Infosys - Global Growth with a Conscience by Jim Pinto

Infosys is one of the largest software companies in the world - 69,000 people, revenues (fiscal-year 2006-07) about $ 3B, NASDAQ market-cap about $ 30B, continuing strong growth.

During a family visit to Bangalore, India last month (Feb. 2007) I visited Infosys' corporate headquarters along with my brother John Pinto and nephew Deepak Pinto (3 Pintos together).

We were welcomed in the main corporate office building, the same one where Tom Friedman of the N.Y. Times was introduced to this unusual company in a way that impressed him enough to inspire the concept of his bestselling book, "The World is Flat". We too saw the impressive multi-media presentation on 3 giant TV screens in front of us, and below a lighted map of the entire campus which houses some 15,000 people in a vast building complex. Like Tom Friedman, we were impressed.

I like to pose rapid-fire questions, which I did on many different topics – technical, financial, marketing, sales distribution, recruitment, motivation, etc. All were answered with passionate directness. The remarkable thing was that questions to each person were answered directly - no hesitation, no sideways glances to look for the senior manager's approval. I was impressed.

We went on a tour. I've visited the Microsoft campus in Redmond, WA. and Google's campus in Mountain View, CA. Infosys' was larger and more impressive. Considering that we had just come through Bangalore traffic through the overcrowded highways, the contrast was nothing short of amazing. Here were beautiful streets between many huge, impressively architected buildings in park-like surroundings reminiscent of a university setting. We were ferried around in one of several golf-cart-like cars – it was clearly too far to walk. Employees simply took any available bicycle from several bicycle racks to ride between buildings.

There were swimming pools and tennis courts, set amidst lawns and impeccable landscaping. There were pool tables and exercise machines, with restaurants and banks with ATM machines. This was truly the heart of Bangalore's "Electronic City". At the end of our visit, we were taken to the company store where we could select any Infosys-logo product as a gift to commemorate our visit. I wear my shirt to show off my Infosys connections.

Infosys' founders have laid the groundwork for strong growth to continue over the next several years. My complete article on this significant company has been published by Automation.com as part of their continuing Corporate Culture series. (weblink below)

Why does the title include, "with a conscience" ? Hey, read the article...