It has been quite a start to 2020, and we’re barely out of January! China reported its first death from an unknown type of coronavirus; basketball legend Kobe Bryant, his daughter, and seven others were killed in a helicopter crash (#mambaforever); and more than 50 bushfires are still burning across Australia.

In the face of these novel and unpredictable events, one constant remains: our age-old desire to manage change.

Evolving to both survive and thrive was the theme of Infosys APAC Confluence 2020. The firm is centering its go-to-market strategy on:

  • Enabling the live enterprise. As positioned by Infosys, the live enterprise is many things, including a concept, an operating model, and a technology platform. Enabling firms to better adapt to fast-changing business dynamics is a laudable goal, but the lack of clarity on what exactly the live enterprise is will hinder uptake. To deliver on the vision, Infosys must clarify how it will integrate its many separate capabilities — tech consulting, design, and services — to deliver value.
  • Enhancing digital capabilities and skills. Infosys continues to augment its strength in digital talent training and development by investing in its people: In order to scale agile, Infosys is reskilling its current workforce (through the Infosys Leadership Institute) and hiring new talent (1,200 new employees in Australia) to build its broader digital capabilities. But creating new digital capabilities won’t be enough; Infosys will need to build a culture that empowers and allows employees to challenge boundaries (and clients) and innovate.
  • Bringing tech and business closer together. Infosys announced the new C+C Award to recognize and celebrate the collaboration between the CMO and CIO. This came on the back of the firm’s acquisition of creative agency WONGDOODY in April 2018 to enhance Infosys’ creative, branding, and customer experience capabilities. It’s great to see Infosys’ growing desire to engage marketing and sales teams while maintaining a close relationship with tech departments. But to succeed with CMOs, Infosys must not only strengthen its experience design services but also deliver on a compelling digital experience strategy (focused on vision, execution, and partner ecosystem).
  • Lead with purpose. Infosys made a clear effort to display a sense of purpose at the Melbourne event; guest speaker John Maclean was incredibly inspiring. Sustainability is one of Infosys’ key corporate values. But it must do more. Customers and employees are looking for alignment between a business’s values and their own beliefs when choosing brands to affiliate with and work for. Diversity at the executive level is one example. While Infosys is committed to gender diversity, there wasn’t a single female executive presenting at Confluence 2020. The opportunity — and challenge — for Infosys is to identify which company values define its business; where firm, customer, and employee values align; and when and how to promote its values through words and deeds.

The messages at Confluence were positive and demonstrated Infosys’ desire and commitment to help clients adapt to change — but the real proof will lie in how the firm fulfills its vision.