Infosys set to hire US locals

Bengaluru: With the US government deciding to amend the H1-B visa programme,  Infosys CEO and MD Vishal Sikka said on Friday that his company will focus on hiring local talent.

“Given the background of the (US) President- elect (Donald Trump), we expect that the US administration will be business-friendly and entrepreneurial innovation-driven. However, on the visa front, we expect some policy changes. It’s too early for us to comment on that,” said Mr Sikka, addressing the media at Infosys campus in Bengaluru on Friday.

Mr Sikka believes that new technologies can have a huge impact on how Infosys’ global workforce can work together. “It (technology adoption) is an integral part of the company’s strategy to become less dependent on visa and overtime workforce, while becoming more local in approach,” he added.

Embracing technologies such as machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) will be one of the top priorities for the Bengaluru-based company in the coming years. The company has lowered the number of people it employs by adopting innovative technologies, which at the same time, led to a growth in its revenue performance.

Automation of IT services has created huge opportunity for Infosys to build new applications. According to him, Infosys’ knowledge based AI platform, Mana’s adoption rate has doubled because of its expanded customer-base. “I am particularly proud that in Q3 Mana’s customer adoption has doubled,” he said.

Commenting on whether automation and AI would cannibalize the traditional business of Infosys, Sikka said, “If we are too late to adopt these technologies then it can have a disruptive impact on our industry. However, there is an opportunity for us to grow.”