In-Conversation with Narayana Murthy- Powered by Intellect, Driven by Values

MALAYSIA TECH MONTH 2021: IN-CONVERSATION WITH NARAYANA MURTHY – POWERED BY INTELLECT, DRIVEN BY VALUES

MTM 2021 features a special session with a world-renowned leader in the digital landscape, on Malaysia’s growth from digital infancy to its current advanced tech sector, success factors for entrepreneurship and the prognosis for the future.

For its final day and closing ceremony agenda, Malaysia Tech Month 2021 featured a special session with Narayana Murthy, the esteemed Founder of Infosys Limited, India. Murthy shared his perspective of the growth of the tech landscape in Malaysia and success factors that have put Infosys on the digital world map.

THE BIRTH OF MSC IN MALAYSIA

Raymond Siva, Senior Vice President, Investment and Brand Chief Marketing Officer, Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) hosted the session with Narayana Murthy. A world-renowned and award-winning leader in digital and information technology, Murthy was instrumental in the formative years of the Multimedia Supercorridor (MSC) in Malaysia in the mid-1990s. Twentyfive years ago Murthy was invited by then Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, to be a member of the international advisory council for the establishment of the MSC. Speaking about his experience working with Tun Dr Mahathir, Murthy shares the enthusiasm, energy and foresight of the statesman as he planned for the MSC. He reminisces spending time alone with Dr Mahathir providing his honest views on how to improve MSC. He calls the time he spent learning and sharing knowledge, under the leadership of Tun Dr Mahathir, an extraordinary and memorable affair.

On Raymond’s question of Malaysia’s potential for success in MSC back in the 1990s, Murthy said that he believed that Malaysia would go from strength to strength as a result of the excellent foundation laid by the country’s leaders. “I had no doubt that Malaysia would continue to succeed and fulfil the vision of your leaders. I am very, very confident,” he stresses.

EMBARKING ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Raymond stated that global research indicates that about 90 percent of new start-ups and 75 percent of venture-backed start-ups fail, while just under 50 percent of businesses make it to their 5th year. He asked Murthy to explain the shutting down of his first venture Softronics after just 9 months, and joining eComputer Systems before embarking on founding Infosys. Murthy explained that he set out on an experiment on entrepreneurship in 1976 with Softronics purposed to develop software for commercial applications for the domestic market in India. Within 6 months of founding Softronics, he realised an important mistake which was the failure to test the market to assess the market potential for software services in India.

“I discovered that there was hardly any domestic market for software services in India at that time,” he says. He shares that very few computers were used by corporations in India, and the policy at that time was to protect the market from international competition because India was producing some computers domestically. The computers were mostly sold to the government which brought the realisation that there was a structural problem in the market in India, that was not expected to change for at least a decade. Murthy points out that an entrepreneur should constantly scan the structure of the market to identify problems, and take action immediately. He found that Softronics had no domestic market so

he decided that the best step moving forward was to close it in 9 months.

On Raymond’s question on the duration that is ideal for founders to come to a decision to acknowledge the failure of the business and decide to close the venture, Murthy advises that there is no hard and fast rule for the time frame. He adds that as soon as entrepreneurs recognise a structural problem in the market which cannot be changed in the coming decade, then there is no point in continuing.

STEPPING INTO ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Raymond brought up the question of whether budding entrepreneurs should start businesses straight out of college, to which Murthy responded that there is a possibility, and he reminded about Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg who did just that. On the other hand, he also pointed that people like Jeff Bezos got to know the market and gained experience first before venturing into entrepreneurship. He explained that entrepreneurs should have the basic knowledge of running a business such as technology, production, financial, operations, human receives from the price paid, the brand value increases. He adds that successful selling is about maximising this value. According to Murthy, the business value that a customer gets from buying an offering is an important point to consider for entrepreneurs.

resources, and customer focus before starting off on a venture. Murthy said he had a long learning journey before achieving success with Infosys.

POWERED BY INTELLECT, DRIVEN BY VALUES

On the question by Raymond on how people at Infosys live up to its core values of ‘Powered by intellect, driven by values’, Murthy explained that in the knowledge business every professional has to embrace two important attributes to succeed – one is intellect and the second is values. He points out that the best culture to follow is leadership by example. For leaders to lead by example, they must walk the talk because followers constantly watch their leaders. “Actions speak louder than words,” says Murthy. He shares that companies need value champions to lead the values of the organisation.

BUSINESS VALUE ADDITION

Talking about the concept that he came up with called Business Value Addition, Murthy explains that this concept is about the business value that a customer receives from the unit price paid. Murthy highlights that the higher the value the customer

“I believed that Malaysia would go from strength to strength as a result of the excellent foundation laid by the country’s leaders.”

THE FUTURE IS ABOUT ‘MORE WITH LESS’

On his view of the future, Murthy highlighted that with the new normal impacting the GDP of most countries, the market is going to be highly competitive, therefore, people have to become innovative in using small amounts of monetary resources to come up with impactful innovations. He adds that the new normal will also result in more people working from home which means that it is going to be difficult to build institutional culture, which also makes innovation difficult. “Therefore, we will see a shakeout in the market where really smart people will succeed and the not so smart will bite the dust,” he explains. So now is the time to focus on posterity, value for money, innovation, customers and building a certain organisational culture while becoming more competitive.