Long road to normalcy ahead for Satyam: Experts

Industry veteran Jerry Rao said the move was better than appointing a high-profile executive from outside. "The board cannot the run the company on a day-to-day basis and a candidate from outside would have come in with his own agenda and strategy," Rao said.

"I like this 30-60-90 day view of the world because that's the way they should be looking at it," Rao said, referring to Murty's announcement of his immediate game plan as he goes about his firefight to resuscitate Satyam.

The road ahead for Murty and Satyam may be tough and fraught with challenges though.

Raman Roy, Chairman and MD, Quatrro BPO, said there were still concerns over how Satyam could come back to normalcy. "As a customer, I would expect the company to get in touch directly with - and bring forth what is worrying - every customer. It should be able to resolve problems like continuity, that there is no flight of talent and that the right people continue to service the account. It is all about viability and being able to pay salaries and get everything done."

"I am sure Murty's priority is to ensure to give comfort to their customers because the media reports appear to say that customers are looking at alternatives. That is pretty disconcerting," Roy added.

Sandeep Parekh, Visiting Associate Faculty at IIM Ahmedabad, said many questions would be asked of Murty in his new role as CEO. "Presumably, he isn't involved with the scam but was he negligent in not being able to at least find out the senior management [involved in the scam]?" he said. "These questions would be raised about him, particularly in the US courts and not just in the Indian courts."

Parekh added the decision of Satyam's potential acquirer wasn't 'a smart one'. "The liabilities [for Satyam] are very large, undetermined and they will come on a serial basis," he said, adding that there would be lawsuits in part of the world and that the SEC - US's stock market regulator - or Sebi would not be completely able to protect the new management from the liabilities of the fraud committed by the old management.

On the issue of clients leaving Satyam, Roy of Quatrro said it wouldn't be easy for clients to migrate out of the company. "It is not simple for customers to be able to move. There is an entire transition process, a knowledge transfer process and unless the customer is really upset, I don't think they would want to go through with pain." He added that the new Satyam CEO could, through his 30-60-90 day plan, focus on customers and employees to give an impression that continuity in operations would prevail.

"At this point of time, the opportunities of what is the endgame for Satyam are many," Roy concluded. "Satyam did have a great business model. They had real customers who paid real money and had real cash flow. So if that business still exists, there can be a robust cash flow," he said. "The need for external cash may be only to get the engine started again or restarted because some money may have been sucked out."