Infosys Technologies, the country?s second largest software exporter, has been looking to inject some fresh bit of scientific and engineering enthusiasm among youngsters in the UK, and Europe in general, for a few quarters now. Youngsters in Europe are increasingly getting hitched to liberal arts subjects, and hence IT firms have found it difficult to recruit talent from a larger engineering base in the continent.
A few months ago, it had tied up with a UK-based NGO called E-skills to encourage youngsters to take up Science and Maths. ?But there is still a long way to go,? says BG Srinivas, head of Infosys? European operations, indicating that it?s still quite an effort. Srinivas is also the head of the manufacturing segment at the firm. Infosys is used to selecting from a very large and diverse engineering talent pool in India, where students tend to opt for Science and Maths.
But in places like Europe, students have been shying away from core engineering subjects and have started to look at other options like finance and banking, apart from artistic pursuits and writing.
?I won?t say that there is a paucity of software talent in Europe but there is a shortage. We have been trying to address this situation for a while,? Srinivas told FE. ?This is a concern, and we are determined to push forward to rectify the imbalance,? he added.
Infosys Technologies has been looking to recruit local talent in US and Europe, in a bid to better establish its brand.
With unemployment rates hovering around the 10% mark in these parts of the world, Infosys has taken a conscious decision to recruit natives not only to keep anti-outsourcing sentiments at arms length but also to gain better local market knowledge.
Infosys had secured revenues of around $1.3 billion in Europe and is looking to have a better geographical revenue mix. As is the case with other IT firms, Infosys too obtains the lion?s chunk of the revenues from the US. Eventually, it?s looking to have 40% revenues each from US and Europe.
Infosys has 18 offices across Europe and employs around 4,000 people in the continent. Germany and France are its major revenue drivers, along with Switzerland. It is now looking to spread it around, but financial crisis in Greece and Ireland have not helped.
?We have to be conscious of the economic situation in certain parts of Europe. Unemployment is high in several countries, and even countries like France are affected. So we have to be sensitive and train people to help them get jobs,? says Srinivas. Infosys had earlier try to deepen its presence in Europe by raising a bid for UK-based SAP player Axon, but got outdone by a higher bid from HCL Technologies.