Issue link: https://nebusinessmedia.uberflip.com/i/1170674
2019 | DOING BUSINESS IN CONNECTICUT | 17 Infosys employees get training at the new Hartford Technology and Innovation Hub located within Goodwin Square. Stepping Into Tomorrow Infosys is opening the door to a new age By Carol Latter With the growing influence of robotics, artificial intelligence, 3D printing, digital currencies, social media marketing and more, business models continue to change at a dizzying pace. Tech-savvy startups in virtually every industry are disrupting the status quo and companies around the world are scrambling to catch up, seeking ways to reinvent themselves and hold their own in an increasingly complex marketplace. Enter Infosys, a global information technology company that offers next-generation digital services and consulting to clients across a broad range of industries. In May 2017, Infosys announced it would create 10,000 jobs across the U.S. and would set up six industry- specific innovation and training hubs in Indiana, Texas, Arizona, North Carolina, Rhode Island, and Hartford, Connecticut. The goal: to accelerate the pace of digital innovation in American business and industry. At least 1,000 jobs were earmarked for Connecticut. Infosys President and Deputy Chief Operating Officer Ravi Kumar said when Infosys made that announcement, "people thought we were crazy, because hiring 10,000 new digital tech jobs was not going to be easy." But he added, "we've already hired 9,100-plus across the country, and we are on track to get to the target which we've promised." In December, Infosys unveiled its $21 million Hartford Technology and Innovation Hub. Located on multiple floors of the Goodwin Square office tower at 225 Asylum Street, the facility already employs more than 300 people. "And interestingly, we are becoming a magnet for attracting talent from other New England states," Kumar said. "Of the 300-plus, only about 100 are from Connecticut; 200 have actually come from the neighboring states" – strong evidence of in-migration to a state that has traditionally been concerned about the opposite. Infosys made a conscious decision not to locate its hubs in centers where "ready-made digital technology talent" was already available, but instead to identify, recruit and train a whole new cohort of innovation-oriented employees. "We went to places where we could potentially build talent pools from schools and colleges, where there is a strong academic ecosystem," said Kumar. "Connecticut has one of the best educational ecosystems in the United States. It's under- tapped. It's a hidden jewel. That was one of the things that attracted us to the state." The company also oriented the focus of each hub to the major types of clients it had in that area. In Connecticut, "our clients are primarily in healthcare, insurance and manufacturing, so that's what we're focusing on. In fact, downtown Hartford is an innovation hub for insurance and healthcare, and we want to contribute to that cause." The overarching decision to set up U.S. innovation hubs was based on the fact that "our own services were significantly shifting into new-age digital services from traditional tech services. And that shift required us to be building talent pools closer to our clients, and actually working with them in a co-creative way," Kumar said. "As we started that journey, we knew exactly how we would get there. We predicated it on hiring from schools, and we built from adjacent and legacy talent groups to create a talent pool. We hired STEM graduates and trained them in conjunction with universities, and we invested in a 'finishing school' infrastructure, as I call it – [Photo | courtesy of Infosys ] INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY: INFOSYS