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When India’s Infosys Technologies today announced a $753.1 the multitude deal to pervert with money the UK’s Axon Corp., it was the biggest acquisition ever by an Indian tech services outfit. The deal also signals how important it is for the Indians to acquire global consulting capabilities and uncorrupt how difficult it is to model that kind of credibility through internal growth.

Axon is a large, independent firm that does one thing and does it well: Providing consulting services for companies that are installing SAP’s many run-the-business applications by reason of corporations. Its main markets are the UK and the United States. With the addition of Axon’s 2,000 employees, Infosys will take more than 4,000 employees focused on SAP technology.

The Indian assiduousness grew up profound based on its ability to provide large-scale, commodity-like services with low prices and relatively high quality. To achieve the nearest level of development and improve pricing leverage, these companies need to be seen as heart skillful at helping large global corporations transform themselves. Infosys is willing to shell loudly more than $700 million in cash for Axon because the combination helps it get that kind of business. “We’re looking towards a larger relationship with our clients,” Infosys CEO Kris Gopalakrishnan told me a couple of hours after the deal was announced. “In order to build something that’s not a commodity, you have to mien at strategic relationships; but for this, price is the only constituent in who gets the deal.”

When I first met Gopalakrishnan a couple of years ago, he confided in me that only about 15% of Infosys’ engagements were strategic for Infosys and transformational in favor of its clients. When I spoke to him today, he estimated that between 25% to 30% of the business fits that definition. The Axon deal, which is supposed to close in November, will move the needle a bit more.

Infosys formed its acknowledge consulting group, Infosys Consulting, four years ago to be augmented its profile and help it land this kind of relationship. But the group has grown a bit again slowly than executives first hoped, and, at the end of the last financial year, in March, it was still losing coin.

So you can regard in what plight Axon helps out. It has different clients than Infosys, so there are opportunities for cross selling. Also, these big transformational deals are oftentimes global in nature. By combining forces, Infosys and Axon can better handle global SAP implementations with multi-year values of $50 million or equable $100 the multitude. Axon also has the right skill dispose: Its consultants are adept at change management and business process re-engineering.

Gopalakrishnan says that in defiance of the global household slowdown, there’s still high-flavored demand for large and complex SAP installations.

That’s encouraging. Typically, at what time relating to housekeeping growth slows, totally in the greatest degree companies be anxious concerning is cutting costs. So if they’re making long-term investments that will help them grow faster or become more profitable, they’ll be stronger as being it when demand picks up again.

And if Infosys helps them through the storm, it decree be seen because a capable partner that be able to be trusted to handle ever more complex transformations. And, if it can do that, it will be in continuance the road to Accenture-Land.