Coimbatore and Nagpur are among the top 40 cities globally for hiring technology talent in the future.
According to the independent advisory firm Zinnov, the next frontier cities are viable for small- to medium-size operations and these cities are best aligned to provide the first-mover advantage.
In a global study on upcoming cities from a talent perspective titled Next Frontier Cities for Technology Talent it said most of these cities have a good education ecosystem, which is conducive to breed top talent.
Zinnov reviewed over 400 global cities and identified 40 locations that included nine cities each in North and South America, 12 cities in Europe, West Asia and Africa, and 10 cities in the Asia-Pacific region.
The report highlighted that there is an 86 per cent cost differential between high cost established locations (for example Silicon Valley) and the Next Frontier cities in the Asia-Pacific region.
Companies in the forefront of this evolution have already started to leverage ‘Next Frontier Cities’ to perform research and development, information technology and shared services activities, it said.
“Fierce competition for talent and an ever increasing compensation structure in existing cities is forcing the companies to look beyond the typical talent hubs and venture into the off-beaten path,” Pari Natarajan, Chief Executive Officer, Zinnov said.
However, Next Frontier cities have some key challenges related to talent scalability, operations consolidation, talent relocation, business continuity, services’ provider support and technology ecosystem availability.
Though these cities have key disadvantages when compared to established locations, the report said they were ideal for companies looking to hire 50-100 employees for their centres.
Some of the cities included Ankara (Turkey), Asunción (Paraguay), Boise (USA), Brasov (Romania), Caracas (Venezuela), Casablanca (Morocco), Chongqing (China) and Colombo (Sri Lanka).