Dr. Sikka joined Infosys in 2014 to help transform the company during a time of significant change in the services industry, change that was brought on by the cost imperatives of clients on the one hand, and significant and rapid advancements in technology on the other hand. Since joining Infosys, Dr. Sikka has implemented a strategy of helping clients renew their existing landscapes to fundamentally drive down costs using automation and artificial intelligence, and at the same time bring breakthrough innovation that transforms user and consumer experiences, opens new business opportunities and new business models, and leverages data in entirely new ways. Key initiatives such as Zero Distance, which focuses on finding innovation in every project for every client, on an ongoing basis, has set a precedent in the industry for driving grassroots innovation. Similarly, the notion of looking at technology as an amplifier of human potential has enabled the company to bring together services, software and platforms in a way that drives unprecedented value for companies across every industry.

In addition, Dr. Sikka has created a strong focus on learning and education within Infosys, a culture which not only drives value for clients and the entire Infosys ecosystem, but extends outside the company as well. Infosys is helping clients in their efforts to create learning and collaborative cultures – helping them to find the most important problems to solve using Design Thinking as the framework, to rethink existing processes leveraging technology, to find new ways of working as teams and as individuals, and to build incredible talent, skills and passion across teams.

Prior to joining Infosys, Dr. Sikka was a member of the Executive Board of SAP SE, leading all products and technologies, including all of product development, and driving innovation globally. In his 12 years at SAP, Dr. Sikka held several senior leadership roles including becoming SAP’s first-ever CTO in 2007. As CTO, Dr. Sikka was responsible for overall technology architecture and ensuring coherence in SAP’s product strategy. During that time and later when he joined the Executive Board of SAP, Dr. Sikka brought a strong focus on delivering innovation non-disruptively, simplifying customers landscapes, and delivering new and delightful user experiences.

When Dr. Sikka joined the SAP Executive Board in February 2010, he brought this same focus to all of product development and was instrumental in building a culture of innovation at SAP; innovation became the focus and was at the heart of everything the company developed and delivered to customers. Among other things, Dr. Sikka is credited with creating SAP’s breakthrough in-memory data platform SAP HANA, the fastest growing product in SAP’s history. He also accelerated SAP’s development processes, bringing a deep focus on design and user experience, creating a culture of innovation, initiating for the first time in company history a focus on startups, driving venture investments, and leading product incubation as well as co-innovation with customers.

Dr. Sikka is the creator of ‘timeless software,’ a framework which articulates the principles of renewing existing processes and landscapes without disruption to customer environments. The principles of Timeless Software provide the foundation to ensuring there is no longer a trade-off between leveraging breakthrough innovation and ensuring the consistency, reliability and coherence of systems and user experiences. Dr. Sikka is especially known for his championship of technology as an amplifier of human potential and his passion for applying software in purposeful ways to address some of the biggest global challenges.

His experience includes research in artificial intelligence, intelligent systems, programming languages and models, and information management – at Stanford University, at Xerox Palo Alto Labs, and as the founder of two startups.

Dr. Sikka received his BS in Computer Science from Syracuse University. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Stanford University.