TCS CEO Rajesh Gopinathan says company to accelerate growth and master digital technology
BENGALURU: Rajesh Gopinathan, who took charge as chief executive officer of TCS on Tuesday, said the IT major will accelerate growth and master digital technology to stay ahead in a fast changing world.
The company’s leadership strength, along with its scale and expertise, will help TCS sustain and evolve its strategy, Gopinathan said in his first email to employees as CEO.
He takes over at a time of significant change for the Indian IT sector, with all companies reworking their business model to survive automation and protectionist tendencies in their major markets.
"In every industry, the technology leverage is increasing and we will use our scale and expertise to drive growth. Our customers are now competing on time horizon of days and weeks and, internally, we have to do the same to stay relevant to them," Gopinathan said in the email.
ET has a copy of the email.
"At the heart of this journey will be our willingness and ability to embrace new knowledge continuously. We can be proud that more than 200,000 TCSers have leveraged the digital learning platform,” he said, highlighting the impact that digital technologies is having on the company and the need to reskill. “We must now aim to go deeper and further and become champions of digital," he said.
Revenue from digital technologies currently contributes about 16% to TCS’ overall top line.
Gopinathan also reassured employees about the strength of the company’s management team. "The leadership team at TCS has worked together for a very long time. I can say emphatically that very few companies in our industry have such strength at the top as we do," he said.
Analysts have said that there could be changes in the TCS top executives as the normal part of any management change. TCS has over 20 ‘mini CEOs’ most of whom run units with several hundred million dollars in revenue. The decentralised management structure was put in place in 2009.
TCS now has a chief operating officer in NG Subramaniam, who was appointed at the same time Gopinathan was made CEO. Gopinathan, who is TCS’ fourth CEO, takes over from N Chandrasekaran who has become Tata Sons chairman.
In an interview to ET last week, Gopinathan highlighted how he has been working with Chandrasekaran to prepare to take charge of the Tata Group’s cash cow.
"From January 12 to now, which is about four weeks or so, I have spent two weeks travelling to Europe and the US, and went to Singapore for a day, trying to get as much time in front of the clients as possible. Half of it we did together, or more than half," he said. "Some I did with NGS and some with the various business unit heads. So we are trying to reach out to the customers, establish that connect. Nothing beats that. The bulk of the time has gone in that."
Gopinathan said the company was also looking at strategy to determine how to deal with the H-1B visa issue, though he insisted it would not be as great a problem as people fear.
Analysts have worried that the top management change at TCS could complicate the company’s task of navigating one of the most difficult periods from the Indian IT sector. Last week, the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) said outlook was so uncertain that it would defer issuing the growth guidance for the industry until May.
Chandrasekaran has said he would always be available to the company to ensure it does not lose momentum. “I am not going away. I am very much around. I will continue to be involved with strategy. I will provide as much support, cover...whatever you call it. These guys can reach out to me anytime,” he said.
The company’s leadership strength, along with its scale and expertise, will help TCS sustain and evolve its strategy, Gopinathan said in his first email to employees as CEO.
He takes over at a time of significant change for the Indian IT sector, with all companies reworking their business model to survive automation and protectionist tendencies in their major markets.
"In every industry, the technology leverage is increasing and we will use our scale and expertise to drive growth. Our customers are now competing on time horizon of days and weeks and, internally, we have to do the same to stay relevant to them," Gopinathan said in the email.
ET has a copy of the email.
"At the heart of this journey will be our willingness and ability to embrace new knowledge continuously. We can be proud that more than 200,000 TCSers have leveraged the digital learning platform,” he said, highlighting the impact that digital technologies is having on the company and the need to reskill. “We must now aim to go deeper and further and become champions of digital," he said.
Revenue from digital technologies currently contributes about 16% to TCS’ overall top line.
Gopinathan also reassured employees about the strength of the company’s management team. "The leadership team at TCS has worked together for a very long time. I can say emphatically that very few companies in our industry have such strength at the top as we do," he said.
Analysts have said that there could be changes in the TCS top executives as the normal part of any management change. TCS has over 20 ‘mini CEOs’ most of whom run units with several hundred million dollars in revenue. The decentralised management structure was put in place in 2009.
TCS now has a chief operating officer in NG Subramaniam, who was appointed at the same time Gopinathan was made CEO. Gopinathan, who is TCS’ fourth CEO, takes over from N Chandrasekaran who has become Tata Sons chairman.
In an interview to ET last week, Gopinathan highlighted how he has been working with Chandrasekaran to prepare to take charge of the Tata Group’s cash cow.
"From January 12 to now, which is about four weeks or so, I have spent two weeks travelling to Europe and the US, and went to Singapore for a day, trying to get as much time in front of the clients as possible. Half of it we did together, or more than half," he said. "Some I did with NGS and some with the various business unit heads. So we are trying to reach out to the customers, establish that connect. Nothing beats that. The bulk of the time has gone in that."
Gopinathan said the company was also looking at strategy to determine how to deal with the H-1B visa issue, though he insisted it would not be as great a problem as people fear.
Analysts have worried that the top management change at TCS could complicate the company’s task of navigating one of the most difficult periods from the Indian IT sector. Last week, the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) said outlook was so uncertain that it would defer issuing the growth guidance for the industry until May.
Chandrasekaran has said he would always be available to the company to ensure it does not lose momentum. “I am not going away. I am very much around. I will continue to be involved with strategy. I will provide as much support, cover...whatever you call it. These guys can reach out to me anytime,” he said.
