വലിയ ഐടി കമ്പനികൾ സെയിൽസ് വിഭാഗത്തിലെ നിയമനങ്ങൾ വെട്ടിക്കുറയ്ക്കുമ്പോൾ, മിഡ്-ക്യാപ് ഐടി കമ്പനികൾ ഈ മേഖലയിൽ 12 ശതമാനം വർധനവ് രേഖപ്പെടുത്തി. പുതിയ ഉപഭോക്താക്കളെ കണ്ടെത്താനും വിപണിയിലെ അവസരങ്ങൾ മുതലെടുക്കാനുമാണ് മിഡ്-ക്യാപ് കമ്പനികൾ കൂടുതൽ ആളുകളെ നിയമിക്കുന്നത്. വലിയ കമ്പനികൾ നിലവിലുള്ള അക്കൗണ്ടുകളിലും ഏറ്റെടുക്കലുകളിലും ശ്രദ്ധ കേന്ദ്രീകരിക്കുന്നതാണ് ഇതിന് കാ
The headcount for sales, customer support and business development functions within mid-cap companies has risen 12% YoY from 8,400 to 9,400
With macro challenges and AI disruptions impacting organic revenue growth, large and mid-tier IT companies are taking different approaches to building their sales and customer-facing teams.
Data made available to businessline by specialist staffing firm Xpheno shows that while mid-cap companies have expanded teams across these functions, their larger Tier-1 peers have seen moderations.
The collective headcount for sales, customer support and business development functions within mid-cap companies rose 12 per cent YoY from 8,400 to 9,400. On the other hand, the top 5 Tier-1 Indian IT service firms have seen a 2.4 per cent decline in headcount under these functions from 96,000 a year ago to 93,400 now.
Speaking to businessline, experts attribute this divergence to larger players banking on acquisitions and growth from existing accounts, reducing the need for expanding sales teams, while mid-tier firms are looking to capitalise on emerging opportunities and expand their client base.
Francis Padamadan, CEO - Xpheno, a specialist staffing firm, suggests that mid-cap firms are hiring more to pursue opportunities in their current business pipeline. He added that these teams are also benefiting from the availability of experienced niche talent leaving larger Tier-1 firms.
Interestingly, Padamadan suggests that expansion among mid-cap firms is not limited to their domestic operations with overseas sales and business development teams growing 13 per cent year-on-year, compared to a 11 per cent increase in India.
Gaurav Vasu, Founder and CEO, UnearthInsight, suggests that inorganic growth now contributes nearly 50% of incremental revenue growth for several companies, reducing the immediate need to expand sales teams at the same pace.
He added that the approach towards existing accounts versus new client acquisition is also making a difference.
"With vendor consolidation becoming more prevalent and new logo additions remaining challenging, companies are prioritising account expansion and farming existing clients over hunting for new accounts," he added.
AI and automation are not yet leading to rationalisation in the sales workforce, analysts add.
"The distinction is that AI is improving the efficiency of sales support, but it has not fundamentally changed how enterprise technology services are sold. Core sales continues to depend on relationships, account management and the ability to build client trust," Vasu said..
Kapil Joshi, CEO of IT Staffing at Quess Corp, suggests that while 25-35 per cent of proposal and coordination workflows in sales could be automated or augmented, these workflow impact estimates cannot be equated to reduced employees.
"The larger shift is towards redesigning workflows and improving the sales output per employee, rather than simply replacing people with AI," he added.