Infosys has a very impressive video conferencing room in its campus in Bangalore where they can simultaneously bring up locations through out their global empire. Tom Friedman uses this room to kick off his thesis of globalization in his best seller "The world is flat".
Infosys is justifiably proud of this room and its campus (and the notoriety the success of its book has brought this room). During a trip there last year I was told only the Taj Mahal gets more visitors as a destination in India. Not just customers and prospects; politicians and gawkers - and increasingly, unfortunately, the attention of terrorists.
The irony is few Fortune 500 executives come to the campus as tourists. As one executive told me - I came here for the smart brain power, not the brick and mortar. They do not have shabby campuses themselves. Smaller companies are polite but wonder how much overhead the glitzy campuses are costing them.
It is a balancing act. Infosys (and other large Indian firms to varying degrees showcase their own campuses) needs to balance its desire for marketing with client desire for privacy, security, stability and cost-effectiveness. Boring is sometimes good.
