing employees
Comment 12: By Amey Palyekar on 23rd Jun 2009
Great!!! an excellent demonstration of resilience and determination.
Comment 13: By R Arun Kumar on 23rd Jun 2009
Phaneesh,
Having worked with you during the more mature phase of Infosys growth, find this article not only inspirational but also insightful in terms of how some of the future success of Infosys came about. Thanks for sharing!
Arun
Comment 14: By Sunil Gandhi on 23rd Jun 2009
Excellent article Mr Murthy .. Very inspiring. Good to know real experience
Comment 15: By Abraham P Ruby on 22nd Jun 2009
Legends like you inspire millions. I wouls like to meet you some time because we are working on historiometrics to study the mindset of legends
Dr Abraham. P Ruby
indiasixthsense.com
Comment 16: By Sandeep G Kashyap on 15th Jun 2009
Awesome article. It is so encouraging.

Regards,
Sandeep G. Kashyap
Comment 17: By jiwesh shrivastva on 6th Feb 2009
Hi!its'a great practical lesson to all sales guys those are facing tremendous pressure due to 50-70%decline in sales .i am surely going to apply your technique .Thanks for this valuable sharing.
regards
jiwesh k shrivastava
Comment 18: By Amit Jain on 3rd Dec 2008
Nice one Mr.Murthy, It is very challenging to keep things calm on the horizons when things are fast changing. I personally look forward for hearing more from you.

:)

Amit Jain - MakeYourSoftware.com
Comment 19: By Geo George on 26th Nov 2008
Brilliant strategist - i expect you to be heading a new economy company soon- or a great start up

Cheers!
Comment 20: By Shree Rani Madalsa on 25th Nov 2008
Dear Puneesh Murthy,

I specifically like how you have phrased this paragraph "I also priced deals aggressively. This was really important as new customers that came in became the core set, responsible for fueling the growth for the future, besides picking up resources as they came about.'

Well put! Must remember the jest of this phrasing, when quoting estimates for project proposals.

Thank you very much. :-)

Shree Rani Madalsa

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