Ciber to double the headcount in India to 1300

System integration consultancy and outsourcing firm Ciber plans to double its employee strength in India from its current headcount of 650, within a year.

The Greenwood Village, Colorado based company operates two offices in India at Bangalore and Chennai. "We are going to hire aggressively in India and also we are planning to open another facility in Bangalore," says Raghurama Kote, President of Ciber India.

The New York Stock Exchange listed company has been operating in India from 2005 after it acquired Knowledge Systems in Bangalore. The Bangalore facility is one of several globally distributed delivery centers, which Ciber brands as 'Cibersites'. There are 12 Cibersites around the globe that support the various divisions of the company. These centers offer application development, application management and information technology (IT) operations services for firms seeking ways to outsource business functions, which are not part of their core business.

According to Tony Hadzi, Executive Vice President and President - Customs Solutions Division at Ciber, the Bangalore centre is a major part of the company because it supplements the global operations of the company. Currently, Ciber has 85 offices in 18 countries across Asia, Europe and North America with total employee strength of 8,500. For 2008, the company reported $1.1 billion revenue, which is a seven percent increase as compared to fiscal 2007.

After the advent of recession, like all companies even Ciber has adopted new strategies to stay ahead of its competitors. One of them is the collaboration of its smaller branches with its larger branches, to develop solutions for the former's customers by using the capabilities of the latter. "The Bangalore centre plays a crucial role in this collaborative effort, by providing the necessary offshore support," says Hadzi. Ciber's client list includes all kinds of companies, apart from the various governmental agencies that it serves in the U.S.

Though, Ciber still gets a majority of its revenue from U.S., the company is seeing a lot opportunities emerging in the Indian market. "Currently we have only eight customers in India, but we plan to add more especially in the retail and financial services segments," says Kote.

The company is also looking to grab the opportunity in the healthcare space, following the announcement of Barack Obama's multi- billion dollar healthcare reforms. "Currently, healthcare is a major area of focus for us, along with the mobility segment," adds Hadzi.