CASE STUDY BERSIN & ASSOCIATES

Organizational Learning
Agility
The Learning Organization at Infosys Is the Engine
Powering Its Business Success

—David Mallon, Principal Analyst | August, 2010

IN THIS CASE STUDY

A global IT consulting, outsourcing and business process outsourcing
FOCUS: (BPO) company that continuously hires thousands of employees
around the world faces unique challenges. Such a firm’s business
growth is based on being able to rapidly acquire new skills and new
ENTERPRISE techniques, and then to offer those new capabilities to clients.
LEARNING
With human capital as its most vital resource, Infosys Technologies
Ltd., based in Bangalore, India, has developed a systematic program
ORGANIZATION to assure that its employees continuously learn. From its criteria
AND for hiring to its onboarding and training programs to its highly
GOVERNANCE
developed system of competencies, the company has built its
LEARNING business around providing opportunities for each employee to
PROGRAMS continuously improve his / her skills.
CONTENT In this case study, Bersin & Associates examines Infosys’s global
DEVELOPMENT
education center and onboarding program, its use of a companywide
LEARNING competency council, and its focus on knowledge management and
MEASUREMENT acquisition as key business strategies. In total, this company is a
LEARNING model of a modern enterprise learning organization. e
SYSTEMS
INFORMAL
LEARNING

BERSIN & ASSOCIATES © AUGUST 2010 • NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION • LICENSED MATERIAL
Organizational Learning Agility

The Bersin & Associates

Membership Program
This document is part of the Bersin & Associates Research Library. Our research
is provided exclusively to organizational members of the Bersin & Associates
Research Program. Member organizations have access to the largest library
of learning and talent management related research available. In addition,
members also receive a variety of products and services to enable talent-related
transformation within their organizations, including:

• Research – Access to an extensive selection of research reports, such as

methodologies, process models and frameworks, and comprehensive
industry studies and case studies;

• Benchmarking – These services cover a wide spectrum of HR and L&D

metrics, customized by industry and company size;

• Tools – Comprehensive tools for HR and L&D professionals, including tools

for benchmarking, vendor and system selection, program design, program
implementation, change management and measurement;

• Analyst Support – Via telephone or email, our advisory services are

supported by expert industry analysts who conduct our research;

• Strategic Advisory Services – Expert support for custom-tailored projects;

• Member Roundtables® – A place where you can connect with other peers
and industry leaders to discuss and learn about the latest industry trends and
best practices; and,

• IMPACT® Conference: The Business Of Talent – Attendance at special

sessions of our annual, best-practices IMPACT® conference.

• Workshops – Bersin & Associates analysts and advisors conduct onsite

workshops on a wide range of topics to educate, inform and inspire HR and
L&D professionals and leaders.

For more information about our membership program, please visit us

at www.bersin.com/membership.

BERSIN & ASSOCIATES © AUGUST 2010 • NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION • LICENSED MATERIAL 
Organizational Learning Agility

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Company Overview 4

Business Environment 5

Learning Organization 6

Infosys E&R as a Modern Learning Organization 9

Interviewing, Hiring and Onboarding Processes 11

Ongoing Performance Management 15

Technology 17

Knowledge-Management Portal 17

Learning Management System 17

Best Practices and Lessons Learned 18

Results 22

Conclusion 23

Appendix I: Topics for Discussion and Learning 24

Key Learnings 24

Ideas for Action 24

Questions to Consider 25

Appendix II: Abbreviations and Acronyms 26

Appendix III: Table of Figures 27

About Us 28

About This Research 28

BERSIN & ASSOCIATES © AUGUST 2010 • NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION • LICENSED MATERIAL 
Organizational Learning Agility

Company Overview
Infosys Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ:INFY) is a global information technology
KEY POINT
and consulting company headquartered in Bangalore, India. The company is
a global leader in “next-generation” IT and consulting, and booked revenues
With human capital
of more than US $4.8 billion in FY 2010.
as its most vital
Infosys defines, designs and delivers technology-enabled business solutions.
resource, Infosys
It also provides a complete range of services, including business and
technology consulting, application services, systems integration, product has developed a
engineering, custom software development, maintenance, reengineering, systematic program
independent testing and validation services, IT infrastructure services, and
to assure that
business process outsourcing. Among the various domains in which it offers
consulting and services is corporate learning. its employees
continuously learn.
Infosys employs what it calls the “global delivery model” (GDM), which
enabled it to be at the forefront of the rise of offshore outsourcing of
business and IT services. The GDM is based on the principle of taking work
to the location where the best talent is available, where doing so makes
the best economic sense and which can be done with the least amount of
acceptable risk.

Currently, the company has more than 50 offices around the world, along
with development centers in India, China, Australia, the Czech Republic,
Poland, the U.K., Canada and Japan. Infosys and its subsidiaries employ
113,1796 people worldwide, as of March 31, 2010.

The company does about 65 percent of its business in the U.S., with the rest
in Europe and Asia. Although the company does little business directly in
India, 70 percent of its workforce is based there.

Figure 1: Infosys at a Glance3

• Year Founded: 1981

• Annual Revenue: $4.804 million (as of March 31, 2010)
• Total Employees: 113,796 (as of March 31, 2010)
• Ownership: Public Limited
• Headquarters: Bangalore, India

Source: Infosys 2010 Annual Report.

 Source: Infosys 2010 Annual Report.

 Ibid.
 Source: http://www.infosys.com/investors/pages/index.aspx.

BERSIN & ASSOCIATES © AUGUST 2010 • NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION • LICENSED MATERIAL 
Organizational Learning Agility

Business Environment
Despite the global economic downturn, the company continues to experience
strong growth. From 2008 to 2009, the company grew 30 percent. Customer
retention is one part of that success, but a second strategy (and one that
speaks to the company’s intense focus on learning and professional growth) is
that 54 percent of revenue comes from offering new services. According to the
company’s vice president and group head education and research,

“Change is a constant in this industry.”

Infosys values process quality as core to its business strategy. Even in the
KEY POINT
current environment of rapid change, the company understands clearly
that innovation, process quality and top-class delivery must be woven into
Individual learning
every project. Its commitment to those concepts translates to a very high
customer satisfaction and retention rate (97 percent, according to the and growth are
company’s website). essential to its

Given the focus on providing new services, Infosys employees must overall business
learn / adapt quickly and constantly. In fact, the company says that individual strategy.
learning and growth are essential to its overall strategy.

Despite slowing growth in 2009, the company’s values of hiring and training
did not waiver. Instead, it honored 18,000 job offers made prior to the
recession. In more prosperous times, Infosys would have put those individuals
to work after their training and onboarding program. Instead, it lengthened
the duration of their learning programs to give them more competencies for
the roles they will eventually fill when the economy improves.

Ever more rapid technology change demands such elasticity in worker skills
and in the overall learning organization. As the nature of the business
became less predictable, retraining people for new skills and roles became
even more critical.

Hiring an individual solid in COBOL programming skills for “Y2K” would

have proven to be worthless shortly after that new year if that individual
could not learn and adapt to a changing computing environment – one in
which COBOL skills had become generally less important and the Y2K “scare”
no longer pertinent. Thus, Infosys focuses hiring and learning programs on
an individual’s “learnability” – how quickly, easily and deftly he / she acquires
and can put into practice new skills.

 Source: http://www.infosys.com/investors/pages/index.aspx.
 “Y2K” literally stands for “year 2000.” This abbreviation was used prior to the

year 2000 and especially with regard to the forecasted coding limitations in software
programs, which did not take into consideration the millennium change (from 1900
to 2000) when originally developed.

BERSIN & ASSOCIATES © AUGUST 2010 • NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION • LICENSED MATERIAL 
Organizational Learning Agility

Learning Organization BEST PRACTICE

The executive
The core learning organization within Infosys is called education and
leadership
research (E&R). Led by the vice president and group head education and
research, E&R has been in existence since 1990 as a separate unit of the team of Infosys
company. At that time, the scope of the company only included IT services; is personally
therefore, it focused its learning organization efforts on technology and
involved in the
project management.
development of
The company is organized vertically, with integrated business units
robust learning
reporting to senior vice presidents of various specialty practice groups
(such as manufacturing and retail), who then report to directors. The E&R programs, with
department determines overall competencies needed for the company, as the chairman
well as delivering content, training and a host of other services detailed reviewing the
as follows.
E&R department’s
activities.

Figure 2: What Education and Research Does

Source: Infosys, 2010.

BERSIN & ASSOCIATES © AUGUST 2010 • NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION • LICENSED MATERIAL 
Organizational Learning Agility

The executive leadership team is personally involved in the development

of robust learning programs. Infosys’s chairman reviews E&R’s activities. In
addition, the chairman personally invested money to enhance the capability
of engineering colleges and universities, and was instrumental in the
development of the Indo-U.S. Collaboration for Engineering Education
(IUCEE). As stated by the company’s vice president and group head education
and research,

“Learning and enhancing the capabilities of

our people is key so we can continue to serve
clients better and better.”

Although each vertically aligned business unit has its own learning function
delivering specialized skills specific to that group’s needs, overall company
competencies and skills are defined and, in most cases, delivered by the E&R
department. As the company has grown, the learning organization has
expanded into different roles and developed different sets of competencies
needed for employees to continually grow the business.

Figure 3: Education and Research Organization8

Head, E&R*

JEE, FP Ops, Campus CSG, ACC,

KM, TL & BI, Domain TL & UPAM,
IVSA,MF, SE, IMSA, Connect & Finacle, CDPMO,
Education PMCoE Competency Academy MIS & E&R PLEA
AGG & .Net & Open InC Interns, ESA,
Assurance & PSD Relationships Ops
Research Library Systems JEE-FP, BA DC Ops

*Note: VP & Group Head E&R performs the responsibilities of the CLO. There is no formal title as the CLO.

Source: Infosys, 2010.

 The “Indo-U.S. Collaboration for Engineering Education” (IUCEE), conceptualized

by more than 150 leaders of engineering education and businesses from the U.S.
and India in 2007, helps to create good quality engineering talent in order to find
solutions to the global challenges facing humanity, such as energy, environment,
health and communications. For more information, please visit www.iucee.org.
 For more information, The High-Impact Learning Organization: WhatWorks® in

the Management, Governance and Operations of Modern Corporate Training, Bersin

& Associates / Josh Bersin, May 2008. Available to research members at www.bersin.
com/library or for purchase at www.bersin.com/highimpact.
 With regard to Figure 3: Education and Research Organization, a listing of

the abbreviations used in the organization chart are available in “Appendix II:
Abbreviations and Acronyms.”

BERSIN & ASSOCIATES © AUGUST 2010 • NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION • LICENSED MATERIAL 
Organizational Learning Agility

Within the education and research department, there are four different
career streams and multiple roles within those streams:

1. Education;

2. Knowledge management;

3. Training and administration; and,

4. Research.

Education and research identifies related technology and behavioral skills to

competency maps determined by the business stakeholders in collaboration
with HR. The department offers educational programs and assessments to
help employees continuously grow in their jobs. The central competency
management program is broken into four categories:

• Technological know-how;

• Process;

• Domain expertise; and,

• Behavioral and leadership skills.

Those four dimensions are leveraged across all learning functions.

E&R also oversees the company’s knowledge management and collaboration

KEY POINT
functions, serving as a central information source that the entire
organization can access as needed. The knowledge-management function
Knowledge-sharing
includes a vast searchable database, and provides many venues for both
formal and informal learning, including: equals key business
strategy.
• Wikis10;

• Blogs11;

• Discussion forums;

• “K-mail” or knowledge mail (through which employees can reach

out to experts);

• e-Learning;

 For more information, High-Impact Learning Practices: The Guide to Modernizing

Your Corporate Training Strategy through Social and Informal Learning, Bersin &
Associates / David Mallon, July 2009. Available to research members at www.bersin.
com/library or for purchase at www.bersin.com/hilp.
10 “Wiki” is from the Hawaiian word for “fast” – and stands for web pages that can

be collectively and collaboratively edited on the fly by readers.

11 “Blog” is a shortened form of the phrase “web log,” which is a form of personal

publishing that readers can discuss.

BERSIN & ASSOCIATES © AUGUST 2010 • NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION • LICENSED MATERIAL 
Organizational Learning Agility

• Knowledge portal;

• WebEx for live meetings (used mostly to communicate with

overseas employees);

• Bulletin boards for special interests;

• Tech series seminars;

• InfyTV, which broadcasts learning programs; and,

• Online assessment tools.

The overarching structure of Infosys’s learning organization is governed by

the competency council, which includes the head of E&R, as well as some KEY POINT
of the heads of the individual vertical business-unit groups. The council is
headed by one of the Infosys board members. Before E&R rolls out new The overarching
programs, it consults with the council. The internal certification framework structure of
gives employees an opportunity to continuously enhance their competencies Infosys’s learning
and to help them achieve their career aspirations, while simultaneously
organization
assuring that business goals are being met.
is governed by
The council defines and reviews the standard format that each function must
the competency
abide by, although there is no direct reporting relationship between the
council and the business units. The council, however, does have the authority council, which
to define training formats. The units each have a “competency anchor,” who includes the head
works as a liaison with the competency council. of E&R, as well as
A newly hired Infosys employee’s training program is centered on the some of the heads
basic skills needed to succeed, progressing from the general to specific. of the individual
E&R administers general training; specialty training is then handled by the
vertical business-
specific business unit in which the employee will work. Content is approved
by the competency council and mapped to the council’s defined set unit groups.
of competency.

Infosys E&R as a Modern Learning

Organization

In Bersin & Associates High-Impact Learning Practices study12, we argue

that the mandate of modern high-impact learning organizations is evolving
toward a focus on two overall outcomes:

12 For more information, High-Impact Learning Practices: The Guide to Modernizing

Your Corporate Training Strategy through Social and Informal Learning, Bersin &
Associates / David Mallon, July 2009.

BERSIN & ASSOCIATES © AUGUST 2010 • NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION • LICENSED MATERIAL 
Organizational Learning Agility

• Building deep specialization; and,

• Building learning agility.

The fundamental role of the learning function in today’s organizations is to

help the organization:

1. Be the best it can be at what makes it special today; and,

2. Develop the ability to respond to change, so that it can stay

the best tomorrow.

The first half of this mandate is focused on building competitive advantage.

Competitive advantage means being better than the competition in some BEST PRACTICE
aspect of the business that provides the organization with the leverage to
win in the marketplace. Infosys’s focus on
a highly defined
Most traditional L&D efforts in organizations are not strategic enough
to generate competitive advantage, and have been instead focused on career path is a
preparing the organization for as many different skills and competencies clear example
as possible – breadth over depth. Functional and operation training efforts of how a high-
typically address only moving into new roles, not becoming expert at
impact learning
those roles.
organization
Organizations, such as Infosys, which thrive on offering new services as
promotes and
part of their core business strategies, recognize that what makes them
truly better in the marketplace is not being better at many things. Like sustains deep
Infosys, these companies know the key is in understanding and driving the specialization.
deep expertise of the organization – in other words, focusing on those
areas which define the organization. The modern high-impact learning
organization builds talent programs that develop, reward and incent
deep levels of specialization. It is these deep levels of expertise that give
the company the “core” form which to build and grow as the market
changes. Modern high-impact learning organizations realize focusing scarce
developmental resources broadly is simply not sustainable.

At Infosys, employees are expected to attain competencies at each level and

within a certain period of time (as described later). The company’s focus on a
highly defined career path is a clear example of how a high-impact learning
organization promotes and sustains deep specialization. It recognizes
the need to hire those employees who are learning-agile – and it tests
competencies regularly, which demands that employees engage that agility
in building considerable depth in their subject-matter areas.

Of course, achieving competitive advantage today is only so useful if you

are not prepared to maintain it tomorrow. Given the extraordinary forces
affecting both businesses and their learning organizations (a few of which
we covered earlier), and the extreme pace of change in today’s business
environment, maintaining competitive advantage requires a very nimble

BERSIN & ASSOCIATES © AUGUST 2010 • NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION • LICENSED MATERIAL 10
Organizational Learning Agility

step and a watchful eye. Organizations must be able to constantly read

the environment (accurately) and react to changing conditions. They must
be capable of changing their mind when appropriate and learning from
mistakes at every opportunity.

An organization’s ability to respond to adaptive challenge (be it an

opportunity, threat or crisis) through the acquisition and application of
knowledge and skills is the definition given by Clark and Gottfredson for
“learning agility13” – and is what we are describing. Bersin & Associates
believes that increasing an organization’s learning agility is the second half
of the mandate for modern high-impact learning organizations. KEY POINT

Achieving high learning agility is very difficult and (by definition) a

More than one-half
constant struggle. It is about developing the capacities and perspectives
that will facilitate a nimble response to change; in that regard, it is not of the revenues
initiative-driven. for Infosys this
past year were
Infosys’s driving focus for finding and honing learnability in its talent speaks
directly to the company’s understanding of the importance of learning generated by
ability. The learning organization is built to support continuous learning services that did
on the part of both individual learners and the organization as a whole. In
not exist within the
such a dynamic and evolving industry as IT consulting services, the learning
organization and the development of human capital are deeply interwoven company five
with business strategy. Infosys has a strong learning culture that is deeply years ago.
supported by and part of the core mission of the executive leadership team.

When you consider that greater than 50 percent of the company’s revenues
are generated by services that did not even exist within the company
five years ago, it is logical that Infosys would have such a highly evolved
L&D function. For the firm to succeed, it must enable people to deliver
new services. The learning department itself is considered a “business-
enabler” function, ensuring that employees are able to deliver services
with the utmost expertise. The E&R department handles most training
for new technologies, as well as the certification programs that link to
job competencies.

Interviewing, Hiring and Onboarding

Processes

Infosys must always provide its clients with advanced skills and highly
effective project management. Therefore, a fundamental component of its
success is the education programs and processes provided by E&R.

13 Source: In Search of Learning Agility: Assessing Progress from 1957 to 2008,

Timothy R. Clark, Ph.D. and Conrad A. Gottfredson, Ph.D., TRClark, Inc., 2008.

BERSIN & ASSOCIATES © AUGUST 2010 • NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION • LICENSED MATERIAL 11
Organizational Learning Agility

In general, Infosys hires two kinds of employees – those who come directly
KEY POINT
from college, and those who already have demonstrated professional
expertise in their fields.
Infosys assesses
In a normal year, the company hires between 18,000 and 25,000 people from candidates for their
as many as 400 different engineering schools. To cull the number down from
ability to learn new
the one million or so who apply, the company administers a standardized
test for skills and for that elusive quality of “learnability.” knowledge and
skills quickly and
The company works on a time-based learning triangle, in which a new hire
efficiently.
straight from engineering college begins his career as a system engineer
trainee, grows as a technical analyst and then progresses to technology lead
over a period of seven to eight years. Thereafter, based on individual career
aspiration, competence and performance, an employee may choose to grow
further as a project manager leading to senior project manager role, or in
the technical stream as a technology architect. It is considered paramount to
the company’s overall hiring strategy that individuals are able to follow that
growth path from day one. As the vice president and group head education
and research stated,

“We hire smart people and support them with

the learning organization. It is a core part of
our learning strategy.”

The first part of a new hire’s life at Infosys involves going back to school.
Although recruits may have significant extant knowledge prior to hire, the BEST PRACTICE
company first brings them to its Mysore, India global education center, at
which they can immediately become acclimated to the intense learning Although based
commitment the company demands.
in India, the
Called the “Foundation Program,” new graduates receive in only five months culture at Infosys
the academic equivalent of a second bachelor of science degree in computer
is not tied to the
science. In addition to technical information, the center serves as a way
for new employees to become acculturated to Infosys through storytelling culture of any
and discussion of core values. Although based in India, the culture at nation / state; it
Infosys is not tied to the culture of any nation / state; it is not Indian or is not Indian or
American, but rather a global company that values integrity, excellence and
American, but
customer orientation.
rather a global
Individuals participate in classroom sessions for half a day, and then spend
company that
the other half engaged in hands-on assigned project work, group work and
e-learning. Each course has assignments that are graded, as well as individual values integrity,
assessments. To evaluate progress and “learnability,” frequent online excellence
assessments are given with student / employees receiving coaching on their
and customer
skills, based on the observations of program personnel.
orientation.
Upon conclusion of the training, individuals are tested. To pass training, they
must receive at least a score of four on a five-point scale. Those unable to
meet these mastery requirements do not go on in their careers at Infosys.

BERSIN & ASSOCIATES © AUGUST 2010 • NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION • LICENSED MATERIAL 12
Organizational Learning Agility

Figure 4: Goals of the Foundation Program

• Ensure that fresh entrants absorb the fundamental concepts of system engineering and development.

• Learn to relate fundamental technical concepts to real-world implementations in specific software technologies.

• Gain ability to pick up new technologies quickly and appreciate the issues in real-world software projects.

• Understand how to work as a team and master the interpersonal skills required.

Source: Infosys, 2010.

As an IT services company, getting productivity out of headcount is

essential, so the company encourages new recruits to tap into knowledge-
management resources as part of their learning projects. In fact, a key to
completing the onboarding program is an employee’s ability to uncover and
utilize resources using both formal and informal knowledge.

As noted earlier, the E&R Department has created a great many

opportunities for informal learning. As onboarding employees work through
their assignments, they are encouraged to look up experts and use other
information through the knowledge-management system.

From the onboarding program, individuals move on to their assigned

business unit for specialized training. For employees with experience,
much of the training is role-based. E&R develops training based on
competencies determined for the particular business unit and job level of the
individual. Those competencies are handled centrally and published across
the organization.

Figure 5: An Example of Defining Competencies at Infosys – The Process for Roles Inside of E&R

Step 1: Identify roles such as educators, instructional designers, and researchers.

Step 2: Create a job description for the role.

Step 3: Define the job within the hierarchy of the organization.

Step 4: Work with HR, organizational development (OD) and the competency council.

Step 5: Team to define competencies needed for each role.

Step 6: Review competencies and gain approval from the OD team and the competency council.

Step 7: Consider the learning programs needed to develop those competencies.

Source: Infosys, 2010.

BERSIN & ASSOCIATES © AUGUST 2010 • NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION • LICENSED MATERIAL 13
Organizational Learning Agility

KEY POINT
Figure 6: List of All Possible Competencies for E&R

As the company
Competency Need Analysis
has grown,
Education Curriculum and Course Design the learning
Education Content Development and Maintenance organization has
expanded into
Course Delivery
different roles
Competency Assessment
and developed
Technology / Functional Knowledge different sets of

Consulting competencies
needed for
Education Management and Processes
employees to
Data Management and Analysis
continually grow
Project / Program Management the business.

Industry / Domain

Library Administration and Management

Knowledge Management Strategy

Requirements Engineering

Solution Architecture

Solution Design

Solution Development

Solution Testing

Solution Deployment

Solution Support

Knowledge Management

Branding and Promotion

Research Methodology

Allied Processes

Innovation in Research

Research / Business Domains and Networks

Source: Infosys, 2010.

BERSIN & ASSOCIATES © AUGUST 2010 • NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION • LICENSED MATERIAL 14
 Organizational Learning Agility

The competency council makes sure that the mapping fits within the overall
Infosys-defined framework.

Ongoing Performance Management

In addition to testing competencies for new employees, every individual at
Infosys participates in ongoing assessment and related development. Every KEY POINT
year, each employee takes two certifications. One addresses technological
As part of its
competency and is directly related to the work in which he / she is currently
involved. The second is focused on either process or the employee’s business commitment
domain specialty. to continuous

Assessment instruments for both performance management and appraisal learning, Infosys
tools have been developed in-house over the years from collected data also expects
and performance reports. This data is used to continuously refine which
employees at
competencies are most appropriate to each role in the company.
higher levels
to share their
Figure 7: Modern Enterprise Learning – A Convergence of Three
Figure 2: Learning
Spheres On-Demand Disciplines
of Influence
knowledge, taking
on teacher-type
roles.

Performance
Management

Learning Knowledge
Management Management

Source: Bersin & Associates, 2008.

Source: Bersin & Associates, 2009.

BERSIN & ASSOCIATES © AUGUST 2010 • NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION • LICENSED MATERIAL 15
Organizational Learning Agility

Performance is also tied to the company’s customer satisfaction surveys.

Information from the survey flows both to the employee’s performance file,
as well as to the overall group’s learning strategy and certification program.
The annual customer satisfaction survey results data is integrated into the
following year’s training and certification program. Each year furthers the
development of this feedback loop, solidifying employee learning, while also
ensuring high customer satisfaction marks.

Internally, project groups meet after a project has wrapped up for a

closure meeting. Each project is analyzed based on defects and issues, and
a root cause analysis is prepared. Best practices are determined and these
are circulated through the business units, so that they can be applied to
similar projects.

Worldwide clients expect Infosys consultants to act as a strategic partner, and

that means being more assertive and outspoken. Yet Indians culturally tend
toward deference to authority. The head of E&R stated that,

“… We have to teach the staff assertiveness.”

To do so, the company has created behavioral training programs that stress
advocacy and opinionated discussion.

As part of its commitment to continuous learning, Infosys also expects KEY POINT
employees at higher levels to share their knowledge, taking on teacher-type
To encourage
roles. Managers must deliver five days of training per year, with prepared
content in a preset format. They are also encouraged to talk about their accountability
own projects as teaching examples during informal lunch presentations for development,
(commonly called “brown-bag” sessions). They also host forums, share their
employees who do
personal experiences with certifications and what they have done to reach
their current levels. Some sessions are recorded and available as streams on not complete their
the knowledge-management portal. yearly required

The certifications are a prerequisite for progression. Infosys uses a certifications for
consolidated, relative ranking system in which employees are slotted into their individual
five different ranks based on their appraisals. About 10 percent of the work levels are not
force is considered “top performer” (1+ out of 4), while five percent is
eligible for
considered the lowest ranking group (4). Low-ranked individuals are put on
the performance improvement program. the highest
performance
Although individuals are hired for learnability and the company offers a
vast number of resources, Infosys still believes that learning is an individual’s management
personal responsibility. The company encourages employees to develop a rating.
personal learning strategy as part of their development plans.

BERSIN & ASSOCIATES © AUGUST 2010 • NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION • LICENSED MATERIAL 16
Organizational Learning Agility

Technology
Given that Infosys’ strategic success is based on the development and
application of new technology, it stands to reason that its internal
knowledge management and learning systems would be highly developed.

Much of the company’s learning programs are accessible through SPARSH,

the company’s general portal. It has links to both the knowledge-sharing
portal and Infosys’s learning management system (LMS).

Knowledge-Management Portal
Called “K Shop,” the knowledge-management portal allows users to
personalize the interface for the specific results. Users can search for subject
KEY POINT
matter or functional experts, discussion groups or within specific pages.

• The Infosys wiki caters to users by job role and permissions group. One unique

• “Find Expert” serves as the "the knowledge yellow pages." Users search element to Infosys’s
by keyword or predefined suggested domain topics. knowledge-

• Discussion forums tend to focus on specific problems or technology management

areas. Users could search, for example, on "AS400." system is that

• InfyTV offers recorded videos similar to YouTube14. Content includes people are
recorded testimonials and demonstrations of best practices. encouraged and
One unique element to Infosys’s knowledge-management system is that rewarded for
people are encouraged and rewarded for contributing to it. Employee contributing to it.
contributions and the usefulness of those contributions are tracked;
employees earn points based on their contributions over time. Infosys
regularly presents awards to the top K Shop contributors.

Learning Management System

Infosys LMS is comprised of an SAT-based scheduling and tracking application
called “ILITE+,” and a customized learning content management system
called Technology Assisted Learning (TAL). Infosys is in the process of
migrating from TAL to an SAP learning management system. All courses
offered through the LMS are mapped directly to roles and business units. The
interface for the site is simple and utilitarian.

The foundation program’s objective is to ensure that fresh entrants absorb

the fundamental concepts of software engineering and development. The
coursework presented in the LMS helps them learn to relate concepts (from
fundamental to advanced) to their implementations in specific software

14 For more information: http://www.youtube.com.

BERSIN & ASSOCIATES © AUGUST 2010 • NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION • LICENSED MATERIAL 17
Organizational Learning Agility

Figure 8: iLITE+– Infosys’s Learning Management System

Source: Infosys, 2010.

technologies and gain the ability to pick up new technologies quickly.

Evaluation and testing are integrated into the LMS for those classes and
include some live performance evaluation components, as well.

Best Practices and Lessons Learned

As the company has grown and changed, one thing has remained constant –
learning is key to its business success. As part of its core processes, the
company has integrated continuous learning from day one on the job to
retirement. It is part of the company’s culture.

According to Bersin & Associates report, The Enterprise Learning

Framework15, effective L&D departments incorporate five elements into their
learning strategies:

1. Learning programs;

2. Learning approaches;

3. Learning disciplines;

15 For more information, The Enterprise Learning Framework: A Modern Approach to

Corporate Training, Bersin & Associates / Josh Bersin, April 2009. Available to research
members at www.bersin.com/library.

BERSIN & ASSOCIATES © AUGUST 2010 • NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION • LICENSED MATERIAL 18
Organizational Learning Agility

Figure 9: Bersin & Associates Enterprise Learning Framework®

Enterprise Learning Framework®
1 Learning Programs
Organization, Governance and Management

Audiences & Problems

2 Informal

Learning Architecture
Approaches

Formal On-Demand Social Embedded

3 Disciplines

4 Tools & Technology

5 Culture

Copyright © 2009 Bersin & Associates. All rights reserved. Page 1

Source: Bersin & Associates, 2009.

4. Learning tools and technology; and,

KEY POINT
5. Learning culture.
Every five to seven
Infosys has developed each of these areas to work together as part of
years, Infosys
the company’s overall strategic mission. Its menu of learning programs is
comprehensive – and includes many different tools and technologies, and reexamines the
both formal and informal learning approaches. From the day a candidate organizational
receives a job offer, the company delivers the clear message that continuous
design, including
learning is part of his / her success at Infosys, as well as it being a personal
responsibility. The company provides the tools, but the employees must job roles,
make the effort to use them. requirements

Every five to seven years, Infosys reexamines the organizational design, for jobs and
including job roles, requirements for jobs and competency frameworks. competency
The lessons learned through project and status reports, as well as new frameworks.
competency requirements, are incorporated into any redesigns or changes.

BERSIN & ASSOCIATES © AUGUST 2010 • NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION • LICENSED MATERIAL 19
Organizational Learning Agility

One area in which Infosys is hoping to improve is how it approaches learning

across global regions. While in the past it has been a comprehensive and BEST PRACTICE
relatively standardized process, Infosys L&D executives believe that a more
High-impact
geographically focused learning organization might be more effective. Such
geographically targeted learning is now being tested in Mexico and China, learning
with an eye to rolling out similar practices to other parts of the world in the organizations
near future.
add new capacity
Recently, the company redesigned some of the foundation content to suit and continually
audiences in the U.S., the U.K. and Germany. It found that the extensive
reevaluate
communication skills training needed by Indian recruits was not as necessary
for its American and British new hires. It did, however, add a three-week content based on
orientation in client services for those audiences. organizational
needs. They are
Future plans continue to evolve. One focus area is partnering with local
vendors to offer various programs (such as negotiation skills), along with versatile and are
certification testing centers that are within 50 miles of any Infosys location. able to adapt to
The company is also adding additional e-learning programs and virtual
rapidly changing
classrooms for its global workforce.
organization
High-impact learning organizations add new capacity and continually
needs.
reevaluate content based on organizational needs. They are versatile and are
able to adapt to rapidly changing organization needs.

Infosys is clearly a modern high-impact learning organization, as defined by

the Bersin & Associates Modern Enterprise Learning Index16. This index is a
set of 10 high-level measures of the learning function, including five focused
internally on operational abilities, and five focused externally on outputs
and relationships with those businesses served.

16 For more information, High-Impact Learning Practices: The Guide to Modernizing

Your Corporate Training Strategy through Social and Informal Learning, Bersin &
Associates / David Mallon, July 2009.

BERSIN & ASSOCIATES © AUGUST 2010 • NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION • LICENSED MATERIAL 20
Organizational Learning Agility

Figure 10: Infosys and the Bersin & Associates Modern Enterprise Learning Index

Capabilities Measure Infosys

The company adds new knowledge and Infosys employees are expected to learn and
Capacity skills quickly to meet the changing needs of become proficient at new competencies.
Building the business. Assessments are administered every six
months.

The company has the connections and Infosys has deep connections with higher
Business
the expertise to master and analyze the education institutions and industry groups,
Analysis
business processes of target audiences. as well as subject-matter experts.

Adept at content reuse and recycling. Infosys has a large, highly efficient content
Content
development operation – for both formal
Efficiency
and informal learning content.

The company knows the preferences of Adapts global-learning programs to local

its audiences, and can adapt efforts to geographies. Designs learning programs
Adaptation
audiences of different geographies or based on cultural needs.
generations.

Works equally well in as many different Learning is offered in classrooms, online and
Versatile formats, channels and modalities as its in a variety of on-demand formats.
audiences do.

Outputs Measure Infosys

Measures efforts in terms of business Infosys recognizes that its key strategic
Business-Driven impact. advantage is offering cutting-edge services.
Business impact is directly tied to skills
development.

Talent Linked Efforts map directly to consolidated talent Employee performance success is directly
and management strategies. linked to acquisition of new competencies.

Efforts are honed to address specific Competencies are directly linked to

Targeted
performance needs. successful functional skills.

Successful at meeting urgent, time-critical Infosys competency council continually

Timely
business needs. reevaluates skills needed for success.

Efforts are targeted as close to where Training is virtual, as well as in regional

performance happens as possible, learning centers. Competency assessments
take place within 50 miles of local offices.
Proximal
Knowledge management and on-demand
learning are key components in the overall
learning strategy.
Source: Bersin & Associates, 2010.

BERSIN & ASSOCIATES © AUGUST 2010 • NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION • LICENSED MATERIAL 21
Organizational Learning Agility

Results
Today, the E&R department has 600 full-time employees. As the department
has grown in size and scope, the company has made investments in both
physical infrastructure and programs to maintain its best-in-class education
and training programs. For example, Infosys recently invested in an
additional 1.4 million square feet of education space. According to the vice
president and group head E&R,

“That’s clear recognition of the need and

value education brings to the organization.”

Infosys views its education and training efforts as the formation of a

triangle, the base of which is the overall company. One side of the triangle is
the responsibility of the employee to raise his / her competency level, while
the other side represents the opportunities provided by the organization.

Figure 11: Learning Measurement Dashboard Metrics

Courses - Design, Development, Effectiveness Other

& Delivery (Effort) (Results) Functions

# of Training Delivery Days % Fresher’s achieving >=4.5 CGPA % Compliance to Published SLAs

# of People Trained % of Courses Serviced Well # of Assessments

# of Training Delivery Days Instructor Feedback # of Knowledge Management

Consumed assets published
Course Feedback
# of Courses Delivered # of K Assets downloaded
Course Feedback (e-Learning)
# of Unique Courses Delivered # of Intellectual Assets developed
(Papers, books, patents, &
trademarks)
# of New Courses Launched

# of students in SPARK
# of Courses Revised

# of Books/Artifacts in Library
# of New e-Learning Courses
Launched
# of Transactions/day in Library

Source: Infosys, 2010.

BERSIN & ASSOCIATES © AUGUST 2010 • NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION • LICENSED MATERIAL 22
Organizational Learning Agility

Learning is part of the overall culture. The importance of learning is

communicated from the top down. Employee competency planning is
revisited every six months, and is part of the planning for both the business
units and the overall company’s annual business plan. The competency
council reevaluates needs based on ongoing input from individual business
units. Employee performance is evaluated according to the ability of
employees to pass assessments at the highest level and move forward in their
careers, providing a clear career path.

Conclusion
The E&R department has a singular mission – to raise employee capability.
Through a process of measures and evaluations, stakeholders and clients A N A LY S I S
measure the capabilities of the company. At the same time, individuals must
take responsibility for meeting their own competency aspirations. Infosys serves as a
model of a high-
Through focusing on knowledge, E&R at Infosys has engaged with
impact learning
engineering schools, created a 29-week “Foundation” training program,
and developed ongoing education programs to ensure that employee organization at
competencies keep pace with the services the company provides to its which learning is
clients. It administers more than 200,000 assessments annually to test woven into the
employee knowledge. fabric of nearly
Learning is core to the organization’s culture. Although classroom learning everything the
is not mandated per se at Infosys, employees would not succeed at this company does.
company without a constant commitment to learning, be it through formal
classroom, e-learning or on-the-job learning with self-study. Infosys practices
learning as a business strategy from the top down – through certification
design, performance appraisals and assessments, and from the bottom
up – by providing tools for informal learning and a constant focus on a sense
of personal accountability. The company provides significant resources for
learning in all forms. Job and company success is dependent on employees
taking advantage of those resources to offer new services.

Infosys serves as a model of a high-impact learning organization. Learning is

woven into the fabric of nearly everything it does. The company has clearly
defined competencies for which the E&R department provides programs and
ongoing assessments. Finally, it considers talent development integral to its
business mission.

BERSIN & ASSOCIATES © AUGUST 2010 • NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION • LICENSED MATERIAL 23
Organizational Learning Agility

Appendix I: Topics for Discussion and Learning

The following sections will provide you with considerations for sharing and
implementing the best practices that were highlighted in this report.

Key Learnings
Below is a list of key learnings (the “gems”) from this case study.
KEY POINT
1. Learning is a core business strategy for Infosys and so it is given due
attention by the business. Core to Infosys’s
learning strategies
2. Core to Infosys’s learning strategies is its competency council, which
includes the head of E&R, as well as the heads of the individual vertical is its competency
business units. The council defines and continuously refines a governing council, which
certification framework for all roles within the organization.
defines and
3. Focusing on certification management and capability development is continuously
an essential way to make the connection of learning to other talent
refines a governing
management processes obvious and actionable
certification

Ideas for Action framework for all

roles within the

Below is a list of actions that you can take in order to apply or implement organization.
the best practices highlighted in the report. These are some of the
foundational elements that we highly recommend be in place inside your
company in order to execute such a plan, process or program.

1. Adopt a skills and competencies model for at least the key roles in
your organization.

2. Give adequate attention to hiring processes (including relationships with

sources of new hires, such as universities) to ensure that the newly hired
are best-equipped to succeed over the long term.

3. Devise and implement informal learning and knowledge-sharing

strategies to complement formal learning efforts.

BERSIN & ASSOCIATES © AUGUST 2010 • NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION • LICENSED MATERIAL 24
Organizational Learning Agility

Questions to Consider KEY POINT

Below is a list of discussion questions that you can ask your team, colleagues Give adequate
and business leaders, which will help you to take the next steps. attention to

1. What is the governance model for learning in your organization? How hiring processes
are business leaders involved? to ensure that the

2. How might business experts be leveraged as teachers? newly hired are

best-equipped to
3. Do your talent acquisition processes filter or select for “learnability?”
succeed over the
long term.

BERSIN & ASSOCIATES © AUGUST 2010 • NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION • LICENSED MATERIAL 25
Organizational Learning Agility

Appendix II: Abbreviations and Acronyms

ACC Assessment & Certification Center

AGG Architects Grooming Group

BA Business Analyst

BI Business Intelligence

CDPMO Competency Development Program

CSG Client Servicing Group

DC Ops DC Operations

ESA ES Academy

FP Foundation Program

IMSA IMS Academy

IVSA IVS Academy

JEE Java Enterprise Edition

KM Knowledge Management

MF Mainframe

PLEA PLES Academy

PMCoE Project Management Centre of Excellence

PSD Professional Skills Development

SE Software Engineering

TL Thought Leadership

UPAM Unit Planning & Assurance Manager

BERSIN & ASSOCIATES © AUGUST 2010 • NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION • LICENSED MATERIAL 26
Organizational Learning Agility

Appendix III: Table of Figures

Figure 1: Infosys at a Glance 4

Figure 2: What Education and Research Does 6

Figure 3: Education and Research Organization 7

Figure 4: Goals of the Foundation Program 13

Figure 5: An Example of Defining Competencies at Infosys – The Process for Roles Inside of E&R 13

Figure 6: List of All Possible Competencies for E&R 14

Figure 7: Modern Enterprise Learning – A Convergence of Three Spheres of Influence 15

Figure 8: iLITE+– Infosys’s Learning Management System 18

Figure 9: Bersin & Associates Enterprise Learning Framework® 19

Figure 10: Infosys and the Bersin & Associates Modern Enterprise Learning Index 21

Figure 11: Learning Measurement Dashboard Metrics 22

BERSIN & ASSOCIATES © AUGUST 2010 • NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION • LICENSED MATERIAL 27
Organizational Learning Agility

About Us
Bersin & Associates is the only research and advisory consulting firm focused
solely on WhatWorks® research in enterprise learning and talent management.
With more than 25 years of experience in enterprise learning, technology and
HR business processes, Bersin & Associates provides actionable, research-based
services to help learning and HR managers and executives improve operational
effectiveness and business impact.

Bersin & Associates research members gain access to a comprehensive library

of best practices, case studies, benchmarks and in-depth market analyses designed
to help executives and practitioners make fast, effective decisions. Member
benefits include: in-depth advisory services, access to proprietary webcasts and
industry user groups, strategic workshops, and strategic consulting to improve
operational effectiveness and business alignment. More than 3,500
organizations in a wide range of industries benefit from Bersin & Associates
research and services.

Bersin & Associates can be reached at http://www.bersin.com or at

(510) 654-8500.

About This Research

Copyright © 2010 Bersin & Associates. All rights reserved. WhatWorks® and
related names such as Rapid e-Learning: WhatWorks® and The High-Impact
Learning Organization® are registered trademarks of Bersin & Associates. No
materials from this study can be duplicated, copied, republished, or reused
without written permission from Bersin & Associates. The information and
forecasts contained in this report reflect the research and studied opinions of
Bersin & Associates analysts.

BERSIN & ASSOCIATES © AUGUST 2010 • NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION • LICENSED MATERIAL 28