Ciber Inc, a US-based $1.2-billion system integration consultancy firm, plans to hire about 500 IT professionals in Bangalore in the next 18 months. This comes at a time when its counterparts, especially companies dependant on outsourcing, are in the process of cutting their workforce and salaries.
?Ciber will hire around 500 IT professionals to build a 1,000-strong workforce in the next 18 months,? said Raghurama Kote, president, Ciber India. Kote said the company plans to recruit 200 people by December 2009 and an additional 300 in the first two quarters of 2010.
The NYSE-listed Ciber acquired Bangalore-based Iteamic Pvt Ltd, a boutique IT service provider focussed on software solutions for the financial services, banking, education and insurance segments, for an undisclosed amount earlier this year.
Currently, the company has a 500-strong workforce in India, which includes 175 professionals from Iteamic. The company?s projected turnover for the year ending March 2009 is $7 million.
Justifying Ciber?s recruitment drive in India, Kote said the company has a huge potential to offshore business to India. The existing business of Ciber will be enough to provide for the projected headcount growth of its India subsidiary.
?Ciber?s unique operating model of ?local accountability and global capability? leverages the outsourcing business,? Kote noted.
He also said that the company plans to invest in its Indian operations in order to strengthen its capability to service global clients. He, however, refused to disclose any figures. Ciber had entered India by acquiring Bangalore-based IT firm Knowledge Solutions in 2005.