Infosys to create 250 jobs in Ireland

To develop new technologies and support innovation in global financial institutions.

India’s second largest IT service company Infosys said it would create 250 new technology jobs in Ireland over next the three years to develop new technologies and support innovation in global financial institutions. The new roles are in addition to more than 250 employees that are already working for Infosys in Ireland. The company’s current employee strength in Ireland includes the employees that have been transferred from AIB to the Infosys Booterstown facility and employees working onsite at client locations in Ireland.

“The new project has been supported by the Department of Jobs through IDA Ireland”, Infosys said in a filing to the BSE. As per the regulatory filing, the expansion will see Infosys create up to 95 roles at its first dedicated product-centric research and development (R&D) centre outside India. The company will also open second Irish facility to house up to 155 people who will provide IT services to Infosys clients.

The highly skilled technology roles at the R&D facility will be established by the product subsidiary of Infosys, EdgeVerve Systems and will focus on FinTech research and development. “I am delighted to welcome 250 new jobs at Infosys. This is a vote of confidence in Ireland, our great workforce and our reputation as a hub for technology and innovation,” said Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny.

The centre will operate an open innovation model, working closely with customers, technology partners, academic institutions and the startup community in areas of technology, such as blockchain and analytics. The employees at the company’s new development centre will provide technology services to its global and Ireland-based clients in the financial services industry. “The work will include high-end IT consulting, business analytics, business processing and customer service,” the company said.

“Infosys is already working with clients in Ireland helping them explore new ways of working and advancing, by embracing technology-led innovation,” said Vishal Sikka, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Infosys.

Infosys completes acquisition of Noah Consulting

The country’s second-largest software services company Infosys today said it has completed the acquisition of US-based oil and gas consulting firm Noah Consulting.

Last month, the Bengaluru-based firm had announced the acquisition of Noah Consulting for USD 70 million (about Rs 453.5 crore) in an all-cash deal.

“Infosys has completed the acquisition of Noah Consulting, a provider of advanced information management consulting services for the oil and gas industry. The acquisition is in accordance with the terms set out in the agreement announced by the company on October 19, 2015,” it said in a statement.

The acquisition positioned Infosys to offer end-to-end data management services to oil and gas companies globally.

Noah’s deep industry knowledge, information strategy planning, data governance and architecture capabilities combined with Infosys’ ability to provide technology and outsourcing services will offer clients in the oil and gas industry next—generation data analytics solutions, the statement said.

Founded in 2008, the Texas-headquartered firm helps companies plan, architect and deploy information solutions to unlock the value of their oil and gas assets.

It has 122 employees and two offices in Houston and Calgary as well as projects in other global markets, according to the company website.

Infy Foundation USA offers grants to expand inclusivity programme

Will support organisations that deliver computer science education and coding education to schools students

Infosys Foundation USA, a non-profit organisation focused on bridging the digital divide in America, announced new strategic partnerships with Girls Who Code, CodeNow and ScriptEd. These organisations impart computer science and coding education to middle and high school students through curricular and extracurricular programs nationwide.

“The grants follow Infosys Foundation USA’s inaugural Crossroads event at Stanford University,” Infosys said in a press release.

Vandana Sikka, Chairperson, Infosys Foundation USA, said, “While the Crossroads event spurred a vigorous debate with multiple perspectives on how best to make computer science education more inclusive, it reaffirmed my belief that computer science is not only for software engineers.”

Girls Who Code provides digital programs to help young women build their coding skills. Funds from Infosys Foundation USA will support 500 clubs nationwide, training instructors and recruiting volunteers for these clubs, which will help extend Girls Who Code clubs program to 6,000 new students.

While CodeNow focuses on helping students from underserved backgrounds access extracurricular coding education. It will receive a grant to teach up to 200 new students. ScriptEd helps under-resourced public schools access innovative computer science education programs and resources. Funds will be used to rollout the program in up to five new schools and 100 new students.

Infy to increase local fresher hire in the U.S. for delivery

India’s second largest IT services provider Infosys is planning to hire 1,000 people locally in the U.S. for entry level delivery jobs in the coming years.

The Bengaluru-based company, which had hired around 250 people from the campus for the delivery jobs in the U.S, said the move was part of its strategy to become more global.

As part of the strategy it will increase the local talent hiring in the region.

Speaking at CLSA India Forum in Gurgaon, Pravin Rao, Chief Operating Officer, Infosys, said, “We have gone and recruited 250 people from the campus as an experiment for the entry level delivery jobs. If it is working, we will increase it to 1,000 people in the coming years.

“This is a continuous effort from us to increase the local hire and also to become global.”

Earlier in November 2014, Infosys said it would hire 1,500 professionals for consulting, sales and delivery services in the U.S. The company’s plan to increase hiring locally is also considered as a move to reduce the dependency on H1B Visa.

The IT bellwether had recently come under the scanner of the U.S. official on an alleged visa norms violation.

Commenting on a query on the visa related issues, Mr.Rao said, “Some of the issues related to visa are a political thing. In the run up to every election in the U.S. such visa related issues happen. We need to work with the industry and senators and have to deal with it.”

Infosys CFO Ranganath Mavinakere said as part of its growth execution strategy, it is now focusing on five major themes such as improving win rates of large deals, more mining of the top clients and also increasing employee utilisation rates to around 85 per cent.

Cow has to go out of politics, enter economics: R Seshasayee, Infosys

Infosys chairman R Seshasayee may be cautiously optimistic about investments picking up in India but appears more confident when it comes to the future of the $9-bil ion IT behemoth, which seems to have found its mojo back over the last two quarters. Despite the bottlenecks and slow demand for credit in he economy, he feels enthused about the fact that investments have finally started figuring back on the board agenda at India Inc. 

"There is a 30 per cent overcapacity still in manufacturing globally. As it comes down, nvestments will come back," Seshasayee, also chairman of IndusInd BankBSE -0.27 % and a former CII president, told TOI n an interview. He, however, held out a word of caution."The cow has to go out of politics and enter economics since right wing voices are a distraction." 



Though the VUCA world, a erm that CEOs use to describe rising global uncertainties, is eading to reduced labour arbitrage globally , Seshasayee feels it would still be relevant for ndian IT from an availability and cost point of view. The world, he said, was moving beyond digital to artificial intelligence and internet of things, among others, which needs to be understood and applied for Infosys customers. 

Since companies like GE, which have drafted a large software play , would need partners, Infosys would be well positioned to provide new solutions in the new digital world, he said. Similarly , he also sees substantial deals coming from emerging businesses like web aggregators and e-commerce. It may be pointed out that Infosys, under its new CEO Vishal Sikka, has drawn plans to invest $500 million into startups, which he said was on course 

The last two quarters, ever since Sikka joined the organi zation, also witnessed better financial results, which prompted the question if it has anything to do with a change in leadership. The Infosys chairman sidestepped it, saying the similarities and differences in the way the promoters in the past and Sikka now have approached the business boils down to being contemporaneously adapting to respond to market conditions.He also scotched talks that a section of senior employees who predated the  entry of Sikka were uncomfortable in the new dispensation. These talks had emerged when Infosys CFO Rajiv Bansal recently put in his papers. He also emphasized that the leadership bench was strong. 

Seshasayee said the company's 2020 targets of touching revenues of $20 billion were intact and it would be aggressively chasing acquisitions to bring on board companies which have appropriate technology to offer as part of it."We would earn back the bellwether status by then," he said. As for the business potential next year, Seshasayee said since a lot of companies are sceptical of the future, the average size of business deals will get smaller.