Infosys Tech expands into Latin America

Bangalore, Aug 22: Software major Infosys Technologies, to meet its growing needs in Latin America has set up its first Subsidiary in the region and opened a Development Centre in Monterrey in Mexico.

Announcing this, Infosys in a release here said the subsidiary, Infosys Technologies S. De RL De CV, would provide the company's full range of business consulting and information technology services for clients in all industries including banking, financial services, retail, consumer packaged goods, resource, energy and utilities. The centre provided key offerings in business process outsourcing, infrastructure management and packaged solutions implementation.

Commenting on the new initiative Infosys CEO S Gopalakrishnan said in the release ''Our clients are exploring opportunities to mitigate risk while expanding operations into the burgeoning market''. ''The facility will help us establish our services in the Central time zone which allows us to provide better support to our clients located across multiple geographies'' For the first year, the Latin American subsidiary would have more than 250 seats. By its third year of operation, the Monterrey facility was expected to employ nearly 1,000 employees. Local and international hires would participate in the standard Infosys training programs to ensure global consistency.

Often referred to as "nearshore facilities," such operations provide client solutions in time zones which are more convenient to clients and still provide access to processes, systems, services and talent globally. The Monterrey facility provided Infosys with the dedicated resources to service clients in North America, Latin America and Europe with bi-lingual talent in an agreeable time zone and close proximity. Furthermore, it strengthened the company's global delivery model capabilities and joins such new facilities already on the network such as a development centre in Brno, Czech Republic and BPO facilities in India.

"The world continues to flatten, unlocking Mexico's potential as a major business center and solidifying its role as a strategic location for technology innovators such as Infosys," said Mexico Secretary of the Economy Dr. Eduardo Sojo in the release.

After examining several countries in the region, Infosys chose to establish a presence in Mexico because of the broad language skills available in the region, its geographical proximity to Canada, the U.S. and Europe. Latin America was a strong emerging market and one where many of Infosys' clients have operations already.

''The combination of human and intellectual capital, nurturing business community and entrepreneurial spirit found in Monterrey positions the state for amazing IT service growth," said Governor of the State of Nuevo Leon Jose Nativdad Gonzalez Paras.

Infosys has appointed Mohit Joshi to head the new subsidiary. Mr Joshi, formerly a group engagement manager with the company's banking and capital markets organisation has more than 12 years of client and leadership experience.

UNI