Infosys Technologies Ltd.: Growing Share of a Customer's Business SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
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Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Infosys Technologies Ltd.: Growing Share of a Customer's Business
Infosys Technologies Ltd. provides a full range of IT and consulting services. One of Infosys' major customers is Prairie Four Square Insurance (PFS). PFS maintains extensive and mission critical IT systems across the United States. Relentless pressure from Wall Street to cut costs dramatically prompted the PFS senior management to outsource offshore portions of its IT maintenance activities. A PFS "white paper" had indicated that the purchasing department was one area where IT could make significant contributions in lowering operating costs. PFS managers decided to forego their traditional "best of breed" approach to outsourcing in favor of a pilot test of single sourcing. Thus, PFS managers bundled all activities related to procurement process re-engineering, vendor selection, Ariba software customization, system installation and maintenance into a single project. PFS managers narrowed candidates for the project down to two consulting firms (i.e. Excalibur and Merrimac) plus Infosys. A win for Infosys would enable it to not only grow its share of PFS business but also expand the scope of its market offerings. Successful completion of the project, in turn, would increase the likelihood that PFS would turn to Infosys for other end-to-end IT solutions.
Swot Analysis of "Infosys Technologies Ltd.: Growing Share of a Customer's Business" written by James A. Narus, D.V.R. Seshadri includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Pfs Infosys facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Infosys Technologies Ltd.: Growing Share of a Customer's Business case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Marketing, Supply chain and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Infosys Technologies Ltd.: Growing Share of a Customer's Business casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, wage bills are increasing, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing energy prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing commodity prices,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Infosys Technologies Ltd.: Growing Share of a Customer's Business
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Infosys Technologies Ltd.: Growing Share of a Customer's Business case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Pfs Infosys, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Pfs Infosys operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of Infosys Technologies Ltd.: Growing Share of a Customer's Business can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Infosys Technologies Ltd.: Growing Share of a Customer's Business case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Pfs Infosys
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Sales & Marketing field.
4. Making a Sales & Marketing topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Pfs Infosys
Strengths Infosys Technologies Ltd.: Growing Share of a Customer's Business | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Pfs Infosys in Infosys Technologies Ltd.: Growing Share of a Customer's Business Harvard Business Review case study are -
Analytics focus
– Pfs Infosys is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by James A. Narus, D.V.R. Seshadri can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Learning organization
- Pfs Infosys is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Pfs Infosys is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Infosys Technologies Ltd.: Growing Share of a Customer's Business Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Pfs Infosys has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive segment. Secondly the value chain collaborators of the firm in Infosys Technologies Ltd.: Growing Share of a Customer's Business HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Organizational Resilience of Pfs Infosys
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Pfs Infosys does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Pfs Infosys has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Innovation driven organization
– Pfs Infosys is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Infosys Technologies Ltd.: Growing Share of a Customer's Business Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Strong track record of project management
– Pfs Infosys is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Training and development
– Pfs Infosys has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Infosys Technologies Ltd.: Growing Share of a Customer's Business Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Pfs Infosys are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Pfs Infosys in the sector have low bargaining power. Infosys Technologies Ltd.: Growing Share of a Customer's Business has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Pfs Infosys to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Pfs Infosys has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study Infosys Technologies Ltd.: Growing Share of a Customer's Business - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Infosys Technologies Ltd.: Growing Share of a Customer's Business Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Weaknesses Infosys Technologies Ltd.: Growing Share of a Customer's Business | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Infosys Technologies Ltd.: Growing Share of a Customer's Business are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Pfs Infosys is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Infosys Technologies Ltd.: Growing Share of a Customer's Business can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, James A. Narus, D.V.R. Seshadri suggests that, Pfs Infosys is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Need for greater diversity
– Pfs Infosys has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Infosys Technologies Ltd.: Growing Share of a Customer's Business HBR case study mentions - Pfs Infosys takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Infosys Technologies Ltd.: Growing Share of a Customer's Business has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Pfs Infosys 's lucrative customers.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Infosys Technologies Ltd.: Growing Share of a Customer's Business, it seems that the employees of Pfs Infosys don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Pfs Infosys has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Pfs Infosys has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Infosys Technologies Ltd.: Growing Share of a Customer's Business that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Infosys Technologies Ltd.: Growing Share of a Customer's Business can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Pfs Infosys is planning to shift buying processes online.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Infosys Technologies Ltd.: Growing Share of a Customer's Business, is just above the industry average. Pfs Infosys needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Lack of clear differentiation of Pfs Infosys products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Pfs Infosys needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities Infosys Technologies Ltd.: Growing Share of a Customer's Business | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study Infosys Technologies Ltd.: Growing Share of a Customer's Business are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Pfs Infosys to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Pfs Infosys to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Pfs Infosys can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Pfs Infosys can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Pfs Infosys to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Developing new processes and practices
– Pfs Infosys can develop new processes and procedures in Sales & Marketing industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Buying journey improvements
– Pfs Infosys can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Infosys Technologies Ltd.: Growing Share of a Customer's Business suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Manufacturing automation
– Pfs Infosys can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Sales & Marketing segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Pfs Infosys can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Sales & Marketing segment.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Pfs Infosys to increase its market reach. Pfs Infosys will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Pfs Infosys can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, Infosys Technologies Ltd.: Growing Share of a Customer's Business, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Pfs Infosys has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study Infosys Technologies Ltd.: Growing Share of a Customer's Business - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Pfs Infosys to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Pfs Infosys in the consumer business. Now Pfs Infosys can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Sales & Marketing industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Pfs Infosys can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Threats Infosys Technologies Ltd.: Growing Share of a Customer's Business External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Infosys Technologies Ltd.: Growing Share of a Customer's Business are -
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Infosys Technologies Ltd.: Growing Share of a Customer's Business, Pfs Infosys may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Sales & Marketing .
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Regulatory challenges
– Pfs Infosys needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Sales & Marketing industry regulations.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Pfs Infosys with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Pfs Infosys has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Pfs Infosys needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Sales & Marketing sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Pfs Infosys needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Pfs Infosys business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Pfs Infosys needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Pfs Infosys can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Pfs Infosys demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Pfs Infosys in the Sales & Marketing industry. The Sales & Marketing industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Pfs Infosys high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Increasing wage structure of Pfs Infosys
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Pfs Infosys.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Infosys Technologies Ltd.: Growing Share of a Customer's Business Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study Infosys Technologies Ltd.: Growing Share of a Customer's Business needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study Infosys Technologies Ltd.: Growing Share of a Customer's Business is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study Infosys Technologies Ltd.: Growing Share of a Customer's Business is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of Infosys Technologies Ltd.: Growing Share of a Customer's Business is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Pfs Infosys needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
