Incoming TCS CEO K Krithivasan may spend first year meeting customers

Synopsis The CEO may spend much of the next six months on the road, meeting customers as he settles into the role. That will help him execute the customer-centricity task set by the TCS board headed by N Chandrasekaran, who’s also Tata Sons chairman. ETtech Incoming TCS CEO K Krithivasan Incoming Tata Consultancy Services ( TCS ) CEO K Krithivasan has been mandated to focus on customers, arrest attrition and make the $28 billion IT company an employer of choice in a challenging global business scenario, said highly placed executives close to the development.

The CEO may spend much of the next six months on the road, meeting customers as he settles into the role. That will help him execute the customer-centricity task set by the TCS board headed by N Chandrasekaran, who’s also Tata Sons chairman. Krithivasan, it is envisaged, will meet customers personally to get a direct sense of the market slowdown and tweak growth plans or the organisational structure if necessary, said the persons cited above.

Krithivasan officially takes charge on June 1 but has been active in the role along with incumbent Rajesh Gopinathan, whose surprise departure to pursue other interests was announced last month . His successor will have to be a more front-facing leader. The incoming CEO will have a tough task in the coming months as the management commentary on near-term demand was among its weakest in recent history, excluding the initial months of the pandemic.

“Krithivasan will first hit the road most of the year to get a first-hand interaction of what the customer wants in a dynamic market situation,” said one of the persons. “That will sharpen his growth strategy in terms of making TCS ready for forthcoming challenges and Gopinathan is helping with the transition . Krithivasan also will intensify connect with employees and the softer aspects of his role will play out.

” As a “dramatically expanding organisation, it is critical for a hands-on employee and customer-connect to the CEO’s role,” said another person. Discover the stories of your interest Blockchain 5 Stories Cyber-safety 7 Stories Fintech 9 Stories E-comm 9 Stories ML 8 Stories Edtech 6 Stories The feedback from customers will be conveyed to employees in order to gear up for the changes ahead. This exercise is also about looking at the growth opportunities for TCS and its customers stemming from new technologies such as generative AI, an executive said.

There could be a tweaking of the structure if needed to gear up for market changes once Krithivasan completes the customer interface over the next few months. Krithivasan, who joined TCS in 1989, has been in several leadership roles in delivery, customer relationship management, large programme management and sales at the company. TCS did not comment.

“Every CEO of TCS will be compared to his predecessors,” said one person. “Chandrasekaran as CEO used to travel over 200 days a year to build equations with clients. He was both humane and demanding, a combination seen as important to raise employee productivity and morale.

” The chairman mentioned this recently during the launch of a book by S Ramadorai, another former CEO of TCS. “Running a global company is not easy,” said Chandrasekaran, who was TCS CEO from 2009 to 2017. “It’s very demanding.

I used to travel 200 days a year. It’s very difficult to create a culture unless you meet people. And you’re operating in different markets, hiring people in different markets, each market has its own culture, how do you blend the TCS culture into those cultures?” TCS, the cash cow of the Tata Group, has over 624,000 employees across the globe.

It generates more than 30% of its revenue from the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) segment and another 10% from banking-related products and platform offerings. The company sounded a cautious note about the demand environment while announcing its annual and fourth-quarter results last week, citing uncertainty in the North American and BFSI market After Gopinathan took on the mantle of CEO from Chandrasekaran, TCS had to grapple with Covid-induced isolation as did other corporates. “So in that sense, two years post-2020 also was a period of online interaction with clients and customers.

Post-Covid has also been a period of dynamic market changes in terms of global business scenarios and talent expectations,” said one of the executives. TCS revenue saw compounded growth of 13% over the past three years to Rs 2. 25 lakh crore in FY23, while net profit rose 9.

24% during this period to Rs 42,303 crore. In FY22, TCS contributed nearly half the Tata Group’s net profit of Rs 80,000 crore. Owing to its steadfast market leadership position and best-in-class execution, the company has maintained its industry-leading margin and demonstrated superior return ratios, analysts said.

TCS stock has declined 13% in the past year compared with a 23% decline in Infosys and a 22% drop in Tech Mahindra . India’s second-most valuable company, with a market value of Rs 11. 3 lakh crore, contributes 54% of the Tata Group’s overall market cap compared with 58% in March last year.

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