HFS Highlight: Infosys SCALEs its engineering services with the connected digital eco-system

In early March 2021, HFS attended the “Infosys Engineering Services Analysts and Advisors Meet” to get a preview of the Infosys Engineering Services’ landscape. Interacting with the Infosys leadership and its engineering clients, we got a view of how the company scaled its engineering services through a digital paradigm, the role of cloud in engineering services, and how they empowered clients with core engineering. With more than 25 years of engineering experience, over 300 clients, 14500 professionals across 34 nationalities, and more than 40 global delivery centers, Infosys has built an engineering function that fetches over $1 billion in annual revenues. The engineering capability is bolstered by its strong focus on engineering innovation, as demonstrated by its 30 labs and 150 patents.

In this report, we discuss the overall strategy and client conversations of Infosys Engineering Services.

Infosys’ engineering growth strategy is centered around the “SCALE” framework.

Infosys has identified five critical tenets for its future engineering services growth. Exhibit 1 shows the “SCALE” framework.

Exhibit 1: The “SCALE” Framework

Source: Infosys

1. Smart and Connected: Enabling products and assets (for example, devices, vehicles, mines) to become connected and smart. Infosys’ acquisition of Kaleidoscope Innovation is a key enabler.
2. Engineering Cost Takeout: Helping enterprises to reduce engineering costs through consolidation, automation, and transformation.
3. As-A-Service Economy: Promoting a service economy across engineering engagements, such as a new pricing model based on usage or outcome. For example, the Infosys Daimler deal involves a massive infrastructure overhaul and migration to a hybrid cloud environment with significant workplace services moving to a consumption model. It strengthens Infosys’ presence in the automotive sector and allows Daimler to focus on its core engineering and digital capabilities.
4. Agile- Live Engineering: Increasing software application across engineering products through data-driven methodologies and processes.
5. Ecosystem Integration: Collaboration with ecosystem players for value realization. For example, Infosys partners with Microsoft and Johnson Control to deliver smart buildings and spaces solutions.

Infosys empowers its clients across several industries to achieve their business outcomes through its end-to-end engineering services offerings.

Infosys demonstrated several examples around its “SCALE” framework and touched upon the different engineering services areas by showcasing client projects.

• Product management and cost take out for an end-to-end unified communications product delivery for a leading OEM: The client reduced operation costs by 90% and utilized a hyper-productive team. Their unified communications product, for which Infosys helped refactor legacy code, got accredited by a global security compliance certification provider. This significantly increased the maintainability, performance, and scalability of the product.
• Smart spaces and sustainability element of the digital workplace transformation framework for RXR Realty: Infosys helped RXR build a smart digital space solution to enable a high occupancy rate. The client could identify an enormous opportunity by enabling physical spaces to become smart digital spaces through a joint “Go to Market” on the “RxWell platform.”
• Smart connected products for advanced robotics systems: Infosys developed intelligent robots operated via Wi-Fi /cellular/ RF remote communication, eliminating the need for humans to put themselves at risk while increasing the high tension cable’s conductivity. This project is expected to save USD 8 billion due to reduced transmission losses and USD 25 billion by eliminating new cables’ need.
• Live engineering and R&D for turnkey product development for a leading Japanese manufacturer: Infosys optimized the interference board system’s cost by unifying two boards into one through design, saving 30% on the highest item cost. Infosys used silicon molding for all casting and plastic parts, thus saving 70% cost on prototyping. Infosys optimized electronic component selection and used optimum processes and material for mechanical parts leading to an overall cost reduction of 35%.
• Smart and connected product: Infosys used its Smart and connected product element of the SCALE framework for an industrial dry ice blaster for the cold jet. Infosys developed an environmentally conscious design for removing sand from sandblasting.

Bottom Line: Infosys’ capability to understand the client landscape and provide relevant, customized solutions to serve the needs is the key differentiator of its engineering services.

Infosys has the capability to handle complex business scenarios and deliver viable solutions to enable product innovation – from concept, design, build, manufacture, operate, and maintain. Often, we observe almost identical capabilities across engineering service providers, and so the differentiator is to provide a customized solution with a strong focus on business outcomes. With its extensive experience and capability of applying cutting-edge technology for integrated product development, enabling connected systems, machines, and processes, and transforming traditional network models to advanced, secure, and reliable network infrastructure, Infosys can deliver such outcomes. Daimler is one such example.