Well-rounded in a flattened world  ( June '14,2007, HBL)

Returning from work a few days ago, I saw an annual report waiting for me at home. I own a few shares in several companies, many of which I have purchased more in hope than after serious analysis, so I tend to ignore most of these reports that make t heir way home.

Yet, I had to take a look at the annual report that I received that day. It was the report of Infosys. Now, Infosys is a company I am fond of. I admire its promoters and never cease to compliment the company – not least of all because the company was sagacious enough to allot me 200 shares in its initial public offering.

The fact that I was not wise enough to hold on to all those shares for dear life is hardly the company’s problem and more an indication of my lack of sagacity. But that is fodder for another story. Back to the annual report and the intriguing line on its cover ‘Think Flat.’ This led me to wonder if this was the new position that the company was trying to appropriate.

The positioning of technology companies is always a greater challenge than that posed by consumer brands and the companies behind these brands.

Consumer brands have the benefit of the wisdom of creative agencies that bring forth their best planning and creative skills to crack the most complex of communication problems. They also have large ad budgets to splurge on . Their commercials are widely televised, often recalled, and their advertising positions clearly established.

Technology companies rarely, if ever, have this luxury. They seem to be pretty clear about what they stand for, but as for the rest of the world, I am not so sure it possesses the same level of clarity about these companies or what they stand for. This is probably why what Infosys has been doing over the years and what it is attempting to do now are worth considering.

Early days

Till the time of its public issue, Infosys as a company was barely known outside Koramangala (in Bangalore) where it had a small office. The public issue, which, surprisingly, was undersubscribed (a testimony to the wisdom of investors in the stock market), did serve the purpose of infusing much needed capital into the company. Infosys soon became a successful company.

In fact, if you asked people what the company was then, more often that not it was described as a ‘performer’. It performed for its clients, most of whom were outside the country.

It performed for shareholders like me who dared to dream that they could become millionaires, and it performed for its employees as well, many of whom benefited from the employee stock options that the promoters gave generously and also from the employee-friendly human relations policies of the management.

Yet, this position was not really for ever. The reason was not because Infosys stopped performing, but the fact that the performance was no longer a differentiator as several other software companies such as Satyam, Wipro and HCL Technologies too were performing successfully. Please remember that a position is useful to differentiate a brand from its competitors. A number of software companies were emerging as successful companies with good reputation for service delivery and the entire industry was classified as a sunrise sector.

Performance clearly was no longer a differentiator. So, what did Infosys do? How did it stand out from the myriad companies which could claim to be successful?

Without the benefit of advertising, they moved to another positioning orbit which in a sense embodies the core ideology of the company and its DNA, if you will.

One of the pillars of this ideology was the company’s desire to be a transparent, ethical company. This was embodied in the company’s tag line ‘Powered by intellect. Driven by values.’

People who are in advertising have a point of view (even if it changes with the view) on tag lines and I am no exception. The tag line would probably win no awards but is functional and states what the company prides itself on. The fact is that its people are bright and knowledgeable and its values are paramount in the running of the company.

The company substantiated the fact that it was an ethical company by adhering to global standards of propriety. It handled the sexual harassment case against one of its seniormost employees extremely well, turning what was a potential public relations disaster into an opportunity to demonstrate its ethical practices.

Its chief mentor N.R. Narayana Murthy spoke at various fora about ethics in management and as a result Infosys took the image high ground of an ethical company. I am sure that if you asked for brand associations with Infosys, most people would still say “ethical company” as the associations are really strong.

What about the customer?

Yet it is important to remember one important fact. The fact that a company is ethical does mean a lot to investors. It gives people like me the reassurance that the promoters will do their utmost to further the wealth of the corporation than their own individual wealth. It can also be a comfort factor for customers as they can expect the company not to short-change or over charge them. The customers can also be reassured by the fact that the people who are working on their account pride themselves on their intellect.

But in all fairness, while the tagline ‘Powered by intellect. Driven by Values’ embodies what the company stands for, it is not really a customer-focused positioning statement. And it is perhaps in this context that the ‘flat world’ position that Infosys is attempting has to be viewed.

Thomas Friedman who probably has done a lot more for building the India brand globally than several others through his bestselling book The World is Flat attributes the whole concept to a meeting he had with Nandan Nilekani of Infos ys and the new business model of global outsourcing. While ethics will always be a part of the DNA of Infosys, ‘flat world’ is a sharply defined statement with a customer focus. Today, most of Infosys’ customers are global. They have a choice of companies that they can deal with. They need more than a mere technology partner. They need someone who can transform their business using technology. Someone who can access global resources of people, someone who understands the changing marketing needs of companies globally. Infosys believes that it offers them the solution that they require. This position tries to reflect that in my opinion and is perhaps a lot more active than it is philosophical.

So what’s in it for us?

Organisations often have to deal with multiple audiences. They need investors to buy into their vision and their stocks. They need employees to buy into the dream and sign on the dotted line. They need customers who need to be loyal to them and continue to deal with them. And the expectations of each one of these audiences can be different. Can a catch-all positioning statement be equally relevant to all these audiences? Are companies aware of this? Are they fine tuning their messages? Do they have an overall philosophy that guides the company in its dealings with diverse audiences? More critically, are their strategies too lazily crafted or too expensive? Infosys spends very little on advertising and yet has managed to remain top-of-mind to relevant audiences. Is there a learning here for companies which do not have deep pockets?

(Ramanujam Sridhar is CEO of Brand-Comm.)