Indian Giant Infosys Opens Tech Center in Phoenix, Partners with ASU

“With very low unemployment—almost zero in tech—we’re hiring from campuses,” said Infosys CEO Salil Parekh.

The Indian tech giant hired 15,000 graduates in the last 12 months, including more than 2,000 in America, where many come through community college partnerships. “We hire people with adjacent skills and put them through our training program,” explained Parekh.

To build customer proximity and a talent pipeline, the Bangalore-based tech leader opened a campus in Phoenix last week at Skysong, the innovation center at Arizona State University (ASU). By 2023, the tech services company plans to employ 1,000 Arizonans.

The 35-year-old company has a deep commitment to growing employees. They are widely recognized as providing the best tech training for graduates in India—and they are bringing that talent development strategy to America.

Additional hubs are located in Indianapolis, Hartford, Providence, Raleigh, and Dallas-Fort Worth. Staffing up the Phoenix hub will bring the company close to its goal of hiring 10,000 American tech workers.

New hires will receive anywhere from six weeks to six months of training. “Our commitment to grow talent provides huge longevity. Most of our senior team has been with the company for more than 20 years—and they started in the training program,” said Parekh.

Infosys revenues grew 12% last quarter, with 40% growth in the digital portfolio. Parekh pointed to rapid growth in data analytics, cloud computing, and in user interface design.

On the importance of good design, Parekh said, “People increasingly choose their bank by the app, they choose where to get coffee by the app.”

The company has 160 design clients. “We’re helping a telco develop stores that work more like their mobile apps,” said Parekh.

Digital studios to design quality customer experiences have been opened worldwide, including U.S.-based studios in Providence, Los Angeles and Seattle.

Infosys EVP Krishnamurthy Shankar (TVA)

While the company hires many community college graduates, they do encourage them to complete a four-year degree, said Krishnamurthy Shankar, EVP and Group Head of Human Resource Development. “It provides higher potential lifetime earnings.”

Reskilling existing workers, providing rapid learning pathways for new hires, and partnering with leading institutions like ASU is all part of the Infosys culture of lifelong learning, explained Shankar.

The biggest talent development challenge? “We can teach the tech skills; what is more challenging are the client relationship skills,” Parekh noted. “We have programs that do some of that, but it’s also learned through experience.”

“Our main driver is the digital transformation of our clients,” said Parekh. A commitment to talent development—and a new hub in Phoenix—are key to that strategy.

Infosys has a comprehensive talent strategy based on a geographic arbitrage of distributed talent, which leverages the ubiquitous infrastructure of community colleges and the distinctive strengths of leading universities while retaining last-mile training to ensure that learning experiences are aligned, dynamic and engaging.

For more see:

• How A Global Tech Giant Is Becoming A Learning Leader
• The Future is Here: Artificial Intelligence & What it Means For Our Kids
• Envisioning the Future of Education and Jobs

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