For more than ten years Keep Left has worked with Infosys – a global leader in consulting, technology and outsourcing solutions. Although the company had strong global relevance, when Infosys engaged Keep Left, it needed to build a local reputation from scratch. Keep Left undertook a strategic review of the now $10 billion organisation, and devised a program encapsulating a press office function, thought leadership, quarterly campaigns and theme development.
Working in collaboration with global PR teams from India, the UK, France, Germany and the US, Keep Left is in its 11th year of partnership with the tech giant that’s now synonymous in Australia and New Zealand with thought leadership in the areas of next generation services such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality, data analytics as well as STEM skills.
In 2016 Keep Left worked with global teams to localise research, conducted by Infosys, set to be released at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The research-based thought leadership initiative was devised to give Infosys a global platform to communicate how the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’ will transform economies, society and humanity and therefore how Infosys can help business, government and educators be ready to embrace this transformation with open arms.
The research looked at the future of work and what the impact would be on future generations. By working through the global findings Keep Left uncovered region-specific information showing that young Australians were the least prepared for the digital revolution, despite the Federal Government’s announcement in 2015 of a $1.1 billion plan to boost Australia’s innovation economy. Keep Left dug deeper and identified a key component of this government initiative was to grow Australians’ digital literacy and education in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM).
The research results raised stark concerns by unveiling a disparity between government funding and younger generation’s readiness in Australia for a tech-driven future. This gave Infosys further news to leverage from to provide thought leadership on STEM skills – a key area of focus for the business, particularly in Australia.
We flagged the research was coming with the former Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, Christopher Pyne, and along with our spokesperson – Infosys Vice President and Regional head, Andrew Groth – engaged universities, students and the Business Council of Australia to comment on the findings.
The fact that the government was pumping funding into improving millennial STEM skills, yet our students were still the least prepared for the digital revolution, initiated a response from the Minister who issued a media statement to key journalists in response to the findings. This enhanced the already strong selection of spokespeople and gave journalists a well-rounded pool of commentary to pull from.
The result was a strong spread of earned media coverage across Australia, with nearly 100 pieces of print and broadcast clips achieved. The likes of The Age, The AFR, Triple J and The Australian covered the story with Infosys’s spokesperson and findings front and center.
Over the past decade Keep Left has helped foster Infosys’s growth from virtual obscurity in the ANZ region to this region now being the company’s third largest market globally. Through a decade of strong and consistent share of voice, Infosys is now seen as a thought leader amongst big business, and is part of the consideration set when Australia’s Top 100 companies select their IT and business services.