Infosys to boost US, Europe sales teams with local hires

Infosys, the country’s second largest information technology (IT) services company, plans to strengthen sales teams in America and Europe.

The focus would be local hires, to ensure better mining of existing clients and new business acquisition, the company’s president, U B Pravin Rao, told Business Standard.

He wouldn’t provide a figure for the hiring plan but said there would be a “big increase” in these teams. “On the sales side, we are trying to add more hands and feet on the ground. So, we are hiring a lot more people (there), so that we can have many more people in our growing accounts. Even when we have new accounts, it is important to invest some of the sales bandwidth there, so that they can go and mine the accounts. A majority would be locals,” he added.

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KEY MARKETS

• As of end-March 2013, Infosys had 1,152 sales and marketing professionals, most of whom are based in America and Europe
• Infosys has been seeing slower growth in these key markets, which account for nearly 75% of revenue
• In the January-March quarter, there was a 0.8% quarter-on-quarter decline in revenue from North America. Revenue from Europe grew 1%

As of end-March 2013, Infosys had 1,152 sales and marketing professionals, most of whom were based in America and Europe. In FY13, Infosys had expanded its sales teams by 132 persons, said its annual report.

The decision to strengthen the sales teams in these regions comes at a time when Infosys has been seeing slower growth in these key markets, which account for nearly 75 per cent of overall revenue. Additionally, the management had said it was seeing several client-specific issues, including ramp-downs and cancellations.

In the January-March quarter, there was a 0.8 per cent quarter-on-quarter decline in revenue from North America. Revenue from Europe grew a tepid one per cent.

“Basically, the nature of the business is such that in a slowdown, you invest more in the sales force, to ensure more hunting (of new clients) and farming (of existing clients),” said B S Murthy of LeadershipCapital Consulting.

“In that sense, the decision of IT companies to strengthen sales force in overseas markets is good. Also, hiring local talents is very beneficial, as they understand the flavour and DNA of local business.”

While Infosys has seen exits of some senior-level employees from the sales teams over recent months, Rao said the intended hiring would be of middle and junior executives. “Whatever senior positions were vacated have been occupied internally. Now, we are trying to hire on the lower level,” he said.

Among the slew of exits after the return of co-founder N R Narayana Murthy in June 2013 was that of Basab Pradhan, who was heading global sales and marketing.

Murthy of Leadership Capital Consulting believes the move to not replace Pradhan and other senior executives could be the decision of the management, as Infosys is undergoing transition currently.