ET BureauBENGALURU: Infosys has roped in a former Twitter executive and Stanford University professor Ashish Goel as a scientific advisor, at a time when chief executive Vishal Sikka is bringing together some of the world’s brightest and smartest technology minds to help transform and position India’s second largest software services exporter as a next generation technology company.
Goel, though, is working only on a part-time consultant basis with Infosys, and hasn’t come on board as a full-time member, according to two people directly familiar with the matter. Both of them requested anonymity. Goel has been consulting with Infosys for at least two months. Goel worked as a technical advisor and research fellow at Twitter for five years, even taking a sabbatical in between to help build complex technology solutions at the company. At Twitter, Goel played an instrumental role in helping the company realise the potential of promoted tweets that ultimately helped Twitter monetize it as part of their business model.
Over the past few months, ecommerce firms like Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal have also tapped Goel and sought his advice, after learning of his contributions at Twitter. Goel’s work at Twitter also caught the eye of CEO Dick Costolo who credited Goel for helping the company realise the potential of ‘promoted tweets’ from corporates and how tweets could double up as ads, according to a Bloomberg report from 2012. According to the report, Goel helped Twitter realise how every company and individual on Twitter is a marketer who wants to promote a link, a piece of news or a personal update – Twitter then jumped on the opportunity to monetise tweets. Such a strategy allowed ads to flow across all of Twitter’s platforms, whether it was the main Twitter website or on Twitter’s software programmes on the website or on mobile phones.
Goel, though, is working only on a part-time consultant basis with Infosys, and hasn’t come on board as a full-time member, according to two people directly familiar with the matter. Both of them requested anonymity. Goel has been consulting with Infosys for at least two months. Goel worked as a technical advisor and research fellow at Twitter for five years, even taking a sabbatical in between to help build complex technology solutions at the company. At Twitter, Goel played an instrumental role in helping the company realise the potential of promoted tweets that ultimately helped Twitter monetize it as part of their business model.
"Goel is one of the smartest guys that Vishal has tapped into, from the Valley," said the first person. "More than targeting him for a specific area of tech expertise, I think Vishal wants him around since he around since he has a thinking brain, really understands the technology landscape and would serve as a very useful sounding board, given that he is brilliant technologist." Infosys is not the only company that has sought out Goel for his deep expertise in technology solutions and in the area of software algorithms that can solve complex business problems.
Over the past few months, ecommerce firms like Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal have also tapped Goel and sought his advice, after learning of his contributions at Twitter. Goel’s work at Twitter also caught the eye of CEO Dick Costolo who credited Goel for helping the company realise the potential of ‘promoted tweets’ from corporates and how tweets could double up as ads, according to a Bloomberg report from 2012. According to the report, Goel helped Twitter realise how every company and individual on Twitter is a marketer who wants to promote a link, a piece of news or a personal update – Twitter then jumped on the opportunity to monetise tweets. Such a strategy allowed ads to flow across all of Twitter’s platforms, whether it was the main Twitter website or on Twitter’s software programmes on the website or on mobile phones.
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