Symphony to add 4700 professionals in India

BANGALORE: Symphony Services, a 100% subsidiary of California-based technology investor, Symphony Technology Group (STG), has announced major expansion plans for the next five years. The company will be hiring about 700 professionals in the next 11 months to become 1000 strong in India (they are presently 300 employees).

It is also preparing ground to hire about 4,700 engineers specialized in software product development by 2005. The addition in the workforce would happen through direct recruitment or acquisition of companies.

The company’s President and CEO, Dinesh Puri, said, "Since we are in the business of software product development and engaged in working on the entire product life cycle, we are looking product development specialists. The positions vary from junior-level to senior-most level with expertise in product development and management."

Symphony Services in India was formed eight months ago and since then, it has acquired Cambridge Technology Partners and eKnow Ventures in the country. Supplementing its services, the company continues to pursue acquisitions of firms in India, US and Europe.

"Acquisitions will primarily build domain expertise and talent. We are basically looking for companies that are outsourcing intellectual services for their clients. In India we are looking at small companies in the range of Rs 25 to 250 crore in size for acquisition. 2003 should have us announcing a spate of acquisitions," informed Symphony Services Chairman Romesh Wadhwani.

Symphony Services positions itself as a Business Transformation Outsourcing (BTO) service provider, with focus on high-end software development specifically for software companies, cost management solutions across telecom, energy and IT domains, advanced analytics, business services, content and research for the global 2000 companies.

"Apart from the cost advantage, the talent pool and infrastructure plays an important role for setting up our Business Transformation Outsourcing (BTO) center in India. The cost management system that we developed to one our clients helped them save three million dollars within a year from telecommunication cost alone, that’s the power of outsourcing that we see as an advantage for our clients," said Wadhwani.

STG has set aside $50 million for investment in Symphony Services for both expansion and acquisitions. In the past eight months the company has raked in a revenue of about $30 million with its client list including General Motors, JP Morgan and CitiCorp.