Infosys to strengthen sales teams in US, Europe

To hire 300 graduates in those regions in FY15; moves staff with strong tech skills into sales

Infosys, India’s second-largest information technology (IT) services company, is considering strengthening its sales teams, especially in the key markets of Europe and the US. For this, the company is planning to hire locals in these geographies. It is also deploying employees with strong domain knowledge to the sales segment.

Infosys, which has said it will hire 22,000 graduates this financial year, plans to recruit about 300 freshers from business schools in the US and Europe to boost its sales teams there, chief operating officer U B Pravin Rao has said. Through the last two quarters, the company had deployed about 150 of its delivery-side executives as account managers to bring more value to clients, Rao said. “These are people who are technologically sound and have good client-facing skills,” he told Business Standard. “We believe these people will help in mining clients better because they have good technology know-how and client-facing knowledge.”

SELL TO EXCEL

• Together, the US and Europe account for about 75% of Infosys’ revenue
• Of the 300 business school graduates Infosys plans to hire in the US and Europe, 80 are already on-board and are undergoing induction
• Through the last two quarters, the company had deployed about 150 of its delivery-side executives as account managers to bring more value to clients
• The company is also deploying employees with strong domain knowledge to the sales segment
• Infosys’ annual report says, for FY14, the company had 1,285 sales and marketing professionals on a consolidated basis, as of March 31, against 1,263 a year earlier
• Experts say the firm should make extra efforts to strengthen its sales teams to ensure there was no impact of the many exits the it has seen in the past year on order inflows

Of the 300 business school graduates Infosys plans to hire in the US and Europe, 80 are already on-board and are undergoing induction. Together, the US and Europe account for about 75 per cent of Infosys’ revenue. According to Infosys’ annual report for FY14, the company had 1,285 sales and marketing professionals on a consolidated basis, as of March 31, 2014, against 1,263 a year earlier. Most of the company’s sales team is based out of the US and Europe.

The focus on beefing up its sales teams in the US and Europe comes at a time when Infosys is aiming to benefit from the uptick in demand from clients in these regions. During the quarter ended June this year, the company saw 3.7 per cent sequential growth in revenue from North America, though revenue from Europe fell 1.1 per cent sequentially. Chief executive S D Shibulal had said the decline in growth in Europe was a one-off dip and shouldn’t be seen as a secular trend.

Experts say Infosys should make extra efforts to strengthen its sales teams to ensure there was no impact of the many exits the company has seen in the past year on order inflows. Through the past year, 12 senior-level employees have exited Infosys.

Of them, most such as global head of sales Basab Pradhan and head of Americas Ashok Vemuri, were client-facing and had deep relationships with clients.

Since January, Infosys’s attrition rate has been at record high levels. During the quarter ended June, attrition stood at an all-time high of 19.5 per cent, against 18.7 per cent in the previous quarter.