Ecommerce Transformation: Talking with Infosys’ Uday Kotla

As Vice President of Global and Global Business Head for Infosys Digital Experience, Uday Kotla is on the cutting edge of digital sales, and can see ecommerce transformation as it occurs. He advises companies worldwide as they navigate digital experiences and transformation. In this conversation with Digital River’s Jason Nyhus, Kotla talks about the trends he’s seeing and how global brands can take advantage of them.

Infosys is a global systems integrator, and their work includes orchestrating the customer journey, commerce transformation, digitization and more. Kotla says because of the pandemic, brands are looking to ramp up faster than ever. “What used to be a seven-month discussion cycle in terms of the [ecommerce] transformation journey is now six weeks,” Kotla said. Customers want to be up and running as quickly as possible. (8:45 min.)

Kotla says the length of a pandemic that still has no clear ending has pushed shoppers beyond the experimental stage and into a phase where new habits are now hard-wired, and ecommerce growth will continue because shoppers will embrace ecommerce out of choice, and not out of necessity.

At (10:50 min) Kotla points to the adoption of online ordering for groceries as an example of shoppers changing the narrative of how people shop. Shoppers are embracing choice, where they can have something shipped to their home, or they can pick it up themselves. Kotla notes the swelling number of parking spaces big box retailers like Walmart and Lowe’s are adding to their parking lots specifically for shoppers who ordered their products online and have come to pick them up that same day in person.

Kotla sees opportunity with habits that have now changed across generations. At (13:30 min) Kotla points to the potential for digital growth in the healthcare industry. Kotla says with the 50+ age group now embracing online options, they are more likely to use digital tools like online scheduling and even online appointments that can bring more flexibility to the healthcare system.

One innovation Infosys has created in response to the changing digital landscape is a vison called Customer 360, which Kotla describes at (18:20). Essentially, Infosys has created an end-to-end offering Kotla calls a holistic solution that allows brands to get to market quickly with a solution that brings them everything from payment gateways to UI customization, multiple trading patterns and logistics, right down to the last mile. As businesses grow larger, their needs are more complex. Kotla says Infosys is looking to bring those businesses the simplicity of an end-to-end product that can address those enterprise needs, and still allow companies to be nimble and focus on their core business as they continue to grow.

Listen to the entire conversation on the business of ecommerce transformation and the evolution of digital experiences.